The Brilliant Mr. Feynman

What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series.) SOURCES: Seamus Blackley, video game designer and creator of the Xbox. Carl Feynman, computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman. 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. Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University. Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker. Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language. Alan Zorthian, architect. RESOURCES: "Love After Life: Nobel-Winning Physicist Richard Feynman’s Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife," by Maria Popova (The Marginalian, 2017). Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011). The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999). Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992). "G. Feynman; Landscape Expert, Physicist’s Widow," (Los Angeles Times, 1990). "Nobel Physicist R. P. Feynman of Caltech Dies," by Lee Dye (Los Angeles Times, 1988). The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985). Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983). "Richard P. Feynman: Nobel Prize Winner," by Tim Hendrickson, Stuart Galley, and Fred Lamb (Engineering and Science, 1965). F.B.I. files on Richard Feynman. EXTRAS: "The Curious Mr. Feynman," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).