Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

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Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman Page 70

by James Gleick


  S matrix, 267, 329

  Tomonaga and, 260

  on visualization, 5, 242

  youth of, 52, 78

  helium, see superfluidity

  hexaflexagons, see flexagons

  Hibbs, Albert, 415

  Hiroshima, 156, 203–4, 210, 218, 237, 263

  history of science, 11, 41, 279–80, 313–14, 320, 322, 380

  Hitchcock, Alfred, 223

  Hofstadter, Douglas, 404

  Holton, Gerald, 245, 385–86

  Homer, 313, 314, 317

  Hoover, J. Edgar, 296

  Hopfield, John, 434

  Hubble, Edwin, 124

  Hughes Aircraft Company, 406, 415

  Huxley, Thomas, 66

  Huygens, Christiaan, 250

  hydrodynamics, 163, 299

  hydrogen, 72–74, 79, 94, 161–62, 164, 173, 198, 234

  hydrogen bomb, 6, 204, 258, 278, 296, 365

  Idlewild Field (Kennedy International Airport), 20

  inertia, 29, 174–75, 259

  infinities, see quantum mechanics

  Institute for Advanced Study, 94, 106, 227, 266–70,, 295, 309, 346, 377

  intelligence tests, 30

  interference, 111–12, 247, 250

  International Business Machines Corporation, 179–82, 198, 407, 414

  Interscholastic Algebra League (New York), 32–34, 83

  isotopic spin, 282, 306–7, 387

  isotron project, 139–45, 157

  Jacobs, Morrie, 47

  Jarvis, Gregory, 415

  Jehle, Herbert, 128–29, 136

  Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 281, 404, 414–15, 417–18

  Johns Hopkins University, 94

  Johnson Space Center, 426

  Jones, James, 327

  Jornada del Muerto (N.M.), 154, 202

  Judaism, 22–23, 27–28, 65, 85, 220–21

  Kac, Mark, 10–11, 249, 315, 322–23

  Kazin, Alfred, 21

  Kemble, Edwin C, 53

  Kennedy Space Center, 426

  Keynes, John Maynard, 317

  Klein-Gordon equation, 73–74, 336

  Klein, Oskar, 73

  knowledge. See also uncertainty

  faith and, 37, 58, 221

  false, 373–74, 407

  fundamental, 14, 22, 357, 435–36

  guilty, 3, 203, 207–10, 263–64

  hoarded, 316–17

  rote, 66, 283–84, 398–401

  philosophy of, 357, 364–75, 429

  practical, 14–16, 36, 68, 366

  scarcity of, 47–48

  secret, 210

  stratification of, 9, 67, 372

  Kuhn, Thomas S., 321–22

  Kusch, Polykarp, 377

  Kutyna, Donald J., 416, 419–23, 426

  Kyōto University, 259–60

  Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Lawrence), 192

  Lady Eve, The, 44

  Lagrange, Joseph Louis, 59–61, 250

  Lagrangian method, 60–61, 88, 128–32, 147, 170–71, 228

  Lamb, Willis, 234, 239, 377

  Lamb shift, 234, 239–40, 251–53, 260

  Landau, Lev, 130, 239 n, 297, 298, 300–301

  Laplace, Pierre-Simon, Marquis de, 430

  Laurence, William L., 40 n, 154–55 n

  Lauritsen, Charles, 282

  Lavatelli, Leo, 144 n

  Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, 39

  law, scientific, 29, 57–61, 101, 109, 244, 265, 294, 299, 317, 325, 338, 365–67, 411

  lawn-sprinkler problem, 106–8

  Lawrence, D. H., 237

  Lawrence, Ernest O., 130, 136, 166, 226

  calutron, 142–44

  least action, principle of, 57–61, 228, 362, 366

  Feynman’s first encounter, 60–61

  in quantum mechanics, 121, 127–29, 131–32, 138–39, 147, 247–50

  Lee, Tsung Dao, 333–34, 336–37

  Leighton, Ralph, 409–10

  Leighton, Robert B., 363

  Levi-Civita, Tullio, 56

  Lewine, Frances (cousin), 26, 438

  Lewine, Pearl (Phillips) (aunt), 25, 26

  Lewine, Ralph (uncle), 26

  Lewine, Robert (cousin), 26

  Lewis, Gilbert N., 120

  light, 14, 30, 57–61, 71–72, 80–83, 100–1, 110–11, 120–21, 125–26, 247, 250, 259, 273, 284, 368, 373. See also photon; quantum electrodynamics

