Richard Feynman.

Richard Phillips Feynman

Richard Feynman — Academic

Born 11 May 1918 Brooklyn, United States

Died 15 Feb 1988 United States

Citizenship United States

Would Be 108 yr If Living

13 min read

Reading time

2,416

Words

Mar 14, 2026

Published

14

Film credits

93

Books

9

Awards

TL;DR

Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for quantum electrodynamics. He showed the cause of the Challenger disaster by demonstrating O-rings failed in cold temperatures. He worked on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, developed Feynman diagrams, and was a teacher and author.

Identity & family.

KIN · 7

Names, aliases, and relatives of Richard Feynman — birth name, kin, and personal ties.

Native Name Richard Phillips Feynman

Aliases Dr. Richard Feynman, Prof. R. Feynman, Richard P. Feynman

PARENTS: Lucille Feynman Melville Arthur Feynman
SPOUSES: Gweneth Howarth Mary Louise Bell Arlene Greenbaum
CHILDREN: Michelle Feynman
SIBLINGS: Joan Feynman

At a glance.

STATS

Richard Feynman by the numbers — life, work, and family.

69 Years lived

14 Film credits

93 Books

9 Awards

3 Marriages

1 Child

Who was Richard Feynman?

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Feynman — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.

Early life

Richard Feynman’s father, sales manager Melville Arthur Feynman, encouraged his curiosity about the natural world. Feynman was a late talker, not speaking until age three. He was born on May 11, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, to Lucille and Melville. At Far Rockaway High School, he excelled in mathematics and physics.

Feynman earned his bachelor’s degree from MIT in 1939 and completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1942. These early experiences influenced his later work.

Career

During World War II, Feynman worked at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project, helping develop the atomic bomb. After the war, he taught at Cornell University and later the California Institute of Technology. In 1948, he developed Feynman diagrams, a tool for understanding particle interactions. For his work on quantum electrodynamics, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga.

In 1986, Feynman joined the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger disaster. He proved that the O-rings failed in cold weather by demonstrating with a piece of O-ring and a glass of ice water on national television. Feynman also wrote several popular books, including Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and The Feynman Lectures on Physics.

Personal life

Feynman married three times: Arlene Greenbaum in 1942 she died in 1945, Mary Louise Bell in 1952 divorced 1956, and Gweneth Howarth in 1960 until his death. He had two children: Carl, born 1962, and Michelle, born 1968. His younger sister, Joan Feynman, worked as an astrophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Feynman was of Lithuanian Jewish descent and his native language was English.

Feynman played the bongo drums and experimented with marijuana and LSD, but gave up alcohol due to addiction concerns. He drew and signed his sketches under the pen name Ofey.

Legacy

Stephen Hawking called Richard Feynman the greatest scientific mind since Albert Einstein. His Feynman diagrams remain fundamental to theoretical physics. In 2005, the United States Postal Service issued a 37-cent commemorative stamp honoring him as part of the American Scientists series.

Feynman’s influence extends beyond physics through his books and teaching. He is remembered for his work in quantum electrodynamics, his role in the Challenger investigation, and his ability to explain complex ideas simply.

Filmography.

FILMS · 14

Browse the complete filmography of Richard Feynman — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.

TV

Horizon

1964
Movie

Hackers Wanted

2009
Movie

Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs

2005
Movie

About Time

1962
TV

The Character of Physical Law

1964
Movie

The Fantastic Mr Feynman

2013
Movie

Anti-Clock

1979

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Awards & honors.

AWARDS · 9

Every award, honor, and recognition received by Richard Feynman — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.

Nobel Prize in Physics
Oersted Medal
Niels Bohr International Gold Medal
Albert Einstein Award
Foreign Member of the Royal Society
National Medal of Science
Fellow of the American Physical Society
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award
Putnam Fellow

Bibliography.

BOOKS · 93

Richard Feynman's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.

