Jörg Resag - Feynman and His Physics: The Life and Science of an Extraordinary Man

Lifetimes of the most famous physicists since 1830

Richard Feynman (Fig. ) was one of the most remarkable and famous physicists in the mid- and late twentieth century. On the one hand, this was due to his outstanding achievements in physics, to which we will return in detail in this book. Feynman belonged to the first generation of young physicists who were already familiarized with quantum mechanics during their studies. Prepared in this way, he and some of his colleagues later succeeded in overcoming the enormous difficulties that arose in combining Einsteins Special Theory of Relativity with the principles of quantum mechanics. While his colleagues mostly relied on abstract mathematical formalisms, Feynman followed a more intuitive approach that was typical of him. Based on his own vivid idea of the quantum behavior of particles, he created a completely new formulation of quantum theory which has become the standard tool in relativistic quantum theory today: path integrals and Feynman diagrams. Together with Julian Schwinger and Shinichir Tomonaga, he received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965.

But Feynman was not satisfied with that. He was interested in many aspects of physics and was reluctant to commit himself to a single specialty. With his physical intuition, his mathematical abilities, and his deep understanding of quantum theory, he was also able to lead the way in other areas of physics, for example, in the physics of low temperatures (superconductivity and superfluidity). Regarding the so-called weak interaction that triggers, among other things, the radioactive beta decay of atomic nuclei, he and others explained how nature violates the law of reflection symmetry nature fundamentally distinguishes between right and left! In particle physics, he showed how the data for the scattering of high-energy electrons on protons could be explained by the fact that the electrons were deflected by point-like particles within the protons (partons or quarks).