Making Stuff

While working at Los Alamos on the secret Manhattan Project, Richard Feynman was earning just $380 a month. This was half what he needed to cover his living expenses and his wife’s medical needs. On weekends, Feynman drove to Albuquerque to see his ailing wife in a car borrowed from his friend Klaus Fuchs. 

When asked who at Los Alamos was most likely to be a spy, Fuchs speculated that Feynman, with his safe cracking and frequent trips to Albuquerque, was the culprit. Fuchs later confessed to being a spy for the Soviet Union in 1950. Some speculate that Feynman caught him. I agree. 

But many in the FBI kept records on Feynman. They believed he was a communist spy. 

Feynman could explain complex issues with the gift of metaphors. He eventually became a teacher.  Perhaps the best physics teacher ever. 

On politics Feynman once wrote to his wife “Nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity—and until they do (and find the cure), all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.

As American politicians turn back toward fossil fuels and away from solar, I’m pretty sure I know what Richard Feynman would think. “It isn’t the stuff, but the power to make the stuff, that is important. But I realize now that these people were not in science; they didn’t understand it. They didn’t understand technology."

Here's a good read recommended by Best Camera 

Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman

by Rob Adamson
contributing editor