Amazon

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman

by Richard Phillips Feynman et al.
Amazon

The Feynman Lectures on Physics

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

What Do You Care What Other People Think?

by Richard Phillips Feynman et al.
Amazon

The Character of Physical Law

by Richard Phillips Feynman et al.
Amazon

Six Easy Pieces

by Richard Phillips Feynman et al.
Amazon

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

by Richard Phillips Feynman et al.
Amazon

The Meaning of It All

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

Six Not-so-easy Pieces

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

Feynman Lectures on Gravitation

by Richard Phillips Feynman et al.
Amazon

Quantum Electrodynamics

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

The Theory of Fundamental Processes

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

Lectures on Physics

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

Le Cours De Physique De Feynman

by Richard Phillips Feynman
Amazon

No Ordinary Genius

by Richard Phillips Feynman

Could not load more books.

Notable quotes.

QUOTES · 11

A wall of memorable lines from Richard Feynman — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.

For Those Who Want Some Proof That Physicists Are Human, the Proof Is in the Idiocy of All the Different Units Which They Use for Measuring Energy.
The Stars Are Made of the Same Atoms as the Earth. I Usually Pick One Small Topic Like This to Give a Lecture On. Poets Say Science Takes Away from the Beauty of the Stars Mere Gobs of Gas Atoms. Nothing Is Mere. I Too Can See the Stars on a Desert Night, and Feel Them. but Do I See Less or More? the Vastness of the Heavens Stretches My Imagination Stuck on This Carousel My Little Eye Can Catch One Million Year Old Light. a Vast Pattern of Which I Am a Part Perhaps My Stuff Was Belched from Some Forgotten Star, as One Is Belching There. or See Them with the Greater Eye of Palomar, Rushing All Apart from Some Common Starting Point When They Were Perhaps All Together. What Is the Pattern, or the Meaning, or the Why? It Does Not Do Harm to the Mystery to Know a Little About It. for Far More Marvelous Is the Truth Than Any Artists of the Past Imagined! Why Do the Poets of the Present Not Speak of It? What Men Are Poets Who Can Speak of Jupiter If He Were Like a Man, but If He Is an Immense Spinning Sphere of Methane and Ammonia Must Be Silent?
I Was Born Not Knowing and Have Had Only a Little Time to Change That Here and There.
Philosophers Say a Great Deal About What Is Absolutely Necessary for Science, and It Is Always, so Far as One Can See, Rather Naive, and Probably Wrong.
The First Principle Is That You Must Not Fool Yourself and You Are the Easiest Person to Fool.
We Are at the Very Beginning of Time for the Human Race. It Is Not Unreasonable That We Grapple with Problems. but There Are Tens of Thousands of Years in the Future. Our Responsibility Is to Do What We Can, Learn What We Can, Improve the Solutions, and Pass Them On.
You Can Know the Name of a Bird in All the Languages of the World, but When You’re Finished, You’ll Know Absolutely Nothing Whatever About the Bird… so Let’s Look at the Bird and See What It’s Doing That’s What Counts. I Learned Very Early the Difference Between Knowing the Name of Something and Knowing Something.
I Believe That a Scientist Looking at Nonscientific Problems Is Just as Dumb as the Next Guy.
People Who Wish to Analyze Nature Without Using Mathematics Must Settle for a Reduced Understanding.
The Theoretical Broadening Which Comes from Having Many Humanities Subjects on the Campus Is Offset by the General Dopiness of the People Who Study These Things.
I’d Rather Have Questions That Can’t Be Answered Than Answers That Can’t Be Questioned.

Did you know?

FACTS · 15

Little-known facts about Richard Feynman — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.

