Stargazing Guy

– Richard P. Feynman (11 May 1918 – 15 Feb 1988)

From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our lives?

Credit: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-curious-mr-feynman/

Integrity and honesty appear to me be by-words for Feynman, as it should be for all scientists. How true that is today is open for debate. For me, Feynman stands head and shoulders above many others, as he showed by his approach on the Rogers (Challenger) Commission. Here is the rest of the quote (and its source):

“The only way to have real success in science, the field I’m familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be. If you have a theory, you must try to explain what’s good and what’s bad about it equally. In science, you learn a kind of standard integrity and honesty”

“Afterthoughts,” p. 217-218, What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character

More from Feynman next time – and a closer look at his work on the Rogers Commission.

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PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the same time, and think about the Cosmos.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and if you can, someone else, too, because as Adam Smith said, “we naturally desire not only to be loved but to be lovely”.

Remember, hope lives here.

Opening image credit: https://www.facebook.com/183030298409099/photos/a.183152675063528/1126862460692540/?type=3 (source unknown)

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