New Scientist -10 june 1989 -- roy herbert
Richard Feynman was one of those rare people who possess the power to charm and inspire affection even in people who never exchanged a word with him and never even saw him in the flesh. I suppose the fashionable cant would "charisma" covers it, though it seems a bloodless term to me. It conveys nothing of the immediate attraction of the man reveal in books, and television appearance, which is all I knew of him.
How, then can such distant acquaintance make me feel such a loss on the news of his death ?
Part of the answer is exposed on this tape, Safecracker Suite. Feynman got a colossal belt out of living. His enjoyment of it was nothing less than huge. He was a great theoretical physicist, a practical joker, an indefatigable investigator, an artist, a philosopher and many other things. It is no surprise to find from the tape that his scientific star )he was also handsome) was, incidentally an expert player of bongo drums. The drumming, RF playing with his friends, has limited interest for me, but I can understand the fun it must have been to record the pieces and RF's
shouts of encouragement and sheer delight are infectious. The drum items, workouts in polyrhthyms and different sound are altered with safecracking exploits when he was at Los Alamos, also punctuated by noises of enjoyment. He found the weak points in locks on filing cabinets and safes out of sheer curiosity and alarmed everyone there by leaving anonymnous notes in supposedly impregnable stores of
secret documents. Feynman's race, hilarious delivery of the story, is irresistible.
The recordings demand tolerance and only one is in stereo.
The tape is being sold in support of the Richard Feynman Memorial Fund for cancer research. It costs $10 and can be obtained from Feynman's friend and co-drummer, Ralph Leighton. Box 70021 Pasadena, CA 91107 -- CD is also available $10
11 / 13m / 95