The Brilliant Mr. Feynman (Update)

What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)

SOURCES: •

Seamus Blackley • , video game designer and creator of the Xbox.

Carl Feynman • , computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman.

Michelle Feynman • , photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.

Ralph Leighton • , biographer and film producer.

Charles Mann • , science journalist and author.

John Preskill • , professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Lisa Randall • , professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.

Christopher Sykes • , documentary filmmaker.

Stephen Wolfram • , founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.

Alan Zorthian • , architect.

RESOURCES: •

• " Love After Life: Nobel-Winning Physicist Richard Feynman’s Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife • ," by Maria Popova ( The Marginalian, • 2017).

Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, • by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, • by Richard Feynman (1999).

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, • by James Gleick (1992).

• " G. Feynman; Landscape Expert, Physicist’s Widow • ," ( Los Angeles Times, • 1990).

• " Nobel Physicist R. P. Feynman of Caltech Dies • ," by Lee Dye ( Los Angeles Times, • 1988).

The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, • by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, • by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).

Fun to Imagine • , BBC docuseries (1983).

• " Richard P. Feynman: Nobel Prize Winner • ," by Tim Hendrickson, Stuart Galley, and Fred Lamb ( Engineering and Science, • 1965).

F.B.I. files on Richard Feynman • .

EXTRAS: •

• " The Curious Mr. Feynman • ," by Freakonomics Radio • (2024).

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