Well known for winning the Nobel Prize (physics) for his work on Quantum Electrodynamics(QED), Richard Feynman was an eclectic mix of science, art and fun.
His multifaceted personality earned him as much popularity as did his Nobel and his work on the atomic bomb.
While he worked on the bomb with the likes of Otto Hahn, Oppenheimer etc, his first wife, Arlene succumbed to tuberculosis. He later said she was the only true love of his life.
He took to painting models, hanging out at pubs to deal with his loss, may be this triggered an appetite for dabbling in various hobbies like playing the bongo drums.
"Seriously, You are joking, Mr.Feynman!" is a good read which offers snippets from the life of this genius scientist.
It would be apt to say that if James Bond were a professor, he would be RPF!!
RPF wrote poetry too and this is my favourite poem which elucidates his take on life and how we came to be.
There are the rushing waves, mountains of molecules, each stupidly minding it's own business; trillions apart, yet forming White surf in unison
Ages on ages before any eyes could see, year after year thunderously pounding the shore as now; For whom? For what? On a dead planet with no one to entertain
Never at rest, tortured by energy prodigiously wasted by the Sun poured into space; A mite makes the sea roar
Deep in the sea, all molecules repeat the pattern of one another till complex new ones are formed.
They make others like themselves and a new dance starts
Growing in size and complexity, living things, masses of atoms, DNA, protein, dancing a pattern ever more intricate; Out of the cradle, on to dry land, here it is standing : atoms with consciousness,matter with curiosity
Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering : I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the Universe.
Feynman had read this poem as part of his address to the National Academy of Sciences
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