Bantam Booksby Richard P.

Feynman
-SURELYYOU'RE JOKING,MR. FEYNMAN!\"
-WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE
THINK?\" \"WhatDo \\bu Care
What Other PeopleThink?\"
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A
CURIOUSCHARACTER
Richard P. Feynman
as toldto RalphLeighton

BANTAMBOOKS
NEW YORK \342\200\242

TORONTO LONDON SYDNEY

\342\200\242 \342\200\242 \342\200\242
AUCKLAND
 UNANIMOUS PRAISE FOR THIS
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

\"EXCEPTIONAL/'
\342\200\224Minneapolis Star Tribune
\"BringsFeynman to life in all his wonderfuland
multipledimensions.Marvelous/*
\342\200\224Kirkus Reviews

...
\"[Feynmans]tenaciousintelligence,contagious
enthusiasm,humor, and offbeat style are
moving, There is nothing obtuseor difficult
about[this]book.Indeed,Feynman'srenderingof
such a potentiallycomplexsubjectas the
Challengerdisasteris straightforward,lucid,and
accessible/*
\342\200\224San FranciscoChronicle

gentlerbook[than \"SurelyYou'reJoking,
\"A
Mr FeynmanVy\\ and for thoseinterestedin the
man, a more substantialone.\"
\342\200\224Los
AngelesTimes
 Contents
Prefacevii
PART 1
This edition contains the complete text
ofthe original hardcover edition. ACURIOUSCHARACTER
NOT WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.
The Makingof a Scientist1
\320\236\320\232\320\225

\"WHAT DOYOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK?*'

A Bantam Book / publishedby arrangement with
\"What Do You CareWhat
Norton Sl Company, Inc.
W. W. OtherPeopleThink?\"9
PRINTINGHISTORY
W. W. Norton edition publishedOctober 1988
It's as simpleas One, Two, Three. . . 36
Bantam Export edition/ November 1989
Bantam New Age and the accompanyingfigure designas well as GettingAhead 41
the statement \"the searchfor meaning, growth, and change\"
aretrademarks of Bantam Books,a division of Bantam Doubleday HotelCity 43
DellPublishing Group, Inc.
Who theHellIs Herman?48
FeynmanSexistPig!50
All rights reserved. I JustShookHis Hand,
Copyright 1988 by Gweneth Feynman and Ralph Leighton.
1989by Faustin Bray. CanYou BelieveIt? 53
\302\251

Cover photo copyright \302\251

No part ofthis book may be reproduceaor transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording,or by any information Letters,Photos,and Drawings59
storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Forinformation address:W. W. Norton & Company* Inc., 2
5OOFifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110. PART
ISBN 0-553-17334-0 MR. FEYNMAN GOESTO WASHINGTON:
Publishedsimultaneously in the United States and Canada
Investigatingthe Space
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division ShuttleChallenger
of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Its trade- Inc. Disaster
consisting of the words \"Bantam Books*' and the
trademark,

portrayal of a rooster, is Registeredin and U.S.Patent Preliminaries

77
Trademark Office and in other countries.Marca Registrada.
Bantam Books, 666Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.
CommittingSuicide79
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The ColdFacts 81
\320\236 0987654321
CheckSix! Ill
Gumshoes115
FantasticFigures130
An InflamedAppendix139
TheTenth Recommendation 147
Meetthe Press 153
Afterthoughts 158
AppendixF:
PersonalObservations on the
Reliabilityof the Shuttle165
EPILOGUE
Preface181
The Value of Science182
Index 189
Preface
Because ofthe appearanceof ' 'Surety You'reJoking,Mr.Feynman/''
a few thingsneedto be explained here.
First,althoughthe centralcharacter in thisbookis the same
as before,the \"adventuresof a curiouscharacter\"here are
different:someare lightand sometragic,but mostof the time
Mr. Feynmanis surely notjoking\342\200\224although it'softenhard to tell.
'
Second,the storiesin thisbookfit together morelooselythan
thosein 'SurelyYou're Joking...,\"where they were arranged
chronologically to give a semblance of order.(That resultedin
somereadersgettingthemistakenideathat SYJ is an autobiogra-
My motivationis simple:ever sincehearingmy first
Feynman stories,I have had the powerful desireto sharethem
autobiography.)
with others.
Finally,mostof thesestorieswere not told at drumming
sessions,as before.I will elaborateonthisin the briefoutline
that follows.
Part 1, \"A CuriousCharacter,\" beginsby describing the
influence of thosewho mostshapedFeynman'spersonality\342\200\224his
father, Mel, and his first love, Arlene.The first story was
adaptedfrom \"The Pleasureof FindingThingsOut,\"a BBC
programproducedby Christopher Sykes.The story of Arlene,
from which the title of this book was taken, was painfulfor
Feynman to recount. It was assembled overthe pastten years out
of piecesfrom six different stories.When it was finally com-
complete, Feynman was especially fondof thisstory, and happy to
shareit with others.
The otherFeynman storiesin.Part 1, althoughgenerally
lighterin tone, are includedherebecausetherewon't be a
secondvolumeofSYJ.Feynman was particularly proudof \"It's
as Simpleas One,Two, Three,\"which he occasionally thought
of writing up as a psychologypaper.The lettersin the last
chapterof Part 1 have been providedcourtesyof Gweneth
Feynman, Freeman Dyson,and Henry Bethe.
Part 2, \"Mr.FeynmanGoestoWashington,\" is,unfortunately,
Feynman'slast big adventure.The story is particularly long
vu
viii \"WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK?\"
because itscontentis stilltimely. (Shorterversions have appeared
in Engineering and Scienceand PhysicsToday.)It was not
publishedsoonerbecauseFeynmair underwent his third and
hyperthermia, and other
fourth majorsurgeries\342\200\224plus radiation,
treatments\342\200\224since servingon the RogersCommission.
Feynman'sdecade-long battleagainstcancerendedonFebru-
15,1988,two weeksafter hetaught hislastclassat Caltech.
February

I decidedto includeoneof hismosteloquentand inspirational

speeches,\"TheValue of Science,\" as an epilogue.
\"What Do You Care
RalphLeighton lat Other PeopleThink:
March 1988
 PARTI
A CURIOUSCHARACTER

