Richard Fenman's Accomplishments

1426 Words6 Pages
Doctor Richard P. Feynman is a little known scientist to the public, despite his ground-breaking and influential works in physics. Best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (Weisstein) and the Manhattan Project (Richard Phillips), he is considered one of the most influential scientists in recent history, and is partly responsible for popularizing the sciences to the public. Despite all of his innumerable accolades, he is one of the lesser known scientists of recent history for what he accomplished. Doctor Feynman was born on the 11th of May, 1918 in Manhattan, New York, and was the son of Lucille and Melville Feynman. Both of his parents originated from Russia and Poland, as both were Ashkenazi Jews. However, his parents' religion had no effect on his own beliefs, as he declared in his early youth that he was an atheist (Feynman, Surely You're Joking). Feynman took great influence from his father, who always taught him to question conventionally held values and orthodox thinking. Because of this, he had a…show more content…
His entrance into the Manhattan Project was heavily encouraged by his colleague, physicist Robert Wilson. In the Manhattan Project, Feynman was assigned to work in the theoretical division with renowned theoretical physicist Hans Bethe. Feynman's skill and rapid acquisition of the new concepts being developed impressed Bethe to the point where he made Feynman a group leader. Feynman's work partnership with Hans Bethe lead to the creation of the Bethe Feynman formula, which calculated the yield of a fission atomic bomb. His work on the project was so important, that he was present at the detonation of the Trinity Device, the very first atomic explosion created by man. Feynman's other work in Los Alamos, the location of the

More about Richard Fenman's Accomplishments

Open Document