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460 points jxmorris12 | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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blks[dead post] ◴[] No.44381620[source]
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kunley ◴[] No.44381661[source]
citation needed
replies(3): >>44381846 #>>44381847 #>>44382311 #
1. renhanxue ◴[] No.44382311[source]
Astrophysicist Angela Collier's video essay "the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" [0] is a good introduction. Her accounts of her own encounters with "Feynman bros" are heart-wrenching.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc

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2. rixed ◴[] No.44384531[source]
She seems to have missed the real reason why Feynman became so "popular": his series of textbooks. Maybe his name is not associated with such historical discoveries as those of Newton, Boltzmann or Einstein are, but writing one of the best textbook series is also a good reason to be famous, at least for as long as the content will remain relevant. Feynman, to me, is the American Landau: A mathematical and scientific genius whose immensely valuable legacy consists of teaching and textbooks rather than any novel breakthrough in theory.

Apart if you want more clicks on YouTube, I don't think it's fair to call him a sham, unless you believe every popularity is a sham, but I don't think it's the case being made here.

replies(1): >>44385011 #
3. renhanxue ◴[] No.44385011[source]
What a baffling comment. Feynman won a Nobel prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics, and yet he's not known for theory work?

Also, Feynman never wrote any books. His "textbooks" are lecture notes, mostly compiled by other people.