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"it made the newspapers because of Bell’s allegations of “extreme cruelty” by Feynman, including the notion that he spent all of his waking hours either doing c
by JRKrause 6y ago
"it made the newspapers because of Bell’s allegations of “extreme cruelty” by Feynman, including the notion that he spent all of his waking hours either doing calculus and playing the bongos."
I find it hard to imagine a world where the eccentric behaviors and personal lives of practicing scientists would receive newspaper coverage.
- dralley 6y agoIf I had to listen to bongos every day, I might have agreed with her about the "cruelty" of it :)
- smegger001 6y agoTo play devils advocate here, this was at a time before to no-fault divorce. For a woman to divorce her husband she was forced to show just cause, such as abandonment, insanity, adultery or cruelty. Cruelty is the easiest to claim. he obviously was not insane, he had not abandoned her for a extended period or to the best of my knowledge been in a affair to she would have to claim cruelty true or not to leave.
- leephillips 6y agoYes, this was quite routine.
- stcredzero 6y agoI find it hard to imagine a world where the eccentric behaviors and personal lives of practicing scientists would receive newspaper coverage. Really? Such tactics are all over the media nowadays. Read Manufacturing Consent then look for all of the tactics in the western "propaganda model" of operation updated for 2020. The news has never been subtle about this sort of manipulation since at least the 80's. By comparison, what I see nowadays, it seems like journalists think everyone's a mental toddler. Look for emotional language in articles. Then count up the hard facts. There's an inverse relationship. It's not supposed to be like this!
- rmrfstar 6y ago> Look for emotional language in articles. Then count up the hard facts. There's an inverse relationship. This would actually be an interesting empirical study, if anyone is sitting on a news DB stretching back a few decades.
- JRKrause 6y agoThe most significant separator for me is that, from my understanding, Feynman was an actual practicing scientist. I am struggling to think of anyone in an analogous position today who has received this kind of attention.
- mcguire 6y agoNowadays, we focus primarily on wealthy (loosely) Internet-related businessmen. Do you think anyone really cares about Travis Kalanick's antics or what Elon Musk names his kids?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- GuB-42 6y agoNot so long ago I think Stephen Hawking was in that position. But his disease probably got him more publicity than his brilliant mind.
- chimprich 6y ago
- mcguire 6y agoThis was during the early Cold War, not long after the American Castle Bravo and Soviet RDS-37 tests. Feynman was, I believe, known as one of the more important figures in the Manhattan Project and theoretical physicists in general were vital to national security. Given the background, eccentric behavior and ugly personal events were probably pretty newsworthy.
- valuearb 6y agoPlaying Bongos! At all hours!