It was 1947, Freeman Dyson met with Richard P.

Feynman and named him half genius

and half buffoon in a letter to his parents. Actually it was precisely true. He was not only the
seemingly clown but also the one of the finest physicists of all the time.
Feynman was born to Lucille Feynman and Melville Arthur Feynman in Far Rockaway,
Queens, New York City on 11th of May, 1918. He had been taught
to take independent opinions in the early age.

He worked on quantum electrodynamics and received his

Ph.D. in 1942 at MIT. His prowess in physics is astounding and
astonishing. Thats why he was offered to work on Manhattan
Project at Los Alamos, where he joined Hans Bethe.
He married to Arline Greenbaum but she died of
tuberculosis in 1946. Feynman was at Los Alamos at that time.
Feynman went to Caltech in 1951 where he lived until his last breath.
He repaired radios as a youth. In his autobiography Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
he wrote:
One day I got a telephone call: "Mister, are you Richard Feynman?"
"Yes."
"This is a hotel. We have a radio that doesn't work, and would like it repaired.
We understand you might be able to do something about it."
"But I'm only a little boy," I said. "I don't know how--"
"Yes, we know that, but we'd like you to come over anyway."
And yes, he did it.

Feynman was a dignified professor. It was his commitment and passion which made him
the great Richard P. Feynman. He often said to himself, At least Im living, at least Im doing
something; Im making some contribution. Though it was a psychological act but it worked.
To teach elementary concepts was just a fun and an act of delight for Feynman. But
thinking of something new pleased him. He was in search of something new. He wanted to find
modern ways to look at.
In the postwar era, when research style had changed, pragmatism was taking its final
breaths, Feynman emerged himself as an influential and iconoclastic figure. He formulated

quantum electrodynamics in his path integral approach. Path integral formulation is used to
describe quantum mechanics by generalizing the action principles of classical mechanics.
Paul Dirac extended his approach but he was unable to do a precise calculation of sum
over paths. But Feynman solved it and took it to new heights.

In 1948, Feynman realized a great simplicity. He introduced a pictorial representation to

express mathematical expressions for subatomic particles. He introduced Feynman Diagrams.
These were the set of rules for writing the results without deriving each one. It changed the every
inch of particle physics. One can easily apply it to each new theory of this field.
Now the year of something special came. Feynman enthralled the physicists of all castes
and creeds. In 1965, Royal Society elected him as a foreign member. In the same year, Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences announced to award Nobel Prize in Physics to Sin-Itiro Tomonaga,
Julian Schwinger and Richard P. Feynman for their fundamental work in
quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the field
of elementary particles.
Besides that he was a physicist, he was also an artist. I would like to
call him a magical artist or artistic magician. He knew how to handle
the thicket of mathematical physics, how to evolve into the essence of a
theory. He was also well known to play with words.
He played jokes on his classmates, who can forget the usage of
French Curve during a mechanical drawing class at MIT. One cannot
unnoticed hi anecdote. He revealed himself, his early talent with a brain trained to follow a
flexible path of thoughts. One can easily admired himself as an influential physicist and an
unforgettable artist.
Angela Carter said that Nothing is a matter of life and death except life and death. The
darkness of death was waiting to absorb the lights of poppys lamp. But he was full of true
determination. He was like a hawk, so he neither tired nor afraid. He was not afraid of death but
he was hesitating to taste his twice. His last words were: Id hate to die twice. Its so boring.
The day was 15th February, 1988.
He is no more with us, but his work will remain with us. This unbound wilderness hold an
uncanny fright for him but he was bestowed with passion, power and buoyancy. He created the
elixir of life out of the essence of life. And thats the beauty of Feynman.
Happy Birthday to You Dear Feynman. You will be remembered always.
Some of his famous quotes are:
1) It doesnt matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesnt matter how smart you are. If it
doesnt agree with experiments, its wrong.
2) I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
3) Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

4) The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.
5) I think, I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.

Writer: Muhammad Bilal Azam