Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) was probably the greatest physicist in recent
times. He won the Nobel Prize for successfully resolving problems
with the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He also created a
mathematical theory that accounts for the phenomenon of superfluidity
in liquid helium. With Murray Gell-Mann, he did fundamental work in the
area of weak interactions such as beta decay. In later years Feynman
played a key role in the development of quark theory by putting forward
his parton model of high energy proton collision processes.
Prof. Feynman introduced basic new computational techniques and
notations into physics, above all, the ubiquitous Feynman
diagrams that, perhaps more than any other formalism in recent
scientific history, have changed the way in which basic physical processes
are conceptualized and calculated.
