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Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman@richard_feynman
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Quantum & Particle Physics

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@richard_feynman

Richard Feynman

I do theoretical physics research: I built a working quantum electrodynamics, invented the diagrams physicists now use to calculate with it, and shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for that science.

AboutExperienceCasesThinkingBeyond
Proof · case studies

Cases

The situation, the work, the outcome. Ranked by how much the work proves.

1

I explained the SLAC scattering data with partons

1968 — 1977
Situation
In the mid-1960s quarks were widely seen as bookkeeping for symmetry numbers; Gell-Mann's quark model and my parton model had a murky relationship.
Action
When SLAC's late-1960s deep inelastic scattering experiments showed point-like particles inside protons and neutrons, my parton model read the research data without extra hypotheses — including the 45% of momentum carried by neutral particles.
Outcome
Interpreting experiment with the fewest assumptions let my model hold up while the science of quarks was still unsettled.
particle physicsparton modeltheoretical physics
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2

I made quantum electrodynamics calculable with diagrams

1947 — 1951
Situation
After the 1947 Shelter Island Conference, theorists faced divergent integrals in perturbation theory; Bethe had a non-relativistic Lamb shift result and the relativistic version was open.
Action
Between 1947 and 1951 I reworked the infinite integrals of quantum electrodynamics with my path integral method, introduced Feynman diagrams, and published the theory in a series of Physical Review papers that became standard physics research tools.
Outcome
A new notation can be a research result in itself: my diagrams turned an intractable science problem into routine calculation.
quantum electrodynamicsfeynman diagramspath integrals
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3

I showed on live TV why Challenger's O-rings failed

1986 — 1986
Situation
The Presidential Rogers Commission investigated the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster; I clashed several times with its chairman, William P. Rogers.
Action
On the 1986 Rogers Commission I clamped a sample of the shuttle's O-ring material, dropped it in ice water, and showed on a televised hearing that it lost resilience in the cold — the engineering cause the commission confirmed.
Outcome
A simple, visible experiment can cut through an engineering investigation faster than any amount of testimony.
engineeringfailure analysisexperiment
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4

I co-wrote the formula for a fission bomb's yield

1943 — 1945
Situation
The Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, 1943–1945, building on earlier work by Robert Serber, with Stanley Frankel and Nicholas Metropolis on computation.
Action
At Los Alamos I led a group in Hans Bethe's Theoretical Division, developed the Bethe–Feynman formula for fission yield, and helped set up IBM punched-card computing for the project's science and engineering calculations.
Outcome
I can carry a theory all the way to numbers: the formula, the computing method and the team that produces the results.
nuclear physicsscientific computingmanhattan project
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5

How I made enriched uranium storage criticality-safe

1943 — 1945

At the Oak Ridge enrichment plant I helped engineers devise storage procedures so enriched uranium could not reach criticality, and I insisted on teaching the workers the nuclear physics behind the rules.

nuclear physicscriticality safetyengineering
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