From Wobbling Plates to Quantum Electrodynamics

“It was effortless…There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate.” (Feynman, 174)

Although he has won many other awards, Richard Feynman’s crowning achievement would arguably have to be his Nobel Prize in Physics, which he won in 1965 for his work with quantum mechanics. Throughout his autobiography, he repeatedly tells stories of how he would play around with technology and use science to create devices that would make everyday life easier. For example, in his youth, he gained quite a reputation for fixing radios and would salvage broken ones from the local market and repair them. In this quote from his autobiography, Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman, Feynman explains how his interest in the mechanics behind simple, everyday phenomena would lead him to make more complex connections. In this example specifically, he talks about how he began by modelling the movement of a wobbling plate, which then, through a series of connections, led to his work in quantum electrodynamics. This work was what won him his Nobel Prize. I find it interesting that his ground-breaking research started with such a simple idea, one that everyone is familiar with. I believe that this shows that, in addition to a solid educational background, a person must have a perpetual curiosity in the mechanics behind basic phenomena in order to succeed. Later once, a solid foundation is made, I think that the more advanced connections will follow.