The Making of a Scientist

/ have a friendwho'san artist,and he sometimes

takes a view
which I don'tagreewith. He'llholdup a flowerand say. \"Look
how beautifulit is,\"and I'll agree.But then he'llsay, \"I,as an
artist,canseehow beautifula flower is.But you, as a scientist,
take it allapart and it becomes dull.\"I think he's kind of nutty.
First of all, the beauty that he seesis availableto other
people\342\200\224and
to me,too,I believe.Although I might notbe quite
as refinedaesthetically ashe is, I can appreciate the beauty of a
flower.Butat the sametime,I seemuch morein the flowerthan
he sees.I can imaginethe cellsinside,which alsohave a beauty.
There'sbeauty not just at the dimensionof one centimeter;
there'salsobeauty at a smallerdimension.
There are the complicated actionsof the cells,and other
processes. The fact that the colors in the flowerhave evolvedin
orderto attract insectsto pollinateit is interesting; that means
insectscan see the colors.That adds a question:doesthis
aestheticsensewe have alsoexistin lower formsof life?There
are allkindsof interesting questions that comefrom a knowledge
of science,which only addsto the excitement and mystery and
awe of a flower.It only adds.I don'tunderstand how it subtracts.
I've always beenvery one-sided aboutscience,and when I
was youngerI concentrated almostallmy effort on it. In those
days I didn't h ave time, a nd I didn'thave much patience, to learn
what'scalledthe humanities. Even thoughthere were humanities
coursesin the university that you had to take in order to
graduate,I tried my bestto avoidthem.It's only afterwards,
when I've gottenolderand morerelaxed,that I've spreadout a
2 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE MAKING OF A SCIENTIST 3
littlebit. I've learnedto draw and I read a littlebit, but I'm would all return to New York to work during the week, and
really stilla very one-sided personand I don'tknow a great deal. comebackonlyforthe weekend.On weekends, my father would
I have a limitedintelligence and useI it in a particular direction. take me for walks in the woodsand he'dtellme aboutinteresting
BeforeI was born,my father toldmy mother,\"Ifit's a boy, thingsthat were goingon in the woods.When the othermothers
saw this,they thoughtit was wonderfuland that the otherfathers
he'sgoingto be a scientist.\"* When I was just a littlekid,very shouldtake theirsonsforwalks.They triedto work on them but
smallin a highchair,my father broughthomea lot of little they didn'tget anywhere at first.They wanted my father to take
bathroom different colors.We playedwith
tiles\342\200\224seconds\342\200\224of all the kids,but he didn'twant to becausehe had a special
them,my father settingthem up vertically on my highchair like relationship with me.Soit endedup that the otherfathers had to
dominoes, and I wouldpushone end so they would allgo down. take theirchildren for walks the next weekend.
Then after a while,I'd helpsetthem up.Pretty soon,we're The next Monday, when the fathers were all backat work,
settingthem up in a morecomplicated way: two white tilesand a we kidswere playingin a field.Onekid says to me, \"Seethat
bluetile, two white tiles and a blue tile,and so on.When my bird?What kindof bird is that?\"
mother saw that she said, \"Leave the poorchildalone.If he I said,\"Ihaven'tthe slightest ideawhat kindof a birdit is.\"
wants to put a bluetile, let him put a blue tile.\" He says,\"It'sa brown-throated thrush.Your father doesn't
But my father said,\"No, I want to show him what patterns teachyou anything!\"
are like and how interesting they are. It's a kindof elementary But it was the opposite. He had already taught me:\"Seethat
mathematics.\" So he startedvery early to tell me about the bird?\"he says.\"It'sa Spencer'swarbler.\"(I knew he didn't
world and how interesting it is. know the realname.)\"Well,in Italian,it's a ChuttoLapittida.
We had the Encyclopaedia Britannica at home.When I was a In Portuguese, it's a Bomda Peida.In Chinese,it's a Chung-
smallboy he usedto sit me on his lap and readto me from the long-tah, and in Japanese,it's a KatanoTekeda.You can know
Britannica. We would be reading,say, about dinosaurs. It would the name of that birdin allthe languages of the world,but when
be talking about the Tyrannosaurus rex, and it would say some- you'refinished,you'll know absolutelynothingwhatever about
like,
something \"This d inosaur is twenty-five feet high itsheadis
and thebird.You'llonly know abouthumans in differentplaces,and
sixfeet across.\" what they callthe bird.Solet'slookat the birdand seewhat it's
My father would stopreadingand say, \"Now, let'sseewhat what counts.\" (I learnedvery early the difference
that means.That would mean that if he stoodin our front yard,
doing\342\200\224that's
betweenknowingthe name of something and knowingsomething.)
he wouldbetallenoughto put hisheadthroughour window up He said,\"Forexample, look:the birdpecksat itsfeathersall
here.\"(We were on the secondfloor.)\"Buthis headwouldbe the time.Seeit walking around,peckingat itsfeathers?\"
too wide to fit in the window.\"Everything he readto me he \"Yeah.\"
wouldtranslateasbesthe couldintosomereality. He says,\"Why do you think birdspeckat their feathers?\"
It was very excitingand very, very interesting to think there I said,\"Well,maybe they messup their featherswhen they
were animals of suchmagnitude\342\200\224and that they alldiedout,and fly, so they'repeckingthem in orderto straighten them out.\"
that nobodyknew why. I wasn'tfrightenedthat there would be \"All right,\"he says.\"Ifthat were the case,then they would
one comingin my window as a consequence of this. But I pecka lotjustafter they'vebeenflying.Then, after they'vebeen
learnedfrom my father to translate:everything I readI try to on thegrounda while,they wouldn'tpeckso much any
figure out what it reallymeans,what it'sreally saying.
more\342\200\224

you know what I mean?\"

