The beat of a different drum : the life and science of Richard Feynman

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Bibliographic Information

The beat of a different drum : the life and science of Richard Feynman

Jagdish Mehra

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1994

Available at  / 31 libraries

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Includes references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Richard P. Feynman was arguably the greatest American-born theoretical physicist of the twentieth century. A teacher, showman, bongo drummer, and iconoclast of the first rank, he distained authority and despised ceremony, yet was a scientific magician capable of transcendental leaps of the imagination. The Beat of a Different Drum is the definitive account of Feynman's life and work. It covers his childhood, his three marriages, and his extraordinary range of interests. But most importantly, it deals in great detail with his scientific work - from his research on the atomic bomb, via his famous path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, to the quantum theory of gravitation, partons, quark jets, and the limits of computation. Jagdish Mehra personally knew Richard Feynman for thirty years. Feynman invited Mehra to spend three weeks of interviews with him shortly before his death on 15 February 1988, and encouraged him to write this book. What has emerged is a truly authoratitive account of the life and achievements of one of the greatest men of our century.

Table of Contents

  • "If it's a boy, he'll be a scientist"
  • "what one fool can do, another can do better"
  • Undergraduate at MIT
  • arrival in Princeton as a graduate student
  • action-at-a-distance in electrodynamics - the Wheeler-Feynman theory
  • The principle of least action in quantum mechanics
  • Arline - "a love like no other I know"
  • diversions and contributions at Los Alamos
  • a "dignified professor" at Cornell University
  • Feynman's path to quantum mechanics
  • the development of quantum electrodynamics until mid-1947 - the historical background of Feynman's work on QED
  • Feynman's investigations between the Shelter Island and Pocono conferences
  • from the Pocono confernece to the Oldstone conference - Feynman's fundamental papers on quantum electrodynamics
  • the space-time approach to quantum electrodynamics
  • the mathematical formulation of quantum electrodynamics
  • From Cornell to Caltech via Copacabana and Kyoto
  • the cup runneth over - Feynman and the theory of superfluidity
  • unwelcome recognition and establishing a routine
  • "Enjoying the scenery": Feynman and the polaron problem
  • excursion into diverse fields
  • "The only law of nature I could lay a claim to" - the theory of weak interactions
  • virtuoso performances as teacher and lecturer
  • gravitons, partons, and quark jets
  • the fundamental limits of computation
  • reflections on science, religion, culture, and modern society
  • the beat of a different drum.

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