Richard P. Feynmanwas a professor of physics at Caltech from 1959 to 1988. In 1965 he shared a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the development of quantum electrodynamics. Through his popular books, Feynman has become one of the most beloved figures of the twentieth century.Robert B. Leightonwas a physicist and astronomer, an esteemed teacher and textbook author, and professor at Caltech for many years.Matthew Sandshas been a professor at Caltech, deputy director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and vice chancellor for science at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Sands spearheaded reforms in the Caltech undergraduate physics program that createdThe Feynman Lectures… on Physics.
Richard Feynman, an American theoretical physicist, received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1942 and worked at Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the atomic bomb during World War II. From 1945 to 1950, he taught at Cornell University and became professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology in 1950. Feynman made important contributions to quantum electrodynamics (QED) and electromagnetic interactions, such as interactions among electrons. In Feynman's approach, interactions are considered exchanges of virtual particles. For example, Feynman explained the interaction of two electrons as an exchange of virtual photons. Feynman's theory has proved to be accurate in… its predictions. In 1965 the Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to three pioneers in quantum electrodynamics: Feynman, Julian Schwinger, and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. Feynman was an outspoken critic of NASA for its failure to notice flaws in the design of the Challenger space shuttle, which resulted in its tragic explosion.