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A comment on Richard Feynman's Blackboard at the Time of His Death (1988). Parent comment

Re:Richard Feynman's Blackboard at the Time of His Death (1988) by jimbokun on Friday February 21, 2025 @03:50PM (#43132812)
> Rather, it's a critique of the mythbuilding that seems to surround Feynman--and only Feynman, you don't see this stuff around (say) Hawking or Einstein--that turn him into the only physicist worth emulating.

He's the only one who left behind a model for how to go about emulating him.

Hawking and Einstein left behind their work but nothing I'm aware of teaching others how to do comparable work.

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Re:Richard Feynman's Blackboard at the Time of His Death (1988) by gitremote on Saturday February 22, 2025 @12:42AM (#43136415)
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is not about how to do physics, and the book was ghostwritten, by a non-physicist.
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Re:Richard Feynman's Blackboard at the Time of His Death (1988) by WesolyKubeczek on Saturday February 22, 2025 @07:53AM (#43138585)
It's “ghostwritten” by the same measures interviews are. There exist recordings of Feynman telling the stories to Ralph Leighton.
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Re:Richard Feynman's Blackboard at the Time of His Death (1988) by gitremote on Saturday February 22, 2025 @08:54AM (#43138957)
As the video points out, Feynman was telling tall tales to impress a much younger man, Ralph Leighton. Ralph Leighton decided to publish stories that told a specific narrative, that being an asshole was cool, and he omitted more wholesome stories about Feynman being supportive of women.
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