Feynman served on the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger space shuttle disaster and reported that the O-ring failure caused the explosion.
His younger sister Joan Feynman 30 March 1927 – 22 July 2020 was an astrophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Lab and married Alexander Ruzmaikin.
According to his book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, he started drumming at Los Alamos after hearing Indian drumming, and later taught himself African drumming using sheet music from the Watusi tribe.
Stephen Hawking said Richard Feynman was the greatest scientific mind since Albert Einstein.
An IQ test in high school estimated his IQ at 125, which biographer James Gleick called merely respectable; his sister Joan scored higher.
He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 and considered turning it down.
He signed all his sketches and drawings under the pen name Ofey to avoid recognition.
He had two children: Carl born 1962 and Michelle born 1968.
His last name is pronounced Fine-man, though many Europeans say Fane-man.
He was a late talker and did not speak until age three.
He experimented with marijuana and LSD but gave up alcohol when he showed minor signs of addiction.
He was of Lithuanian Jewish descent.
He was pictured on a 37-cent USA commemorative postage stamp honoring American Scientists, issued 4 May 2005, alongside Barbara McClintock, John von Neumann, and Josiah Willard Gibbs.
A biography of Feynman appears in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume Two, 1986-1990.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Chain of Command, Part I, the shuttle used by Picard, Worf, and Crusher is called the Feynman.

You wanted to know.

FAQ · 47

Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Richard Feynman.

When was Richard Feynman born?

Richard Feynman was born on May 11, 1918. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Where was Richard Feynman born?

Richard Feynman was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was born on May 11, 1918.
When did Richard Feynman die?

Richard Feynman died on February 15, 1988. He was 69 years old.
Where did Richard Feynman die?

Richard Feynman died in California, USA. The cause of death was abdominal cancer.
How did Richard Feynman die?

Richard Feynman died of abdominal cancer on February 15, 1988. He was 69 years old.
How old was Richard Feynman when he died?

Richard Feynman was 69 years old when he died on February 15, 1988. He died of abdominal cancer in California.
What was Richard Feynman's birth name?

Richard Feynman’s full birth name was Richard Phillips Feynman. He was born on May 11, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York.
How tall was Richard Feynman?

Richard Feynman was 6 feet 0 inches tall, or 1.83 meters. His height was noted in his biographical records.
What nationality was Richard Feynman?

Richard Feynman was an American. He was born in the United States and held U.S. citizenship.
What language did Richard Feynman speak?

Richard Feynman’s native language was English. He was born and raised in the United States.
Who were Richard Feynman's parents?

Richard Feynman’s parents were Lucille Feynman and Melville Arthur Feynman. His father was a sales manager who encouraged his curiosity.
Who was Richard Feynman married to?

Richard Feynman was married three times: Arlene Greenbaum 1942-1944, Mary Louise Bell 1952-1956, and Gweneth Howarth 1960-1988. His first wife died of tuberculosis.
Did Richard Feynman have children?

Yes, Richard Feynman had two children: Carl, born in 1962, and Michelle, born in 1968. They were from his marriage to Gweneth Howarth.
Did Richard Feynman have any siblings?

Yes, Richard Feynman had a younger sister, Joan Feynman. She became an astrophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Where did Richard Feynman go to school?

Richard Feynman attended Far Rockaway High School, then earned his bachelor’s from MIT and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He also studied at other institutions.
What awards did Richard Feynman win?

Richard Feynman won numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, the National Medal of Science, the Oersted Medal, and the Albert Einstein Award. He also received the Niels Bohr International Gold Medal.
How many awards did Richard Feynman win?

Richard Feynman won nine awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics. He also received many honorary degrees and fellowships.
What is Richard Feynman best known for?

Richard Feynman is known for his work in quantum electrodynamics, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He also investigated the Challenger space shuttle disaster and developed Feynman diagrams.
What alias did Richard Feynman use for his drawings?

Richard Feynman signed his sketches and drawings under the pen name Ofey. He did this so people would not know he was the artist.
Did Richard Feynman serve on the Challenger disaster commission?

Yes, Richard Feynman served on the Rogers Commission investigating the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. He demonstrated that the O-rings failed in cold weather.
What was Richard Feynman's IQ?

A high-school-administered IQ test estimated Richard Feynman’s IQ at 125. Biographer James Gleick described it as merely respectable, though Feynman’s sister Joan scored higher.
Did Richard Feynman experiment with drugs?