  Lilly, John, 406

  Lindemann, Ferdinand von, 52

  liquid helium, see superfluidity

  Littlewood, J. E., 236, 238

  lock picking, 15, 187–88, 297, 340

  Lombroso, Cesare, 318

  Long Island Rail Road, 20

  Lorentz, Hendrik A., 72

  Los Alamos, 3, 6, 8, 9, 49, 185–87, 190, 204–5, 216, 218

  choice of site, 159–60

  computing at, 164, 175–82, 190–91, 198, 201

  postwar, 208–10, 212, 234

  security, 161–62, 187, 191–92, 237

  theoretical division, 165–66, 169, 172

  Los Angeles Times, 437

  Love in America (Cohn), 192

  Lovingood, Judson A., 419

  McAuliffe, Christa, 415

  McCarran Immigration Act, 297

  MacInnes, Duncan, 232

  McLellan, William, 356

  McMillin Theater (Columbia University), 252

  McNair, Ronald, 415

  McSherry, Rose, 263, 266

  Magic City, The (Nesbit), 237

  Magic Mountain, The (Mann), 134

  Mailer, Norman, 326

  Manhattan Project, see atomic bomb; Los Alamos

  Marchant calculator, see calculating machines

  Marshak, Robert, 256, 337–38, 411

  Marshall Space Flight Center, 417, 426

  Marx, Groucho, 9, 405

  mass, 4–5, 99, 231, 239–40, 251, 262, 272, 283

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 49, 51–91

  curriculum, 66

  cyclotron, 107

  fraternities, 62–64, 69, 74, 117, 374

  machine shops, 77–78

  physics at, 53–56, 66–67, 79–80

  Radiation Laboratory, 91, 136–38, 141, 158, 166, 209, 216, 234

  senior theses, 82–83, 86

  social life, 62–64

  mathematics, 25, 47, 52, 83, 155, 235

  in biology, 132

  education, 399–401

  Feynman and, 27, 32, 34–36, 102–5, 129, 182–83, 217–18

  music and, 65

  Nobel Prize and, 377

  nonlinear, 164, 174, 178–81

  partitions, 238

  physics vs., 52–54, 56, 102–3, 145, 238

  probability theory, 34, 166, 168–69, 197, 249

  recreational, 34–36, 103–5

  Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de, 59, 61

  Mautner, Leonard, 23, 34

  Maxwell, James Clerk, 49, 101, 110–11, 118, 262, 368, 431

  Maya, 292, 367

  Mayhew, Nye, 62

  Mayo Clinic, 195–96, 219

  Mead, Carver, 434

  Mead, Margaret, 287

  medicine

  Feynman and, 125–27, 194–96, 402

  scientific method in, 132–34, 194–96

  tuberculosis, 133–35, 149–50

  Melchior, Lauritz, 328

  Melville, Herman, 319

  Menge, Edward J. v. K., 52–53

  Merton, Robert K., 329

  meson, 146, 229, 250, 256, 269, 270–71, 282–83, 304, 309, 333, 336

  Metallurgical Laboratory (Chicago), 146, 157–58, 161, 164

  Metropolis, Nicholas, 180–81, 185

  Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), 46

  Michelangelo Buonarroti, 328

  Michigan State University, 292

  microbiology, 133, 293, 329, 349–51, 355, 358

  Mill, John Stuart, 66

  Miller, Glenn, 62

  Millikan, Robert, 33, 81, 306, 358

  Milton, 314


  mind, see consciousness

  miniaturization, see nanotechnology

  Minkowski, Hermann, 70, 109, 122–23

  miracles, 58, 362, 372–73

  Miramar Palace Hotel (Rio de Janeiro), 282, 287

  Miranda, Carmen, 278

  mirror, 331. See also symmetry

  Möbius strip, 67

  Moore, Jesse, 419–20

  Morrison, Philip, 10 n, 157, 212, 263, 285, 407

  Morse, Philip M., 53, 55, 76, 78–80, 83–84, 86, 91

  Morse, Samuel, 319

  Morton, Donald, 404

  Morton Thiokol, 419, 421, 425

  Mount Wilson Observatory, 293

  Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 319, 322–23, 325, 328

  Mulloy, Lawrence, 422–23

  Munich, University of, 52, 53, 166

  music, 14, 15, 65, 285–86, 319, 322–23, 328

  Nabokov, Vladimir, 243

  nanotechnology, 14, 77, 354–56, 407

  NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), 415–28

  National Academy of Sciences, 259, 383–84

  National Air and Space Museum (Smithsonian Institution), 421

  National Geographic, 46

  National Research Council, 93, 216, 428

  National Science Foundation, 210

  National Youth Administration, 76

  nature

  laws of, 57–61, 101, 109, 244, 265, 294, 299, 317, 325, 338, 365–67, 411

  simplicity in, 13–14, 22, 59–60, 78, 260, 432–38

  Nazi Party, 167

  Neddermeyer, Seth, 170

  Nesbit, Edith, 237

  Neumann, John von, 115, 117, 202, 255

  early computing, 181–82

  fluid models, 299

  and irresponsibility, 181, 200

  mental calculating, 175

  neuropsychology, 312, 321

  neutrino, 283, 335–38

  neutron, 78–80, 94–95, 114, 136, 140, 157, 161–63, 168, 172–75, 198, 270, 305, 307, 335, 392

