American physicist

Richard Feynman's career spanned some of the greatest discoveries of twentieth century physics, from developing the atomic bomb and studying quantum electrodynamics (QED) to solving the riddle of the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

Feynman received the 1965 Nobel Prize for his work regarding the interaction of light and matter, which he shared with Shin'ichio Tomonaga and Julian Schwinger. Other honors he received include the Albert Einstein Award (1954), the Niels Bohr International Gold Medal (1973) and membership in the National Academy of Sciences (1954).

Richard Phillips Feynman was born in Queens, New York. His parents were Lucille Phillips and Melville Feynman, a clothing salesman originally from Minsk. Feynman was interested in science from an early age, when he tinkered with crystal radio sets. His father had predicted that his first child, if a boy, would be a scientist; Mr. Feynman got more than he bargained for...