We used to go to the CatskillMountains, a placewhere \"Yeah.\"
people f rom New York City would go in the summer. The fathers He says,\"Let'slookand seeif they peckmorejustafter they
\302\246Richard's younger sister,Joan, has a Ph.D.in physics,in spite of this preconcep- land.\"
preconception that onlyboys are destinedto be scientists. It wasn'thard to tell:therewas not much difference
between
 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE MAKING OF A SCIENTIST

the birdsthat had beenwalking arounda bit and thosethat had it. It had a ball in it, and when I pulledthe wagon, I noticed
justlanded.So I said,\"I give up.Why doesa birdpeckat its something aboutthe way the ballmoved.I went to my father and
feathers?\" said,\"Say, Pop,I noticedsomething. When I pull the wagon,
\"Because thereare licebotheringit,\"he says.\"Theliceeat the ballrollsto the backof the wagon.And when I'm pulling it
flakes of proteinthat comeoff itsfeathers.\" alongand I suddenlystop, the ball rollsto the front of the
He continued, \"Eachlousehassomewaxy stuff onits legs, wagon.Why is that?\"
and littlemiteseatthat.The mitesdon'tdigestit perfectly,so \"That, nobodyknows,\"he said.\"Thegeneralprinciple is
they emitfrom theirrear endsa sugar-like material,in which that thingswhich are moving tendto keepon moving,and things
bacteriagrow.\" which are standingstilltendto standstill,unlessyou pushthem
Finally he says,\"Soyou see,everywhere there*sa sourceof hard.Thistendencyis called4inertia/but nobody knows why
food,there'ssomeform of lifethat findsit.\" it'strue.\"Now, that'sa deepunderstanding. He didn'tjustgive
Now, I knew that it may nothave beenexactly a louse,that it me thename.
might notbe exactly true that the louse'slegshave mites.That He went onto say, \"Ifyou lookfrom the side,you'llseethat
story was probablyincorrect in detail,but what he was telling it's the backof the wagon that you'repullingagainst the ball,
me was right in principle. and the ball standsstill.As a matter of fact,from the frictionit
Another time,when I was older,he pickeda leafoffof a startsto move forward a littlebit in relationto the ground.It
tree.Thisleafhad a flaw, a thing we never lookat much.The doesn'tmove back.\"
leafwas sort of deteriorated; it had a littlebrown line in the I ran backto the littlewagon and set the ballup againand
shapeof a C, startingsomewherein the middleof theleafand pulledthe wagon.Lookingsideways,I saw that indeedhe was
goingout in a curlto the edge. right.Relative to the sidewalk,it movedforward a littlebit.
\"Lookat this brown line,\"he says. \"It'snarrow at the That'sthe way I was educated by my father, with thosekinds
beginningand it'swideras it goesto the edge.What thisis, is a of examples and discussions:no lovely,interesting
pressure\342\200\224just
bluefly with yelloweyesand greenwings hascomeand discussions. It has motivatedme for the rest of my life, and
laidan egg on thisleaf. Then,when the egg hatchesinto a
fly\342\200\224a
makes me interested in all the sciences.(It just happensI do
maggot(a caterpillar-like thing),it spendsit whole life eating physics better.)
I'vebeencaught,soto someone
this where it getsitsfood.As it eatsalong,it leaves
leaf\342\200\224that's speak\342\200\224like who was given
behindthis brown trail of eatenleaf.As the maggotgrows,the something wonderful when he was a child,and he's always
trail grows wider until he'sgrown to full sizeat the endof the lookingfor it again.I'm always looking,like a child,for the
leaf,where he turns intoa bluefly with yelloweyesand wondersI know I'm goingto not every time,but
find\342\200\224maybe
fliesaway and lays an egg on anotherleaf.\" every oncein a while.
fly\342\200\224a

green wings\342\200\224who

Again,I knew that the detailsweren'tprecisely correct\342\200\224it

Around that timemy cousin,who was three years older,was
couldhave even beena the ideathat he was trying to
beetle\342\200\224but

explainto me was the amusing part of life:thethe whole thing is in high school.He was having considerable difficulty with his
just reproduction. No matter how complicated businessis, algebra,so a tutorwouldcome.I was allowedto sitin a corner
the main pointis do again!
to it while the tutor would try to teachmy cousinalgebra.I'd hear
Not having experience with many fathers,I didn'trealize him talkingaboutjc.
how remarkable h e was. How didhelearnthe deepprinciples of I saidto my cousin,\"What are you trying to do?\"
science a nd the loveof it, what'sbehind it, why
and it's worth \"I'mtrying to find outwhat x is, likein 2x + 7 = 15.\"
doing?I never really askedhim, becauseI just assumedthat I say, \"You mean 4.\"
thosewere thingsthat fathers knew. \"Yeah,but you did it by arithmetic, you have to do it by
My father taught me to noticethings.Oneday, I was playing algebra.\"
with an \"express wagon,\"a littlewagon with a railingaround I learnedalgebra,fortunately,notby goingto school,but by
 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE MAKING OF A SCIENTIST

findingmy aunt'soldschoolbook in the attic,and understanding at thosehumans. Here'sonehuman standinghere,and allthese

that the whole ideawas to find out what x doesn'tmake is\342\200\224it othersare bowingin front of him.Now, what'sthe difference?
any differencehow you do it. Forme,therewas no suchthing as Thisone is the hated the pope anyway. He said,
pope\"\342\200\224he

doingit \"by arithmetic/'or doingit \"by algebra.\" \"Doingit
by algebra\"was a set of ruleswhich, if you followedthem
blindly,couldproducethe answer:\"subtract 7 from both sides;
if you have a multiplier,divideboth sidesby the multiplier,\"
and so seriesof stepsby which ,you couldgetthe answer
on\342\200\224a
if you didn'tunderstandwhat you were trying to do.The rules
hadbeeninventedso that the childrenwho have to study algebra
\"Thisdifference is the hat he'swearing.\"(If it was a general,it
was the epaulets.It was always the costume,the uniform,the
position.) \"But,\"he said,\"thisman hasthe sameproblemsas
everybody else:he eatsdinner;he goesto the bathroom. He'sa
human being.\"(By the way, my father was in the uniform
business,so he knew what the differenceis in a man with the
uniform offand the uniform was the sameman for him.)
on\342\200\224it

canallpassit. And that'swhy my cousinwas never ableto do

algebra. He was happy with me, I believe.Once,though,when I
There was a seriesof math booksin our locallibrary which camebackfrom MIT(I'dbeenthere a few years), he saidto me,
startedout with Arithmeticfor the PracticalMan. Then came \"Now that you'vebecomeeducated aboutthesethings,there's
Algebrafor the PracticalMan, and then Trigonometryfor the one questionI've always had that I've never understoodvery
PracticalMan. (I learnedtrigonometryfrom that, but I soon well.\"
forgotit again,becauseI didn'tunderstandit veryCalculus well.)When I I askedhim what it was.
was aboutthirteen,the library was goingto get for the He said,\"Iunderstand that when an atom makes a transition
PracticalMan.By thistimeI knew, from reading encyclope- the from onestateto another,it emitsa particleof lightcalleda
that calculus was an importantand interesting subject,and I photon.\"
oughtto learnit. \"That'sright,\"I said.
encyclopedia,

