“And so, you Swedish people with your honors and your trumpets and your king — forgive me, for I understand at last, such things provide entrance to the heart.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 13 of 52)

– 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/

The last quote related to his Nobel Prize – and it’s his banquet speech.

Here is the speech in full:

“Your Majesty, your royal highnesses, ladies and gentlemen. The work I have done has already been adequately rewarded and recognized. Imagination reaches out repeatedly trying to achieve some higher level of understanding until suddenly I found myself momentarily alone before one new corner of nature’s pattern of beauty and true majesty revealed. That was my reward. Then, having fashioned tools to make access easier to the new level, I see these tools used by other men, straining their imaginations against further mysteries beyond. There are my votes of recognition. Then comes the prize, and a deluge of messages — from friends, from relatives, from students, from former teachers, from scientific colleagues, from total strangers. Formal commendations, silly jokes, parties, presents, a multitude of messages in a multitude of forms. But in each I saw the same two common elements. I saw in each joy, and I saw affection. You see, whatever modesty I may have had has been completely swept away in recent days. The prize was a signal to permit them to express and me to learn about their feelings. Each joy, though transient still, repeated in so many places, amounts to a considerable sum of human happiness. And each note of affection, released thus one upon another, has permitted me to realize a depth of love for my friends and acquaintances, which I had never felt so poignantly before. For this, I thank Alfred Nobel and the many who worked so hard to carry out his wishes in this particular way. And so, you Swedish people with your honors and your trumpets and your king — forgive me, for I understand at last, such things provide entrance to the heart. Used by a wise and peaceful people, they can generate good feeling, even love among men, even in lands far beyond your own. For that lesson, I thank you. Tack!”
Richard P. Feynman’s Nobel banquet speech

Showing real grace and style following his earlier comments, when he said, “I won’t have anything to do with a Nobel Prize.”

To end, a final Nobel Prize related gag:

I was at a party and there was a big bowl of mixed alcohol and fruit juice, with a long line of brain surgeons, rocket scientists, and Nobel prize winners all queuing up to drink it…
…I thought what a great punch line.

Stargazing Guy

“And so, you Swedish people with your honors and your trumpets and your king — forgive me, for I understand at last, such things provide entrance to the heart.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 13 of 52)

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“And so, you Swedish people with your honors and your trumpets and your king — forgive me, for I understand at last, such things provide entrance to the heart.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 13 of 52)

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