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The Brilliant Mr. Feynman

52m · Freakonomics Radio · 08 Feb 04:00

California

What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series.)

  • SOURCES:
    • Seamus Blackley, video game designer and creator of the Xbox.
    • Carl Feynman, computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman.
    • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
    • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
    • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
    • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
    • Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.
    • Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.
    • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.
    • Alan Zorthian, architect.
  • RESOURCES:
    • "Love After Life: Nobel-Winning Physicist Richard Feynman’s Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife," by Maria Popova (The Marginalian, 2017).
    • Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).
    • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
    • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
    • "G. Feynman; Landscape Expert, Physicist’s Widow," (Los Angeles Times, 1990).
    • "Nobel Physicist R. P. Feynman of Caltech Dies," by Lee Dye (Los Angeles Times, 1988).
    • “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).
    • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
    • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
    • Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).
    • "Richard P. Feynman: Nobel Prize Winner," by Tim Hendrickson, Stuart Galley, and Fred Lamb (Engineering and Science, 1965).
    • F.B.I. files on Richard Feynman.
  • EXTRAS:
    • "The Curious Mr. Feynman," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

The episode The Brilliant Mr. Feynman from the podcast Freakonomics Radio has a duration of 52:41. It was first published 08 Feb 04:00. The cover art and the content belong to their respective owners.

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