When I finally saw the calculus book at the library, I was He says,\"Isthe photonin the atomaheadof time?\"
very excited.I went to the librarianto checkit out, but she \"No,there'sno photonbeforehand.\"
lookedat me and said,\"You're justa child.What are you taking \"Well,\"he says, \"where doesit comefrom, then?How
thisbookout for?\" doesit comeout?\"
It was oneof the few timesin my lifeI was uncomfortable I tried to explainit to photonnumbers aren't
him\342\200\224that

and I lied.I saidit was for my father. conserved; they'rejust createdby the motionof the electron\342\200\224

I tookthe bookhomeand I begantolearncalculus from it. I but I couldn'texplainit very well.I said,\"It'slike the sound
thoughtit was relativelysimpleand straightforward. My father that I'm making now:it wasn'tin me before.\" (It'snotlikemy
startedto read it, but he found confusing it and he couldn't littleboy,who suddenlyannouncedoneday, when he was very
understand it. SoI triedto explain c alculus to him. I didn't know young,that he couldno longersay a certain word
word\342\200\224the

he was so limited,and it bothered m e a littlebit.It was the first turned out tobe \"cat\"\342\200\224because his \"wordbag\"had run outof
time I realizedthat I had learned more in somesense than he. the word.There'sno word bag that makesyou useup wordsas
they comeout;in the samesense,there'sno \"photon bag\"in an
Oneof the thingsthat my father taught me besides physics\342\200\224 atom.)
whether it'scorrector a disrespect for certainkindsof
not\342\200\224was He was notsatisfied with me in that respect. I was never able
things.For example, when I was a littleboy,and he would sit to explainany of the thingsthat he didn'tunderstand. Sohe was
me on his knee, he'd show me rotogravuresin the New York unsuccessful: hesentme to alltheseuniversities in orderto find
Times\342\200\224that's printed pictures which had just comeout in out thosethings,and he never didfind out.
newspapers.
One time we were lookingat a pictureof the pope and Although my motherdidn'tknow anything aboutscience, she
everybody bowingin front of him.My father said,\"Now, look had a great influenceon me as well.In particular, she had a
8 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

wonderful senseof humor,- and I learnedfrom her that the \"What Do You Care
highestformsof understandingwe can achieveare laughterand
human compassion.

What Other PeopleThink?\"

When I was a young fella,aboutthirteen, I had somehowgotten

in with a groupof guys who were a littleolderthan I was, and
moresophisticated. They knew a lotof differentgirls,and would
go out with to the beach.
them\342\200\224often
Onetime when we were at the beach,mostof the guys had
goneout on somejetty with the girls.I was interestedin a
particular girl a littlebit,and sortof thoughtout loud:\"Gee,I
think I'd liketo take Barbarato the movies
That's all I had to say, and the guy next to me gets all
...\"
excited.He runs outontothe rocksand findsher.Hepushesher
back, all the while saying in a loud voice, \"Feynman has
somethinghe wants to say to you, Barbara!\"It was most
embarrassing.
Pretty soonthe guys are all standingaround me, saying,
44Well, say it, Feynman!\" SoI invitedherto the movies.It was
my first date.
I went homeand toldmy motheraboutit. Shegave me all
kindsof adviceon how to dothisand that.Forexample,if we
take the bus, I'm supposed to get off the bus first,and offer
Barbara my hand.Or if we have to walk in the street,I'm
supposed to walk on the outside.Sheeven toldme what kindsof
to
things say. She was handingdown a cultural traditionto me:
the women teachtheir sonshow to treat the next generation of
women well.
After dinner,I getallslickedup and go to Barbara's houseto
callfor her.I'm nervous.Sheisn'tready, of course(it'salways
likethat) so her family hasme wait for her in the diningroom,
where they'reeatingwith lot of people.They say
friends\342\200\224a

things like, \"Isn'th e cute!\"

a nd allkindsof otherstuff. I didn't
feelcute.It was absolutelyterrible!
10 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 11
rememberedthat party with allthe nicepeople\342\200\224except for one
I remember everything aboutthe date.As we walked from guy who was overin the corneron the couchsmooching with a
her houseto the new, littletheater in town, we talkedabout girl.What shedidn'tknow was that two minutes before,allthe
playingthe piano.I toldher how, when six I was younger,they otherswere doin'it too!)
made me learn pianofor a while,but after monthsI was still The first timeI ever saidanything to Arlene was at a dance.
playing \"Danceo f the Daisies,\" and couldn't s tandit any more. Shewas very popular,and everybody was cuttingin and dancing
You see,I was worriedaboutbeinga sissy,and to be stuckfor with her. I rememberthinking I'd liketo dancewith her,too,
weeksplaying\"Dance was toomuch for me,so
of the Daisies\" and trying to decidewhen to cut in. I always had troublewith
I quit.I was sosensitive aboutbeinga sissythat it even bothered that problem: first of all,when she'sover on the othersideof the
me when my mothersentme to the market to buy somesnacks dancefloordancingwith someguy, it'stoocomplicated\342\200\224so you
calledPeppermintPattiesand ToastedDainties. wait until they comecloser.Then when she's near you, you
We saw the movie,and I walked her backto herhome.I
complimented her on the nice,pretty glovesshewas wearing. think, \"Well,no, this isn't the kind of musicI'm goodat
Then I saidgoodnightto heron the doorstep. dancingto.\"So you wait for anothertype of music.When the
Barbarasaysto me, *'Thankyou for a very lovelyevening.\" musicchangesto something you like,you sortof step forward\342\200\224

\"You'rewelcome!\" I answered.I felt terrific. at leastyou think you stepforward to cut someother
in\342\200\224when

