NY Times: Rough Drafts of Richard Feynman’s Ideas Head to Auction
One of the titans of 20th-century physics, Richard Feynman deciphered the interplay of fundamental particles and forces. He wrote popular books in which he portrayed himself as a charming scientific rogue, and played a key role in the investigation of the loss of the space shuttle Challenger. While brilliant, he was not perfect. That becomes evident looking at some of his papers that go up for auction on Friday.
Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for key insights in understanding the quantum version of electromagnetism, and the medal and citation that came with it is the centerpiece of the auction, conducted by Sotheby’s in New York. But the assorted writings that are also for sale by his family reveal clues into how he worked and thought.