Part 2: Mixing Paints Summary and Analysis

Feynman meets a painter who has been hired to paint the walls in a restaurant he frequents. The man seems to be knowledgeable and good at what he does, and Feynman is interested in what he has to say. The man insists he can make yellow paint by mixing red paint with white paint.

In spite of the fact that he is working on his doctorate at an Ivy League University, Feynman still values the working class laborer over the university intellectual (which may have something to do with conventional notions of masculinity), and is convinced this man might be aware of some physical phenomenon of which he and his colleagues are unaware. He asks to see the man make yellow paint by mixing red paint by white.

In the end, the man is unable to make...