The lasting legacy of Richard Feynman

Abstract

He did sums on napkins in Pasadena strip joints. He cracked safes for fun on the Manhattan project. He gave captivating lectures that students still learn from today. He was, quite simply, like no other physicist. Years after his death in 1988, people remain fascinated with Richard Feynman – womanizer, raconteur, genius. Their appetite was whetted in 1985 with Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! a book about his adventures outside science. Since then publishers have been only too happy to satisfy the demand for books by or about the bongo-playing, Nobel-prize winning theoretical physicist.