Joan Feynman - My brother, Richard: How he came to be so smart (7/18)

To listen to more of Joan Feynman’s stories, go to the playlist: • Joan Feynman (Scientist)
Joan Feynman (1927-2020) is an American astrophysicist. She has made important contributions to the study of solar wind particles and fields, sun-Earth relations and magnetospheric physics. [Listeners: Christopher Sykes, Alexander Ruzmaikin; date recorded: 2019]
TRANSCRIPT: My father believed that every household that had a child should have an Encyclopaedia Britannica in it because then they could take any... anything that came up, they could read in the encyclopedia. So we had an Encyclopaedia Britannica. And one of the things we liked to do... my father liked to do was just take a volume and open it at random and read what was there out loud. And then sometimes he'd hand it around and read some other article that caught our eye. So that was one of the things.
My father was interested in science but didn't have the money to go to college. But Richard was from the beginning interested in numbers. My mother tells a story she had him in a... in a little tricycle. She was going to take him to buy some things. And they passed a place that was building a new house and their horses were going down into the hole and coming up with the dirt to make the... And my mother said, 'Look, Richard, horses'. And my brother looked at them and said, 'Two horses down and one horsey up, it's three horses'. So it came along with Richard, I think.
Instead of telling Richard all the things about science that he could or getting him chemistry sets or things like that, my father played a game with him which he invented, which I think was very useful in Richard's career. Richard was still a baby. My father bought some tiles from... They used to sell... when there was a fire, they used to sell the stuff that remained to everyone around. My father got some blue tiles and some white tiles for bathroom floors. And then he would sit with Richard and he would take a white tile and put it down then he'd put another white tile then he'd put a blue tile and another blue tile. And Richard was always supposed to put the next one. So he learnt to recognize patterns and numbers. And I think that at such a young age, being rather advanced operation of your brain. I think that was could very well have been involved. But nobody... It surprises me. Everybody agrees that Richard was unusually smart except Richard, of course. But nobody asks anything about how he was educated. What was done to make this kid smarter so they could try it, at least. They're just okay, he was a no ordinary genius. But yes, he was just a smart guy and I think that game must have been very useful because that's a high thing that the brain does, recognize patterns. And in science, it's enormously important because you notice that if this happens that happens, if this doesn't happen that doesn't. If this doesn't happen, this doesn't happen or sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it does. But all those patterns are things that I at least when I'm trying to do some science, look for those patterns and try to understand why they're there. And that it's proven quite useful. I got a medal, exceptional contributions to cosmic rays and disturbances in space. I'll find out what it says.
My father was very smart, I think, but he had no education. And he had high blood pressure which meant that at a young age he was ill. But he was interested in all kinds of things of nature. The boys were educated so they could make a living, the women didn't work in those days, so there was no reason why they should be. She [my mother] worked and she's one of the reasons I had the courage to do so.

[@orcvsivstitia7608]

4 comments made me sad but I think Mrs. Joan was right. She seems pretty smart too. I truly wish I could have met him over even Kurt Cobain and I'm 42. Richard Feyman is one the most important people I've ever come across. Helped me in life in ways even his diagrams couldn't calculate the sum of. Helped me raise my kids, teach them and made me get the bologna out of my sandwich. I wish I could have thanked him for it. Thanks for posting this whomever.

[@sylviev5745]

They are both fantastic human beings! Richard was an excellent teacher but also a great brother and human being. Thanks for sharing!

[@pepelemoko01]

Are you sure that's his sister, her accent and facial features are nothing alike?

[@kajgenell]

Fantastic father!!!

[@JarinUdom]

Richard had the books and the accolades and the epaulettes, but Joan was also brilliant

[@Mahesh_Meghwal_12]

Seeing her also reminds me of sir feynman. Her face and hairstyle has those features ;)

[@mikhaill5030]

She even sounds like him

[@TW-vw4ss]

motivating, thanks for sharing!

[@Leopar525]

Brilliant. Thank you

[@thefakenewsnetwork8072]

Long live freedom and the feynman's legacies

[@willtowin9996]

this speak touch my heart deeply and patterns recognition is an effective way to rise any child abilities .. rip

[@andypanda6810]

Fantastic thanks

[@JoelBondurant]

More!

[@ahmidalgdafe264]

great thank you

[@Andrew-xm8xt]

I'm buying an Encyclopedia Britannica for me and my son.

[@djtan3313]

Touched by god d Feynmans.

[@Scientist287]

What is this tile game which she speaks about? Can someone explain it to me? Feynman’s dad puts down tiles which create a pattern and then asks baby Feynman to complete the implied pattern?

[@webofstories]

The alternating dark tile and white tiles create a battern in a baby's brain which sharpens inteligence

[@onlyguitar1001]

awww Lil Dicky

[@yoursubconscious]

my education was a slow beginning, so I thought. it amazes me how much my mind actually understood. It questioned everything. edit: I hope she found out was in that metal after the interview.

[@Kissmyass8777]

I can see and hear him in her

[@madfoxcityemnau6414]

Yes too bad his parents didnt get the limelight in a way that could be emulated. Certainly, few adults, especially teachers, the men and women who spend the most time with our children, could have emulated. I always feel that it is lost on many of us how we most importantly are our children's FIRST teachers. It was a different, more grounded generation those raised in the 30s and 40s and writing history for the postmodern era. Oh, we could do such a better job at encouraging pattern recognition at the very least, causation not just correlation. No gen is perfect, but remebering combing through the encyclopedia just makes youtube feel so shallow, and all the while, my phone is clocking an algorithm just for me. 😂