The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know.
I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I
turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a
smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old.
Can I give you a hug?” I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of
course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze. “Why are you in
college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked. She jokingly replied,
“I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of
kids…” “No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated
her to be taking on this challenge at her age. “I always dreamed of
having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a
chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next
three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was
always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her
wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose
became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She
loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her
from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the
semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never
forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the
podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her
three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed
she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so
jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll
never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.”
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing
because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only
four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You
have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When
you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around
who are dead and don’t even know it!There is a huge difference between
growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie
in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will
turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed
for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can
grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow
up by always finding opportunity in change.
Have no regrets. The
elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for
things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with
regrets.” She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our
daily lives. At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had
begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died
peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended
her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example
that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be .When you finish
reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends
and family, they’ll really enjoy it!"
Today we commemorate the birth anniversary of the legendary theoretical physicist, Richard 'Dick' Feynman.-Richard P. Feynman was born in New York City on the 11th May 1918. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he obtained his B.Sc. in 1939 and at Princeton University where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1942. He was Research Assistant at Princeton (1940-1941), Professor of Theoretical Physics at Cornell University (1945-1950), Visiting Professor and thereafter appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (1950-1959)
He is known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time
He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb and was a member of the Rogers Commission, the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and introducing the concept of nanotechnology.
Feynman was a keen popularizer of physics through both books and lectures, notably a 1959 talk on top-down nanotechnology called, There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, and the three volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman also became known through his semi-autobiographical books, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, and books written about him, such as Tuva or Bust!.
Flowers, music, strip clubs, bongos, Tuva, lock picking, hieroglyphics, painting, poetry, electrons and photons ...Richard Feynman's scientific curiosity knew no bounds and is an inspiration to many students of physics.
Here, you can know more about the genius extraordinaire,
(1974). "Cargo Cult Science" (PDF). Engineering and Science 37
http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.pdf
Richard Feynman Video - The Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures
http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8
Richard Feynman Messenger Lectures: The Character of Physical Law
http://www.cosmolearning.com/courses/richard-feynman-messenger-lectures-the-character-of-physical-law-472/
Nobel Lecture
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-lecture.html
Richard Feynman on Teaching
http://www.pitt.edu/~druzdzel/feynman.html
Horizon: Richard Feynman - No Ordinary Genius (full version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzg1CU8t9nw
Richard Phillips Feynman - The Last Journey Of A Genius
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4_40hAAr0
TEDxCaltech - Leonard Susskind on My friend Richard Feynman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjwotips7E
Feynman Diagrams - Sixty Symbols
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bbJeMBHq0g
The Science and Mathematics team wishes that Feynman's legacy lives on and continues to inspire countless students to pursue their passion in science.
