Author: Our special guest author tease uncle
On May 11, 1918, Richard Phillips Feynman fell to the ground.
It can be seen that Feynman is very satisfied with his name, what new inventions and new theories he has grown up, always like to name his own name, what Feynman diagram, Feynman rule, Feynman path integral...
He is known as the "teacher's teacher", which shows that he is quite good at education.
So the question is, who educated him? This had to start with the two most important people in his life.
1
The Feynman family attached great importance to education, especially Feynman's father, Melville Arthur Feynman.
As the saying goes: Parents are a child's first teacher. Father Melville bought a set of white and blue tiles when Feynman was still sitting in a toddler's high chair.
Did Dad want Feynman to decorate the bathroom? Child labor is illegal! With the protection of the children's law, Melville did not dare to fool around, he just used tiles to play games for children.
The old father entertained and educated, posing the tiles in various combinations, teaching Feynman to recognize shapes, and putting some condiments from time to time: teaching a little simple arithmetic principles.
Feynman was familiar with the "arithmetic smell" of the old father, the familiar recipe, the smell of the father... When you grow up, you will naturally not reject mathematics.
Feynman was a little older, and the tiles were tired of playing, and the old father took him to the museum, where there were many interesting things.
The old father read him the Encyclopædia Britannica, and after reading it, he explained it to Feyman in his own language. Uncle Com estimated that Feynman's later superb language expression ability was mostly inherited from his father's genes.
Feynman was impressed by that wonderful time, and he recalled it endlessly: "There was no pressure, only lovely, interesting discussions." ”
Feynman was fortunate not to be exposed to cramming education in his early years, but to receive an inspired education from his father. The old father often asked Feyman questions, and in order to make the old father submit, Feyman learned to turn the pages of the book to solve the problem. In other words, it is the ability to learn on its own.
Feynman and his father had a very good relationship from an early age, but unfortunately, the weather was unpredictable, and in October 1946, his father Melville died of a stroke, which once caused Feynman to fall into depression.
During that time, the blow to Feynman was still quite large. Just the year before, his lifelong love, Erin Greenbaum, had closed her eyes forever as her condition worsened.
2
Erin and Feynman were early lovers and had been in high school. Six years after dating, the two men with a natural sense of humor were officially engaged.
Later, when Feynman was studying at Princeton University, Irene contracted tuberculosis. Feynman, who has always been in love, did not tear up the marriage contract, but chose to marry Irene despite his parents' opposition.
On June 29, 1942, Feynman set up a bed in a sedan and took Irene to the hospital. Just on their way to the hospital, a sheriff presided over their wedding ceremony.
From marriage to death, Irene was recuperating in the hospital. Feynman was already working on the Manhattan Project, but he took the time to take care of Irene as much as he could.
The following spring, Feynman's work moved to Los Alamos' lab, and he was uneasy about Erin. Later, the project's host, Robert Oppenheimer, found a nearby hospital to house Irene in order to make Feynman feel at ease. That way, Feynman could stay with Irene on weekends. On other days, through the Hongyan transmission of books, the pain of lovesickness is solved.
Because Feynman was engaged in highly classified work, in order to avoid the inspection of security personnel, the two specially designed a set of passwords for their letters. In this way, those shameful love words will not leak out.
As World War II became more intense, Feynman's work became busier. Erin would often look at Feynman's thin face and ask him bitterly, "Honey, can you tell me what the hell you're doing?" Feynman always put on a set of "kill me without saying" posture.
3
In the early morning of July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb exploded in Alamogordo, New Mexico, forming a mushroom cloud.
Feynman muttered, "Honey, now I can tell you this secret..." Thinking that Irene was no longer alive at this time, Feynman's tears could not help but burst out of his eyes.
Half a month later, mushroom clouds rose again in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
The shadow of war, the loss of loved ones, all of this makes it difficult for Feynman to be happy. Remembering that Eileen had "asked" him to learn to paint and appreciate music, he began to learn painting. If you are not careful, you become a master of painting.
Feynman also wrote to Eileen as he had done before, using their encrypted text. The only difference is that at the end of the letter, he would add: "Honey, please forgive me for not sending this letter, because I don't know your new address." ”
As time passed, the wounds in his heart slowly healed, and Feynman threw himself into his work with greater enthusiasm. In 1965, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his outstanding contributions to quantum electrodynamics.
References: "Don't Make a Fuss, Mr. Feynman", "Feynman Biography", "Feynman Codex: Endless Drums", "Feynman Physics Lecture Notes", etc.
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