  New York Academy of Sciences, 232

  New York City, 20–23, 27, 41, 48–49

  public schools, 30–32, 48

  New York Herald Tribune, 233

  New York Times, 42, 154, 235, 375–76, 421–22

  New York University, 34

  New Yorker, 399

  Newman, Thomas H., 356

  Newton, Isaac, 38, 41, 57–61, 109, 363

  forces and, 88, 111, 228

  as genius, 314–15, 317, 319–20, 328–29

  laws of, 29, 59–61, 106, 147, 365, 368, 375

  originality and, 10

  time and, 119

  Niels Bohr Institute, 4, 5, 93, 279

  Nishijima, Kazuhiko, 310, 360

  Nobel Prize, 5, 23, 49, 166, 209, 242, 375–82, 396

  Bethe’s, 166, 377

  Bohr’s, 242, 375–76

  Chandrasekhar’s, 316

  effect on winners, 381–83

  Einstein’s, 375–77

  Feynman’s, 9, 349, 375–83, 401, 408, 417

  Fleming’s, 133

  Gell-Mann’s, 390, 396

  Lamb’s, 234

  nomination by Feynman, 396

  Oppenheimer and, 5, 159, 377

  prestige of, 374–76

  rule of three, 377

  Yang and Lee’s, 334

  nonlinear mathematics, 164, 174, 178–81

  nuclear physics, see physics

  nucleus, 9, 79–80, 130, 264, 307, 392

  molecular forces, 89–90

  uranium, 95

  Oak Ridge, 141, 165, 197–200, 205, 209, 228

  Oersted, Hans Christian, 320

  Office of Naval Research, 209, 211, 294

  Olum, Paul, 141–42, 145, 158, 162, 178, 190

  Omar Khayyám, 343

  Omni, 396

  Onizuka, Ellison, 415

  Onsager, Lars, 300–301, 316

  Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 4–6, 24, 53, 85, 158–60, 162–64, 166, 168, 175, 185, 187, 198, 233, 239, 255, 258, 260–61, 270–71, 330, 333

  Dyson and, 259, 266–70, 377

  Feynman and, 6, 85, 144, 184, 190, 199–200, 204, 226–27, 257–59, 266–70

  Nobel Prize, 5, 159, 377

  post-bomb psychology, 3, 203, 207–10

  Schwinger and, 158, 216, 234, 252, 257–59, 266–70

  security trials, 5, 210, 292, 295–96

  at Trinity, 154–56

  originality, see genius

  out-of-body experiences, 14, 406

  Pais, Abraham, 99, 228 n, 233, 307, 309–10, 332–33

  Pale Fire (Nabokov), 243

  Palmer Physical Laboratory (Princeton University), 107–8

  Pan American Airways, 278, 287

  Paris Match, 286

  parity, 330–35, 338–40

  Park, David, 10 n, 61, 124, 366

  particle accelerators. See also CERN; Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

  early, 95–96, 107

  postwar, 210–11, 226, 255–56, 295, 304, 309, 332, 389–91, 435–36

  Soviet, 298

  technique, 16, 305–6

  in uranium separation, 139–45

  particles. See also electron; photon; etc.