The next timeI went out on a was with a different guy cutsin just in front of you. Sonow you have to wait a few
t o her, and she says, \"Thankyou for a
date\342\200\224it
minutesbecauseit's impoliteto cut in toosoonafter someone
say goodnight
girl\342\200\224I
elsehas.And by the timea few minuteshave passed,they're
very lovelyevening.\" overat the othersideof the danceflooragain,or the musichas
I didn'tfeelquitesoterrific. changedagain,or whatever!
When I saidgoodnightto the third girlI tookout, she'sgot After a certainamount of thisstallingand foolingaround,I
her mouth open,ready to speak,and I say, \"Thankyou for a finally mutter something aboutwanting to dancewith Arlene.
very lovelyevening!\" One of the guys I was hangingaround with overhearsme and
Shesays,\"Thank I had a lovely
you\342\200\224uh\342\200\224Oh!\342\200\224Yes\342\200\224uh,
makes a big announcement to the otherguys: \"Hey,listento
evening,too, thank you!\" this,guys;Feynman wants to dancewith Arlene!\" Soononeof
Onetime I was at a party with my beachcrowd,and oneof them isdancingwith Arlene and they danceovertowardsthe rest
the olderguys was in the kitchenteaching us how to kiss,using ofus.Theotherspush me outontothe dancefloorand I finally \"cut
his girlfriendto demonstrate:\"You have to have your lipslike in.\"You can seethe condition I was in by my firstwords to her,
and so on.SoI which were an honestquestion: \"Howdoesit feeltobe so popu-
this,at rightangles,sothenosesdon'tcollide,\" We only danceda few minutesbeforesomebody elsecut in.
go intothe livingroomand find a girl.I'm sittingon the couch
popular?\"

with my arm aroundher,practicing thisnew art,when suddenly My friendsand I had taken dancinglessons, althoughnoneof
there'sall kindsof excitement: \"Arlene is coming!Arlene is us wouldever admit it. In thosedepression days,a friend of my
coming!\" I don'tknow who Arlene is. motherwas trying to make a livingby teachingdancingin the
says,\"She'shere!She's
Then someone every- evening,in an upstairsdancestudio.There was a backdoorto
the place,and shearranged it so the young men couldcomeup
here!\"\342\200\224and

stopswhat they'redoingand jumpsup to seethisqueen. through the backway without beingseen.

