- US physicist
whose work laid the foundations of quantum electrodynamics. For his
work on the theory of radiation he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics
1965 with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga (1906-1979). He also
contributed to many aspects of particle physics, including quark theory
and the nature of the weak nuclear force.
For his work on quantum electrodynamics, he developed a simple and elegant
system of Feynman diagrams to represent interactions between particles
and how they moved from one space-time point to another. He had rules
for calculating the probability associated with each diagram.
His other major discoveries are the theory of superfluidity (frictionless
flow) in liquid helium, developed in the early 1950s; his work on the
weak interaction (with US physicist Murray Gell-Mann) and the strong
force; and his prediction that the proton and neutron are not elementary
particles. Both particles are now known to be composed of quarks.
Feynman was born in New York and studied at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and at Princeton. During World War II, he worked at Los
Alamos, New Mexico, on the behaviour of neutrons in atomic explosions.
Feynman was professor of theoretical physics at Caltech (California
Institute of Technology) from 1950 until his death.
As a member of the committee investigating the Challenger space-shuttle
disaster 1986, he demonstrated the faults in rubber seals on the shuttle's
booster rocket.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics 1963 became a standard work. He also
published two volumes of autobiography: Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!
1985 and What Do You Care What Other People Think? 1988.
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