History of Science & Technology, Including the Life and Letters of Richard P. Feynman, and Space Exploration
History of Science & Technology, Including the Life and Letters of Richard P. Feynman, and Space Exploration
Property from the Family of Dr. Joan Feynman
Feynman, Richard P.
Two Autograph Letters Signed (“R.P. Feynman”), to Lucille Feynman, Discussing Assisting His Advisor, John A. Wheeler
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December 13, 08:13 PM GMT
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FEYNMAN, RICHARD P.
A pair of two autograph letters signed, discussing his work for John Archibald Wheeler and his experience teaching:
—Autograph letter signed ("R.P. Feynman."), to Lucille Feynman ("Mom"), October 2, 1939. 7 pages in ink on 2 folded sheets (7 x 10 5/8 in.) Creases where previously folded. Minor staining to first, fourth, and fifth pages.
—Autograph letter signed ("RP Feynman."), to Lucille Feynman ("Mom"), October 1939. 3 pages in ink on single folded sheet (7 x 10 5/8 in.). Creases where folded. Slight staining to top left corner of first page, discoloration to final page. [WITH]: cover addressed to Mrs. M.A. Feynman, postmarked Oct. 11, 1939, Princeton, N.J. Split to top of envelope where letter was removed. Discoloration to front and back.
FEYNMAN'S LETTERS TO HIS MOTHER IN HIS FIRST SEMESTER AT PRINCETON, SHARING DETAILS ON ASSISTING JOHN WHEELER, AND HIS OVERALL ACADEMIC LIFE
Feynman's thesis advisor at MIT, John Slater, pushed him to leave MIT for graduate school. Finding himself at Princeton in the fall of 1939, Feynman would become an assistant to professor John Archibald Wheeler, beginning a long friendship and fruitful academic partnership. Although Feynman was unsure of how he would fit in at Princeton (his informal style and lack of genteel manners were somewhat out of place at the Oxbridge-styled Princeton), academically he found it even more engaging than MIT:
"I walked down to the end of the hall, went through the door, and in ten seconds I learned why Princeton was right for me—the best place for me to go to school. In this room there were wires, cooling water was dripping from the valves, the room was full of stuff, all out in the open. Tables piled with tools were everywhere; it was the most godawful mess you ever saw. The whole cyclotron was there in one room, and it was complete, absolute chaos!
It reminded me of my lab at home. Nothing at MIT had ever reminded me on my lab at home. I suddenly realized why Princeton was getting results. They were working with the instrument. They built the instrument; they knew where everything was, they knew how everything worked..."
(Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", p. 74-5.).
Feynman notes in the first letter in this lot that, "The assisting work I do for Prof. Wheeler is very nice...I spend two whole days...working in the cyclotron laboratory because I want to. The general effect of the change in atmosphere has been of course to increase activity and interest etc. in things which are somewhat new to me — fields of mathematics that I know nothing about — because people around here talk about them."
In addition, foreshadowing Feynman's future reputation as a remarkable teacher, he discusses taking over one of Professor Wheeler's classes: "Prof. Wheeler was called away suddenly last night so I took over his course in mechanics for the day. I spent all last night preparing. It went very nicely + smoothly. It was a good experience — I guess someday I'll do a lot of that."
REFERENCES:
Feynman, Richard P. "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" Adventures of a Curious Character. New York: Norton, 2018 [1985], pp. 74-5.