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Dr. Richard P. Feynman Essay

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The Early Life of Dr. Richard P. Feynman

Richard Feynman was a modern Renaissance man. Hailed as a scientist, musician, Nobel Laureate, and teacher. He played in a street band in Rio de Janerio, deciphered Mayan hieroglyphics, a fundamental contributor to quantum electrodynamics, and one of two learned men of his time on Tanna Tuva, his experience and skill were of a broad range and applications.

Born in 1918 in Far Rockaway, New York, Richard Feynman started working with and studying electronics at a young age. At eleven, he began to repair radio systems as a hobby, for hotels and homes alike. Because it was the Depression, and he worked for free, he received a good deal of demand. He wasn't trying to make a profit; he wanted to …show more content…

While this did not harm anyone, it added to Feynman's repute as a researcher at heart.

Los Alamos and Beyond

While performing graduate studies at Princeton, Feynman decided to find ways to serve his country. While the war began to hit full stride, a call came out for physicists, to win the race for the A-bomb against the Germans. Feynman responded to the call and joined some of America's greatest minds at Los Alamos research base. Unfortunately, it was around this time that his wife, Arlene, was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was able to keep her nearby in Albuquerque, where she could reside in a hospital to provide her care. Los Alamos proved to be a significant shift for Feynman, who was not only amidst some of the greats of the time, but also working nonstop on a research project. He did, however, find sufficient time to occupy himself with a new hobby. Recreation was limited at Los Alamos, and in his spare time Feynman found something of sufficient variety and complexity to occupy his attention; safecracking. In his spare time he practiced on the various safes and filing cabinets in Los Alamos, because almost everything there was sensitive information and was therefore stored in a container with a combination lock. This skill earned him a quirky repute amongst his peers, whom he would occasionally leave messages inside their own safes.

As the Manhattan Project neared completion,

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