Arlene was very pretty, and I couldsee why she had all this
everybody

was well deserved\342\200\224but I didn'tbelievein this Every oncein a while therewouldbe a socialdanceat this
lady'sstudio.I didn'thave the nerve to testthisanalysis,but it
admiration\342\200\224it
undemocratic businessof changingwhat you'redoingjust be- seemedto me that the girlshad a much harder timethan the boys
becausethe queenis coming in. did.In thosedays, girlscouldn'task to cut in and dancewith
So, while everybody'sgoingoverto see Arlene,I'm still boys;it wasn't \"proper.\" So the girlswho weren'tvery pretty
sittingthereon the couchwith my girl. would sit for hoursat the side,just sadas hell.
(Arlene toldme later,after I had gottento know her,that she
 12 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
I thought,\"The guys have it easy:they'refree to cut in
whenever they want/' But it wasn't easy.You're\"free,\"but
you haven'tgot the guts,or the sense,or whatever it takesto
relax and enjoy dancing.Instead,you tie yourselfin knots
worrying aboutcuttingin or inviting a girl to dancewith you.
For example,if you saw a girl who was not dancing,who
you thoughtyou'dliketo dancewith, you might think, \"Good!
Now at leastI've got a chance!\"But it was usually very
difficult:oftenthe girl would say, \"No,thank you, I'm tired.I
think I'll sitthisoneout.\"Soyou go away somewhat defeated\342\200\224
butnotcompletely, becausemaybe shereally is you
tired\342\200\224when
turn aroundand someotherguy comesup to her,and thereshe
is, dancingwith him!Maybe thisguy is her boyfriendand she
knew he was coming over,or maybe shedidn'tlikethe way you
look,or maybe something else.It was always so complicatedfor
sucha simplematter.
Onetime I decidedto invite Arlene to oneofthesedances.It
was the firsttimeI tookherout.My bestfriendswere alsoat the
dance;my motherhad invitedthem,to get morecustomers for
herfriend'sdancestudio.Theseguys were contemporaries of
mine,guys my own age from school.HaroldGastand David
Leff were literary types,while RobertStaplerwas a scientific
type.We wouldspenda lot of timetogetherafter school,going
on walks and discussing thisand that.
Anyway, my bestfriends were at the dance,and as soonas
they saw me with Arlene,they calledme intothe cloakroom and
said,\"Now listen,Feynman, we want you to understandthat we
understandthat Arlene is yourgirl tonight,and we'renot gonna
botheryou with her.She'soutof boundsforus,\"and soon.But
beforelong,there was cuttingin and competition comingfrom
preciselytheseguys!I learnedthe meaningof Shakespeare's
phrase\"Methinks thou dostprotesttoomuch.\"
You must appreciate what I was likethen.I was a very shy
character,always feelinguncomfortable becauseeverybody was
strongerthan I, and always afraid I would looklike a sissy.
Everybody elseplayedbaseball; everybody elsedid allkindsof
athleticthings.If there was a gamesomewhere, and a ballwould
comerollingacrossthe road,I wouldbepetrifiedthat maybe I'd
have to pick it up and throw it back\342\200\224because if I threw it, it
would be about a radian off the correctdirection,and not
anywhere near the distance! And then everybody wouldlaugh.It
was terrible,and I was very unhappy aboutit.
WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 13
OnetimeI was invitedto a party at Arlene'shouse.Every-
was there because Arlene was the mostpopulargirlaround:
Everybody
she was number one,the nicestgirl,and everybody likedher.
Well,I'm sittingin a big armchair with nothingto do, when
Arlene comesoverand sitson the arm of the chairto talk tome.
That was the beginningof the feeling,\"Oh,boy! The world
is just wonderful now!SomebodyI likehas paid attentionto
me!\"
In thosedays,in Far Rockaway,therewas a youth centerfor
Jewishkids at the temple.It was a big clubthat had many
activities. Therewas a writers groupthat wrote storiesand would
read them to eachother;there was a drama groupthat put on
plays;therewas a sciencegroup,and an art group.I had no
interestin any subjectexceptscience,but Arlene was in the art
group,so I joinedit too. I struggled with the art business\342\200\224
learning h ow to make plasterc asts
of the faceand soon (which I
usedmuch laterin life,it turned so I couldbe in the
out)\342\200\224just
samegroupwith Arlene.
But Arlene had a boyfriendnamed Jeromein the group,so
there was no chancefor me. I just hoveredaroundin the
background.
Onetime,when I wasn'tthere,somebodynominatedme for
presidentof the youth center.The eldersbegangettingnervous,
becauseI was an avowed atheistby that time.
I had beenbroughtup in the Jewish family religion\342\200\224my
went to the templeevery Friday, I was sentto what we called
\"Sundayschool,\" and I even studiedHebrew for a while\342\200\224but
at the sametime,my father was tellingme aboutthe world.
When I would hear the rabbitell aboutsomemiracle suchas a
bushwhoseleaveswere shakingbut there wasn't any wind, I
would try to fit the miracleintothe realworld and explainit in
terms of natural phenomena.
Somemiracleswere harderthan othersto understand. The
oneaboutthe leaveswas easy.When I was walking to school,I
hearda littlenoise:althoughthe wind was hardly noticeable, the
leavesof a bushwere wigglinga littlebit becausethey were in
just the right positionto make a kind of resonance. And I
thought, \ "Aha!This is a good explanation for v
Elijah's isionof
the quakingbush!\"
But there were somemiraclesI never did figureout. For
instance,therewas a story in which Mosesthrowsdown hisstaff
 14 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 15
and it turns intoa snake.I couldn'tfigureout what the witnesses arguewith adults.All I coulddo was get tearsin my eyes.I
saw that made them think his staff was a snake. startedto cry, I was so upset.
If I had thoughtbackto when I was much younger,the Santa He said,\"What'sthe matter?\"
Clausstory couldhave provideda cluefor me. But it didn'thit I triedto explain.\"I'vebeenlisteningto all thesestories,
me hard enoughat the time to producethe possibility that I and now I don'tknow, of allthe thingsyou toldme,which were
shoulddoubtthe truth of storiesthat don'tfit with nature.When true, and which were not true!I don'tknow what to do with
I foundout that SantaClauswasn'treal,I wasn'tupset;rather, I everything that I'velearned!\" I was trying to explainthat I was
was relievedthat there was a much simplerphenomenon to losingeverything at the moment, becauseI was no longersureof
explain h ow so many children a llover the world got presentsn o the data,so to speak.HereI had beenstrugglingto understand
the samenight!The storyhad beengettingpretty complicated\342\200\224 allthesemiracles,and it solveda lotof miracles,
now\342\200\224well, all
it was gettingout of hand. right! But I was unhappy.
Santa Clauswas a particular customwe celebrated in our The rabbisaid,\"If it is so traumatic for you, why do you
family, and it wasn'tvery serious. But the miracles I was hearing cometo Sunday school?\"
aboutwere connectedwith real things:there was the temple, \"Because my parentsmake me.\"
where peoplewould go every week; there was the Sunday I never talkedto my parentsaboutit, and I never foundout
school,where rabbistaught childrenaboutmiracles; it was much whether the rabbi communicated with them or not, but my
moreof a dramatic thing.Santa Clausdidn'tinvolvebig institu- parentsnever made me go again.And it was just beforeI was
likethe temple,which I knew were real.
institutions
supposed to get confirmedas a believer.
So all the timeI was goingto the Sunday school,I was Anyway, that crisisresolved my difficulty rather rapidly,in
believingeverything and having troubleputtingit together.But favor of the theory that allthe miracles were storiesmade up to
of course,ultimately, it had to cometo a crisis,soonerorlater. helppeopleunderstandthings \"morevividly,\" even if they
The actual crisiscamewhen I was elevenor twelve. The conflicted with natural phenomena. But I thoughtnature itself
rabbi was tellingus a story aboutthe SpanishInquisition, in was so interesting that I didn'twant it distorted likethat.And so
which the Jews sufferedterribletortures.He told us about a I gradually cameto disbelieve the whole religion.
particularindividualwhosename was Ruth, exactly what she Anyway, the Jewisheldershad organized thisclubwith allits
was supposed to have done,what the argumentswere in her activitiesnot just to get us kids off the street,but to get us
favor and against whole thing,as if it had all been
her\342\200\224the interested in the Jewishway of life.Soto have someone likeme
documented by a courtreporter. And I was just an innocent kid, electedaspresident wouldhave madethem very embarrassed. To
listening to all thisstuff and believingit was a true commentary, our mutual reliefI wasn't elected,but the centereventually
becausethe rabbihad never indicated otherwise. failed was onitsway outwhen I was nominated,
anyway\342\200\224it and
At the end, the rabbi described how Ruth was dying in had I beenelected,I surely would have beenblamedfor its
prison:\"And shethought,while shewas dying\"\342\200\224blah, blah. demise.
That was a shockto me.After the lessonwas over,I went up
to him and said,\"Howdid they know what shethoughtwhen Oneday Arlene toldme Jeromeisn'ther boyfriendanymore.
shewas dying?\" She'snot tiedup with him.That was a big excitement
for me,
He says,\"Well,of course,in orderto explainmorevividly thebeginningof hope Sheinvitedme over toherhouse,at 154
I
how the Jews suffered,we madeup the story of Ruth. It wasn'ta Westminster Avenue in nearby Cedarhurst.
realindividual/9 When I went to herhousethat time,it was dark and the
That was toomuch for me.I felt terribly deceived:
I wanted porchwasn't lit. I couldn'tsee the numbers.Not wanting to
the straight fixedup by somebody
story\342\200\224not I could
else\342\200\224so disturbanyone by askingif it was the right house,I crawled up,
decidefor myselfwhat it meant.But it was difficultfor me to quietly,and felt the numbers on the door:154.
16 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 17
Arlene was having troublewith her homeworkin philosophy delightof learningthe stuflF itself,but alsofrom making yourself
class.\"We'restudyingDescartes,\" shesaid.\"Hestartsoutwith unique.
'Cogito,ergo think, thereforeI
sum'\342\200\224*I ends up
am'\342\200\224and
I got a stripof paper,put a half twist in it, and made itintoa
provingthe existence of God.\" loop.Arlene was delighted.
\"Impossible!\" I said,without stoppingto think that I was The next day, in class,shelay in wait for herteacher.Sure
doubtingthe greatDescartes. (It was a reactionI learnedfrom enough,heholdsup a pieceof paperand says,\"Thereare two
my father:have no respectwhatsoeverfor authority; forgetwho
sidesto every question,just likethere are two sidesto every
saidit and insteadlookat what he startswith, where heendsup, pieceof paper.\"Arlene holdsup her own stripof a
paper\342\200\224with

and ask yourself,\"Isit reasonable?\") I said,\"Howcan you halftwist in says,\"Sir,there are even two sidesto that
it\342\200\224and

deduceonefrom the other?\" question: there'spaperwith onlyoneside!\" The teacherand the

