Richard P. Feynman

From Philosopedia

Feynman, Richard P. (11 May 1918 - 15 February 1988)

In What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988), the Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Feynman who once worked on the Manhattan Project wrote,

• In those days, in Far Rockaway, there was a youth center for Jewish kids at the temple. . . . Somebody nominated me for president of the youth center. The elders began getting nervous, because I was an avowed atheist by that time. . . . I thought nature itself was so interesting that I didn’t want it distorted (by miracle stories). And so I gradually came to disbelieve the whole religion.

Feynman shared the Nobel Prize with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro Tomonaga. They developed QED (Quantum Electrodynamics) into a theory that encompassed all electromagnetic properties of electrons. In so doing, it covered all of physics and physical chemistry except gravitation and nuclear structure. In 1943 he worked at Los Alamos, working on the atomic bomb until it was tested two years later. He is credited with identifying the cause of the Challenger space shuttle tragedy. Genius, The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992) is the title of a biography by James Gleick. Gleick reports that at the graveside of his father, Feynman read no prayers, that he was a vehement atheist.

The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist (1998), written by Michelle Feynman and Carl Feynman, told of his view that “Science makes an impact on many ideas associated with religion, but I do not believe it affects moral conduct and ethical values.” He also held that “the metaphysical aspects of religion have nothing to do with the ethical values, that the moral values seem somehow to be outside the scientific realm.” The work gives his materialistic, nontheistic view of the cosmos.

Freeman Dyson has called Feynman “the most original mind of his generation.”

He also was a bongo player with a sense of humor. When he was dying of cancer, for example, The Los Angeles Times offered him an advance copy of the obituary to obtain any suggestions for changes. “No thanks,” the confident atheist replied, because to do so “ahead of time” would take “the element of surprise out of it.”

Gleick quotes what Feynman, in anticipation of death, thought:

• You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers, which might be wrong.

Feynman (pronounced FINE-man), suffering with cancer in 1987 and, having complications from surgery, made the decision not to accept any more treatment, to die with dignity. According to his sister, Dr. Joan Feynman, Feynman's last words were "I'd hate to die twice, it's so boring." He and his wife Gweneth, who died in 1989, are buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena, California.

{Free Inquiry, Spring 1998}