“When Feynman faces a problem, he’s unusually good at going back to being like a child, ignoring what everyone else thinks… He was so unstuck - if something didn’t work, he’d look at it another way.” - Marvin Minsky, MIT This was how Feynman approached all knowledge: What can I know for sure, and how can I come to know it? It resulted in his famous quote, “You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Feynman believed it and practiced it in all of his intellectual work. (Feynman’s early notebooks are records of him deriving algebra, calculus, trigonometry, and various higher maths on his own, with original results and notation.)
The Feynman method of thought was developed by a man who refused conventional wisdom at all turns and who sought to build his mental computer from the ground up, starting with an understanding of mathematics at a very young age. His lectures continue to be available in many places, providing a deep, fundamental, intuitive way to understand physics. He made his mark as an original genius, starting with his work on the Manhattan Project in his early twenties, through winning a Nobel Prize for his work in developing an understanding of quantum mechanics, and finally as a much-loved professor of undergraduate physics at Caltech. “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Below, we collect much of his wisdom in one place. Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was one of the great scientists and physicists of our time, truly one of the great minds of humanity.