\"I don'tknow,\"shesaid. classgot allexcited,and Arlene got sucha kickout of showing
\"Well,let'slookit over,\"I said.\"What'sthe argument?\" them the Mobiusstripthat I think shepaidmoreattentionto me
So we lookit over, and we see that Descartes'statement after that on accountof it.
\"Cogito, ergosum\"is supposed to mean that there is onething But after Jerome,I had a new competitor\342\200\224my \"good
that cannotbe doubted\342\200\224doubt itself. 'Why doesn'the justsay it
4 friend\"
straight?\" I complained- \"Hejustmeanssomehowor otherthat HaroldGast.Arlene was always making up her mind oneway or
hehasonefact that he knows.\" the other.When it cametimefor graduation,she went with
Then it goeson and says thingslike, \"I canonlyimagine Haroldto the seniorprom,but sat with my parentsfor the
imperfectthoughts,but imperfectcan only be understood as graduationceremony.
referent to the perfect.Hencethe perfectmust existsome- I was the bestin science,the bestin mathematics, the bestin
somewhere.\" (He'sworkin'his way towardsGod now.) physics,and the bestin chemistry,soI was goingup to the stage
\"Notat all!\"I say. \"Inscienceyou cantalk aboutrelative and receiving honorsmany timesat the ceremony.Haroldwas
degreesof approximation without having a perfecttheory. I don't the bestin Englishand the bestin history, and had written the
know what thisis all about.I think it's a bunchof baloney.\" schoolplay, so that was very impressive.
Arlene understood me.Sheunderstood, when shelookedat I was terriblein English.I couldn'tstand the subject.It
it, that no matter how impressive and importantthisphilosophy seemedto me ridiculousto worry aboutwhether you spelled
stuflF was supposed to be, it couldbe taken could somethingwrong or not, becauseEnglishspellingis just a
lightly\342\200\224you
just think aboutthe words,insteadof worrying aboutthe fact human convention\342\200\224it has nothingto do with anything real,
that Descartes saidit. \"Well,I guessit'sokay to take the other anything from nature.Any word can be spelledjust as well a
side,\"she said. \"My teacherkeepstellingus, 'Thereare different way. I was impatientwith allthisEnglishstuflF.
two sidesto every question, just likethereare two sidesto There was a seriesof examscalledthe Regents,which the
every pieceof paper.'
\" stateof New York gave to every high schoolstudent.A few
\"There'stwo sidesto that,too,\"I said. monthsbefore,when we allwere taking the Regentsexamination
\"What do you mean?\" in English,Haroldand theotherliterary friendof mine,David
I had read about the Mobiusstrip in the Britannica*my editorof the schoolnewspaper\342\200\224asked me which
LeflF\342\200\224the

wonderfulBritannical In thosedays,thingslikethe Mobiusstrip
weren't so well known to everybody, but they were just as
understandable as they are to kidstoday.The existence of sucha
surfacewas soreal:it wasn'ta wishy-washy politicalquestion,
or anything that you neededhistorytounderstand. Readingabout
thosethingswas likebeingway off in a wonderful world that
nobodyknows about,and you'regettinga kicknotonly from the
booksI had chosento write about.David had chosensomething
with profoundsocialimplications by Sinclair Lewis,and Harold
had pickedsomeplaywright. I said I choseTreasureIsland
becausewe had that bookin first-yearEnglish,and toldthem
what I wrote.
They laughed.\"Boy, are you gonna flunk, saying such
simplestuflF aboutsucha simplebook!\"
 18 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 19
There was alsoa list of questions for an essay.The one I accidentin hislab.He was openingcarbolicacidand the bottle
chosewas \"TheImportanceof Sciencein Aviation.\"I thought, jerked,spilling someacidonhisface.He went to the doctorand
4\"What a dumb question! The importance of sciencein aviation had bandages put on for a few weeks.The funny thing was,
is obvious!\" when they took the bandages off his skin was smoothunder-
I was aboutto write a simpletheme aboutthisdumb question nicerthan it had been were many fewer
before\342\200\224there
when I rememberedthat my literaryfriendswere always \"throwing
underneath,

the bull\"\342\200\224building up theirsentences to soundcomplexand

blemishes. I'vesincefoundoutthat therewas, for a while,some
I decidedto try it,justfor the hellof it. I thought, kindof a beauty treatment usingcarbolicacidin a moredilute
sophisticated. form.)Robert'smotherwas poor,and he had to go to work right
\"If the Regentsare so silly as to have a subjectlike the away to supporther, so he couldn'tcontinue his interestin the
importanceof sciencein aviation,I'm gonnado that.\" sciences.
So I wrote stuff like,\"Aeronauticalscienceis importantin Anyway, my motherreassured Dr. Augsberry:\"We'resaving
the analysis of the eddies,vortices,and whirlpoolsformedin the money asbestwe can,andwe'retrying tosendhim to Columbia
atmosphere behind the aircraft.. knew that eddies,vorti-
.\"\342\200\224I
or MIT.\"And Arlene was listening to allthis,so after that I was
and whirlpoolsare the samething,but mentioningthem
vortices, a littlebit ahead.
. three different ways soundsbetter!That was the only thing I
would not have ordinarilydoneon the test. Arlene was a wonderful girl. She was the editorof the
The teacherwho corrected my examination must have been newspaperat Nassau CountyLawrence HighSchool;sheplayed
impressed by eddies, vortices,and whirlpools,becauseI gota 91 the pianobeautifully, and was very artistic.She made some
on the my literary friends,who chosetopicsthe
exam\342\200\224while
decorations for our house,likethe parroton theinsideof our
Englishteacherscouldmoreeasilytake issuewith, bothgot 88. closet.As timewent on, and our family gotto know herbetter,
That year a new rulecameout:if you got 90 or betteron a she wouldgo to the woodsto paint with my father, who had
Regentsexamination, you automaticallygot honorsin that sub- taken up paintingin laterlife,as many peopledo.
subjectat graduation! So while the playwright and the editorof the Arlene and I beganto mold eachother'spersonality.She
schoolnewspaperhad to stay in theirseats,thisilliteratefool livedin a family that was very polite,and was very sensitive to
physicsstudentwas calledto go up to the stageonceagainand otherpeople'sfeelings.Shetaught me to be moresensitiveto
receivehonorsin English! thosekindsof things,too.On the otherhand,herfamily feltthat
After the graduationceremony,Arlene was in the hallwith \"white lies\"were okay.
my parentsand Harold'sparentswhen the headof the math I thoughtoneshouldhave the attitudeof \"What doyou care
departmentcameover.He was a very strong was also man\342\200\224he
what otherpeoplethink!\"I said,\"We shouldlistento other
the schooldisciplinarian\342\200\224a tall,dominatingfellow.Mrs.Gast people's opinions and take them intoaccount. Then,if they don't
says to him,\"Hello, Dr. Augsberry. I'm HaroldGast'smother. make senseand we think they'rewrong,then that'sthat!\"
And thisis Mrs.Feynman...\" Arlene caughton to the idearight away. It was easy to talk
He completely ignoresMrs.Gast and immediatelyturns to herintothinkingthat in ourrelationship, we must be very honest
my mother.\"Mrs.Feynman, I want to impress uponyou that a with eachotherand say everything straight, with absolute frank-
young man likeyour soncomesalongonlyvery rarely. The state It workedvery well,and we becamevery much in
shouldsupporta man of suchtalent.You must be surethat he frankness.

