Richard Feynman factual error

kamabi · 973338. Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:23 am

Hi, I've come late to The Book of the Dead and been dipping in and finding goodies, but I was shocked to find that you said RF received the Nobel Prize in 1948 when he was 30. He's been a hero of mine for a while, read the various books about and by him - it was 1965 when he got it.

He so hated the way its aura made people respect him but not listen to him; I think his life would have been totally different if he'd had to cope with that 17 years earlier, as he was an egalitarian straight-talker. And it misrepresents him by making his life look a triumphant early success, when the reality was much more complex (see Gleick's biography for details).

But anyway it's just not true - he got it for work he did in '48, which is probably where this egregious (always wanted to use that word) error originated.

Jenny · 973491. Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:00 pm

Hi kamabi and thanks for this. Welcome to the QI forums :-)

Posital · 973508. Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:58 pm

Welcome Kamabi. You'd get extra QI points if you finished your post with: QED.

CB27 · 973516. Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:19 pm

Well spotted quibble, looks like someone misread their facts before including them in the book :)