The Curious Mr. Feynman (Update)

May 22, 2026 · 1h 03m

From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist 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? (Part one of a three-part series originally published in 2024.) SOURCES: Helen Czerski , physicist and oceanographer at University College London. Michelle Feynman , photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman. Ralph Leighton , biographer and film producer. Charles Mann , science journalist and author. John Preskill , professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology. Stephen Wolfram , founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language. RESOURCES: " How Legendary Physicist Richard Feynman Helped Crack the Case on the Challenger Disaster ," by Kevin Cook ( Literary Hub, 2021). Challenger: The Final Flight , docuseries (2020). Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman , edited by Michelle Feynman (2005). The Pleasure of Finding Things Out , by Richard Feynman (1999). Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman , by…

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