11.21.2009

Richard Feynman - The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

Feynman was a brilliant man. Funny how Nobel Prize winners become a voice for their scientific generation. Einstein was similar back in the day and I think Feynman probably took over this role. It is special to have these scientists because they are able to communicate to the masses. Most scientist are incapable of spreading the word of what they do let alone try to communicate much beyond what they typically study. In the rare instances the scientist can not only communicate his work but move beyond that and become a voice for profound thought. So of the quotes I liked are below.

Page 24, "I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong."

Page 145, "The atoms come into my brain, dance a dance, then go out; always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday."

Page 152, "The argument that the same risk was flown before without failure is often accepted as an argument for the safety of accepting it again."

Page 169, "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."

Page 202, "maybe solving equations is experience you need to gain understanding-but until you do understand, you're just solving equations."

For me his brilliance was during the Columbia investigation. When all was said and done, what will be remembered from the report was him dunking an o-ring into a glass of ice water and showing the effects. Simple and sweet just like his physics classes...oh if it could only be that simple for the rest of us!

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