The famous American physicist, Richard Feynman, was born a 100 years ago on the 11 th May in 1918, and it is worthwhile spending a few moments reflecting on what makes his achievements so enduring. To the general public, Feynman first became widely known with the publication in 1985 of a best-selling collection of stories from his life in physics called ‘Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman’ . The title refers to an incident in his introduction to graduate school at Princeton at an event called the ‘Dean’s Tea’
To physicists, Feynman is revered for many reasons but is probably best known for the ‘Feynman diagram’ approach to calculations of quantum field theory. Feynman’s approach to field theory calculations was pictorial and in marked contrast to the more formal mathematical approach of his fellow Nobel Prize Winner, Harvard professor Julian Schwinger. As Schwinger later said:
“Like the silicon chips of more recent years, the Feynman diagram was bringing computation to the masses.”