Yes, Richard Feynman experimented with marijuana and LSD. He gave up alcohol when he showed minor signs of addiction.
Did Richard Feynman play the drums?

Yes, Richard Feynman played the bongo drums. He started drumming at Los Alamos and later taught himself African drumming from sheet music.
Was Richard Feynman a late talker?

Yes, Richard Feynman was a late talker. He did not speak a single word until he was three years old.
What pen name did Richard Feynman use?

Richard Feynman used the pen name Ofey for his sketches and drawings. He wanted to keep his artwork anonymous.
What are Feynman diagrams?

Feynman diagrams are graphical representations of particle interactions in quantum electrodynamics. Richard Feynman invented them in 1948, revolutionizing theoretical physics.
Who considered Richard Feynman the greatest scientific mind since Einstein?

Stephen Hawking called Richard Feynman the greatest scientific mind since Albert Einstein.
What was Richard Feynman's sister's profession?

Richard Feynman’s sister, Joan Feynman, was an astrophysicist. She worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was a leading researcher.
How many children did Richard Feynman have?

Richard Feynman had two children: a son named Carl born 1962 and a daughter named Michelle born 1968.
Where did Richard Feynman work during World War II?

During World War II, Richard Feynman worked at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project. He contributed to the development of the atomic bomb.
Did Richard Feynman have a postage stamp?

Yes, the United States Postal Service issued a 37-cent commemorative stamp honoring Richard Feynman on May 4, 2005. It was part of the American Scientists series.
What did Richard Feynman win the Nobel Prize for?

Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics. He shared the prize with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga.
Was Richard Feynman on the Manhattan Project?

Yes, Richard Feynman worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. He helped develop the atomic bomb during World War II.
What is the book 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman' about?

The book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman is an autobiographical collection of anecdotes. Richard Feynman wrote it, recounting his experiences in science and life.
Did Richard Feynman play the bongo drums?

Yes, Richard Feynman played the bongo drums. He learned drumming at Los Alamos and continued as a hobby throughout his life.
What university did Richard Feynman attend?

Richard Feynman attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his bachelor’s degree and Princeton University for his Ph.D. He also taught at Cornell and Caltech.
What was Richard Feynman's father's name?

Richard Feynman’s father was Melville Arthur Feynman. He worked as a sales manager and encouraged Richard’s scientific curiosity.
What was Richard Feynman's mother's name?

Richard Feynman’s mother was Lucille Feynman. She and Melville raised Richard and his sister Joan in New York.
What ethnicity was Richard Feynman?

Richard Feynman was of Lithuanian Jewish descent. His family’s roots traced back to Lithuania.
How many times was Richard Feynman married?

Richard Feynman was married three times. His first wife was Arlene Greenbaum, second Mary Louise Bell, and third Gweneth Howarth.
Who was Richard Feynman's first wife?

Richard Feynman’s first wife was Arlene Greenbaum. They married in 1942, and she died of tuberculosis in 1945.
Did Richard Feynman have a daughter?

Yes, Richard Feynman had a daughter named Michelle, born in 1968. He also had a son named Carl, born in 1962.
What was the cause of the Challenger disaster according to Feynman?

Richard Feynman determined that the Challenger disaster was caused by the failure of O-rings in the solid rocket boosters. He demonstrated the effect using a glass of ice water.
Did Richard Feynman win the National Medal of Science?

Yes, Richard Feynman was awarded the National Medal of Science. He received it in 1979 for his contributions to physics.
What is Richard Feynman's connection to the Challenger explosion?

Richard Feynman served on the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger explosion. His critical finding was that the O-rings failed due to cold temperatures.
How old was Richard Feynman when he won the Nobel Prize?

Richard Feynman was 47 years old when he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He shared the prize with two other physicists.
Did Richard Feynman have any grandchildren?

The source record does not mention grandchildren for Richard Feynman. It only lists his children Carl and Michelle.

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Published on March 14, 2026

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