  associated production, 307, 309

  conceptions of, 5, 89, 123, 242–43, 256, 261–62, 275, 283, 307, 369, 375

  fundamental, 58, 283

  inertia and, 175

  interaction of, 48, 102, 110–12, 117–18, 121, 139, 147

  paths, 7, 57–61, 109, 121, 128, 132, 171, 229–31, 247–49, 255, 258

  proliferation of, 114, 256, 283, 304–5, 309, 330, 389

  quasi-, 300–302

  scattering, 79–82, 174, 256

  virtual, 273–75

  waves and, 7, 18–19, 73, 80, 99, 243, 247

  partons, 9, 387–96

  Pasadena (Calif.), 82, 277, 281–82

  Huntington Hotel, 347

  path integrals, 246–51, 254–55, 275

  in beta decay, 336

  development of, 132, 174, 229–31

  first presentation, 258

  in gravitation, 354

  in masers, 349

  revival of, 354, 404

  Pauli, Wolfgang, 117–18, 127, 216, 242, 257, 269. See also exclusion principle

  on Dirac, 58

  “ganz falsch,” 115, 404

  on parity, 334

  Pauling, Linus, 40, 293

  Peierls, Rudolf, 169

  penicillin, 133, 196, 329

  periodic table, 294, 389

  Phi Beta Delta (MIT), 63–64, 69, 74, 117, 374

  Phillips, Henry (maternal grandfather), 24, 26

  Phillips, Johanna (née Helinksy, maternal grandmother), 24

  philosophy, 58–60, 364–75, 391

  atoms and, 36–38, 67–70

  Feynman and, 13–14, 182, 232, 364–75, 397–98, 400, 429, 436

  quantum mechanics and, 54, 88–89, 429–30

  time and, 109, 123–26, 243–44

  photon, 54, 120–21, 242–43, 246, 268, 270, 273–75, 394

  Physical Review, 6, 48, 216, 261, 266, 275, 310, 316, 381

  of the blind men, 435

  Feynman and, 76, 82, 90, 249, 271–72, 338

  Feynman diagrams in, 283–84

  women in, 289

  Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion, 48, 128

  physics, 48. See also quantum electrodynamics, quantum mechanics

  American, 44–45, 53–55

  anti-Semitism in, 53, 84–85

  as career, 52–53, 91

  conferences

  Cambridge, Mass. (1941), 117

  Chicago (1933), 40

  Cornell (1963), 123–26

  New York (1948), 252

  New York (1949), 270

  New York (1955), 301

  Oldstone-on-the-Hudson (1950), 271

  Pasadena (1959), 354–55

  Pocono (1948), 4–8, 255–61, 288, 304, 384

  Princeton (1946), 226

  “Rochester” (195
0–57), 304, 310, 332–33, 334–35, 339

  San Francisco (1972), 411–12

  Shelter Island (1948), 232–34

  Solvay (1961), 347

  Warsaw (1962), 353–54

  elementary particle, 9, 16, 294–95

  elite, 4–5

  experiment in, 16, 234, 305–6

  final laws, 432–34

  generations of, 8

  grand unified theories, 431–34

  heroes in, 8

  history, 279–80, 380

  as human activity, 364

  in Japan, 259–61

  journals, 48

  language of, 14, 229, 295, 390, 431

  military and, 4, 209–11, 294–95, 385

  models in, 86, 210, 243–44, 299, 367–68, 375, 437

  nuclear, 40, 48, 67, 79–80, 94–96, 98, 130, 136–45, 163–75, 196–200, 209–11, 226

  prewar growth, 98

  solid-state, 14, 86–88, 298

  teaching, 55–56, 357–59

  unification, 7, 265–66

  visualization in, 5, 7, 241–49, 255–56, 302–3, 325–26

  women in, 289, 411–12

  World War II and, 4

  Physics Today, 259, 289, 384–85

  Piaggio, H. T. H., 236

  Picasso, Pablo, 326

  pion, 304–5, 332–33, 336

  Planck, Max, 71, 146

  Plato, 36

  Plutonium, 141, 164–65, 168, 170, 173, 196–9’

  Pocono conference (1948), 4–8, 255–61, 288, 304, 384

  Podolsky, Boris, 216

  poetry, 7–8, 31–32, 69, 105, 244, 314, 373–74, 412–13, 436–37

  poker, 182, 239

  polaron, 349

  polio, 133

  Polkinghorne, John, 215 n, 334 n, 372

  positron, see antimatter

  Presbyterian Sanatorium (Albuquerque, N.M.), 3, 159, 170, 184, 192

  Princeton University, 53, 58, 76, 96

  bicentennial, 226

  fellowships, 136

  Feynman and, 83–85

  Graduate College, 97, 102

  laboratories, 106–8

  oral examinations, 130

  physics colloquium, 114–15, 117

  tea, 97–98, 102–3, 130

  war work, 141

  probability, 79, 119, 373, 404

  amplitude, 132, 246–49, 275, 393–94, 433

  negative, 73

  in quantum mechanics, 72–75, 128, 132, 246–49, 258, 275

  risk and, 197, 427–28

  theory of, 166, 168–69, 249

  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 48

  Prometheus, 203, 207–8

  psychology, 19, 223–25, 255, 312–13, 321, 324, 362, 374–75, 405–6

  Putnam competition, 83

  Pythagoras, 41

  QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, 13

  quantum chromodynamics, 402–4, 431

  quantum electrodynamics, 6–9, 159, 242, 304, 330, 347–49, 377–80

 

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