SURELY YOU ARE JOKING, MR. FEYNMAN! IS A WITTY AND FUNNY SELF-PORTRAIT OF THE FAMOUS THEORETICAL PHYSICIST RICHARD FEYNMAN. THE BOOK IS A TRANSCRIPTION OF SEVERAL TAPED CONVERSATIONS THAT THE PHYSICIST HAD WITH A FRIEND. RALPH LEIGHTON. THE TEXT HAS BEEN CHANGED VERY MILDLY WHEN COMPARED TO THE SPOKEN WORDS IN THE TAPES AND SO, IT HAS A FAST AND CRISP STYLE. RICHARD FEYNMAN WAS A MULTIFACETED PERSONALITY WHO DID NOT LIMIT HIS INTEREST TO JUST PHYSICS. HE WAS CURIOUS ABOUT EVERYTHING AND EXPERIMENTED WITH MANY THINGS TO TEST HIS LIMITS AND DISCOVER NEW TALENTS WITHIN HIMSELF. FEYNMAN WAS A PRACTICAL JOKER WHO LEARNT SAFE-CRACKING FOR FUN. HE COULD PAINT AND WAS A GOOD DRUMMER TOO. THE BOOK IS A COLLECTION OF FUNNY ANECDOTES. ONE INTERESTING ANECDOTE SHARES THE STORY OF HOW HE WAS REJECTED BY THE DRAFT BOARD BECAUSE HE WAS THOUGHT TO BE MENTALLY UNSTABLE. THE REASON WAS THE ANSWER HE GAVE TO THE QUESTION DO YOU HEAR VOICES IN YOUR HEAD?. HE ANSWERED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE AND THEN WENT ON TO DESCRIBE WHY HE FOUND THE PHENOMENON INTERESTING. FEYNMAN SAID THAT WHENEVER HE FELL ASLEEP OR WAS JUST WAKING UP, HE WOULD HAVE IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS WITH HIS FOREIGN COLLEAGUES. IN THESE FICTIONAL CONVERSATIONS INSIDE HIS HEAD, HE WAS ABLE TO PERFECTLY MIMIC EACH PERSONS ACCENT, BUT HE COULD NOT DO THIS WHEN HE WAS SPEAKING WHILE AWAKE. HE WAS CURIOUS ABOUT HOW ONE PART OF HIS BRAIN HAD SUCCEEDED IN CAPTURING THESE ACCENTS, BUT THE PART THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ACTUAL SPEECH COULD NOT DO SO. THERE ARE MANY SUCH HILARIOUS EPISODES FROM HIS LIFE, BUT THROUGH IT ALL, FEYNMANS TRUE PERSONALITY COMES THROUGH AS AN ICONOCLAST AND SKEPTIC WHO NEVER ACCEPTED ANYTHING WITH EVEN PROVEN THEORIES WITHOUT TESTING THEM ONCE HIMSELF. HE HAD A PASSION FOR TEACHING AND COULD SIMPLIFY THE EXPLANATIONS OF THE MOST DIFFICULT CONCEPTS TO MAKE THEM EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE TO ANY TYPE OF AUDIENCE. FEYNMAN WAS FIRMLY OPPOSED TO EDUCATION SYSTEMS THAT PROMOTED LEARNING BY ROTE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPTS.
प्रसिद्धीचे वलय सदैव ज्या शास्त्रज्ञांभोवती राहिले, त्यातील पहिला शास्त्रज्ञ होता आईनस्टाईन, तर दुसरे नाव होते रिचर्ड फाईनमन!
आईनस्टाईननंतर फिजिक्स ज्या टप्प्यावर काही काळ थांबलं होतं, त्या टप्प्यावरून फिजिक्सला पुढे नेण्यामध्ये रिचर्ड फाईनमन यांचा सिंहाचा वाटा होता. ते द्रष्टे शास्त्रज्ञ होते. नॅनो टेक्नॉलॉजीच्या तंत्राची चाहूल त्यांनी अनेक वर्षे आधीच युवा शास्त्रज्ञांना दिली होती.
अणुबॉम्बच्या चाचणीचा स्फोट गॉगल न घालता, केवळ उघड्या डोळ्यांनी पाहणा-या या शास्त्रज्ञाने आपले संपूर्ण जीवन, असे उघड्या डोळ्यांनीच व्यतीत केले. प्रतिष्ठा, पदव्या आणि मानसन्मान निग्रहाने नाकारून सदैव भौतिकशास्त्राचेच सेवाव्रत अंगीकारले.
संशोधन आणि शिक्षण क्षेत्रातील आपला प्रामाणिकपणा सातत्याने टिकवत असतानाच, जीवनातील विविध अनुभवांना एका निखळ मिश्कीलतेने फाईनमन सामोरे गेले. विज्ञान क्षेत्रात चिकित्सक वृत्ती जागृत ठेवणारे शिक्षण, हेच खरे शिक्षण असे मानून त्याचा पाठपुरावा विद्याथ्र्यांना करायला लावणारा हा शास्त्रज्ञ म्हणजे बुद्धिमत्ता, सचोटी आणि विज्ञाननिष्ठेचे अजब रसायन होता.