Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

Feynman coins this term in his 1974 Caltech commencement address. It means, roughly, “pseudoscience.” He is referring to things such as ESP, which claims to have a scientific basis but does not follow the scientific method. Cargo Cult Science is “fake” or “trick” science that is not experimentally testable and derives from false beliefs that people would like to be true.

A worldwide economic downturn beginning in 1929 and lasting until World War II. It was the most severe economic disruption of the 20th century, leaving up to 25% of Americans unemployed. It also marked an era when the federal government began, in an effort to boost the economy, to fund many public projects. Feynman begins his memoir at the onset of the Great Depression.

A hypothesis is a tentative explanation of how or why something happens, which has not yet been proven or disproven. A hypothesis is generally proven or disproven by experimentation. A hypothesis might also be seen as formalized guess that can be put to the test. Feynman structures his thinking about many topics in this way.

Los Alamos is a city in northern New Mexico whose name has become a metonym, or substitution, for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a government facility dedicated to nuclear physics and the development of nuclear power and weaponry. It was founded in 1943 as a site that could centralize research into the atomic bomb. Top physicists were brought together at Los Alamos, and its location was a total secret from the general public.

The Manhattan Project was the government-sponsored research and development project, taking place between 1942 and 1945, that produced the world’s first atomic bombs. Nobel Prize-winning physicists Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein warned the US government, independently of each other, that it could be possible to create a weapon of catastrophic destructive power by using nuclear fission. Worried that Germany might develop the weapon first, the US government made the development of the atomic bomb a high priority under the code name “Manhattan Project” in 1942.

Awarded yearly since 1901, the Nobel Prize is given by a private foundation to people in six different fields–physic, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature, economics, and peace–to recognize those who confer great benefit to humanity. Probably the most recognized and revered prize in the world, it was established by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. Feynman was honored with the Prize in 1965.

Quantum physics is the study of matter and energy at the smallest levels. It focuses on objects at the scale of atoms or smaller. Quantum physics was developed in the early 20th century to fill gaps in classical (Newtonian) physics. Feynman is most recognized for his work in quantum physics and was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of his work in quantum electrodynamics and the physics of elementary particles.

In psychology, stream of consciousness is the term used to describe how thoughts appear and move through the mind. The term is said to have originated with American philosopher and psychologist William James. Feynman was curious about how ideas arise in himself and how they are transformed into practical ideas that can be communicated to others.