Richard P. Feynman

First heard about him in sixth grade. Yeah, seriously! My dad had gotten the complete three volume set of "The Feynman Lectures on Physics". I was always fascinated by new books in my younger years. So this natural curiosity got the better of me and I started flipping the pages of those volumes. Frankly, I read only the foreword by the author, but even then, I was impressed by the book in a strange kind of way. It was really my first close encounter [no not of the third kind!] with physics. I remember that I just browsed through the contents and stopped there. Anyways, it was not until my ninth grade that I could begin grasping some of the chapters especially on Classical Mechanics and on Gravity. It soon became my bedtime book! I used to read over the same chapters again and again, marvelling at physics more than at the author at that time. There was a chapter on Algebra which I used to find particulaly fascinating. It was written in a story kind of style and consisted of the history of number development and the ideas that brought about that evolution. I must have read that chapter not less than five times!

It wasn't until I joined IIT that I realized the books I had been reading all along my childhood were one of few classics in physics. Also, I learnt that the author, Dr. Feynman [CalTech] was a celebrated physicist of his time with extensive work in the area of quantum-electrodynamics [For which he was awarded the nobel prize]. Indeed I owe a lot to this man for whatever scientific temper I have, or maybe ever had. Listed below are few links which may be used to know more about him.

-Dr. Richard Feynman
-Feynman's Classic Talk [A must read]
-Feynman's Noble Lecture