lovelikeno otherlovethat I know of.

love\342\200\224a

goes to college,the best collegeyou can afford!\"He was After that summer I went away to collegeat (I couldn't
concerned that my parentsmight not be planningto sendme to
go to Columbia becauseof the Jewishquota.*)I begangetting
\320\234\320\223\320\223.

college,for in thosedays lotsofkidshad to geta jobimmediate- lettersfrom my friendsthat saidthingslike, \"You shouldsee
after graduationto helpsupportthe family.
That in fact happenedto my friend Robert.He had a lab,too, *Note for foreign readers:the quota system was a discriminatory practice of
immediately

the number of places in a university available to students of Jewish

and taught me all aboutlensesand optics.(Oneday he had an limiting
background.
20 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 21
how Arlene is goingout with or \"She'sdoingthisand
Harold,\" when you can'teven find the bacteriain an experiment? Maybe
she'sdoingthat, while you'reall aloneup therein Boston.*' shedoesn'thave typhoidfever!\"
Well,I was taking out girlsin Boston,but they didn'tmean a The resultof that was that the doctortalkedto Arlene's
thing to me, and I knew the samewas true with Arlene. parents,who toldme notto interfere.\"After all,he'sthe doctor.
When summer came,I stayed in Bostonfor a summer job, You'reonlyherfiance.\"
and worked op measuring friction.The ChryslerCompanyhad I've foundout since that such peopledon't know what
developed a new methodof polishing to get a superfinish,and they'redoing,and getinsultedwhen you make somesuggestion
we were supposed tomeasurehow much betterit was.(It turned or criticism.I realizethat now, but I wish I had beenmuch
out that the \"superfinish\"was not significantly better.) strongerthen and told her parents that the doctorwas an
Anyway, Arlene found a way to be nearme. She founda he
idiot\342\200\224which didn'tknow what he was doing.But
was\342\200\224and

summerjob in Scituate, abouttwenty milesaway, taking careof as it was, herparentswere in chargeof it.
children.But my father was concerned that I wouldbecome too Anyway, after a littlewhile,Arlene gotbetter,apparently: the
involvedwith Arleneand getoff the track of my studies,sohe swellingwent down and the fever went away. But after some
talkedher outof talkedme out of it (I can'tremember).
it\342\200\224or weeks the swellingstartedagain,and this timeshe went to
Thosedays were very, very different from now. In thosedays, anotherdoctor.This guy feelsunder her armpits and in her
you had to go allthe way up in your careerbeforemarrying. groin,and so on, and noticesthere'sswellingin thoseplaces,
I was abieto seeArlene onlya few timesthat summer,but too. He says the problemis in her lymphatic glands,but he
we promised eachotherwe wouldmarry after I finishedschool. doesn'tyet know what the specificdiseaseis. He will consult
I had known her for six years by that time. I'm a little with otherdoctors.
tongue-tied trying to describeto you how much ourlovefor each As soonas I hear about it I go down to the library at
otherdeveloped, but we were surewe were rightfor eachother. Princeton and lookup lymphatic diseases, and find \"Swellingof
the Lymphatic Glands.A) Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands.
After I graduatedfrom MITI went to Princeton, and I would Thisis very easy to diagnose. . I figure thisisn'twhat .\"\342\200\224so

go homeon vacationsto seeArlene.One timewhen I went to Arlene has, becausethe doctorsare having troubletrying to
seeher,Arlene had developed a bump on onesideof herneck. figureit out.
Shewas a very beautifulgirl,so it worriedhera littlebit,but it I start readingabout someotherdiseases:lymphodenema,
didn'thurt, soshefiguredit wasn'ttooserious.Shewent to her lymphodenoma, Hodgkin'sdisease,all kindsof otherthings;
uncle,who was a doctor.He toldher to rub it with omega they'reall cancersof one crazy form or another.The only
oil. differencebetweenlymphodenema and lymphodenoma was, as
Then,sometimelater,the bump began to change.It got far as I couldmake out by readingit very carefully, that if the
bigger\342\200\224or maybe it was shegot a fever.The fever
smaller\342\200\224and patientdies,it's lymphodenoma; if the patient least survives\342\200\224at

got worse,so the family doctordecidedArlene shouldgo to the for a it's lymphodenema.
while\342\200\224then

hospital.Shewas toldshehad typhoidfever.Right away, as I At any rate,I read throughall the lymphatic diseases, and
stilldo today, I lookedup the diseasein medicalbooksand read decidedthat the mostlikelypossibility was that Arlene had an
allaboutit. incurable disease.Then I halfsmiledto myself,thinking,'4Ibet
When I went to see Arlene in the hospital,she was in everybodywho readsthrougha medical bookthinks they have a
quarantine\342\200\224we had to put on specialgowns when we entered fatal disease.\"And yet, after readingeverythingvery carefully,I
herroom,and so on.The doctorwas there,so I askedhim how couldn'tfind any otherpossibility. It was serious.
the Wydell testcame was an absolutetest for typhoid
out\342\200\224it Then I went to the weekly tea at Palmer Hall,and found
fever that involvedchecking for bacteriain the feces.He said, myselftalkingto the mathematicians just as I always did,even
\"Itwas negative.\" thoughI had just foundout that Arlene probablyhad a fatal
\"What? How can that be\\\" I said.\"Why all thesegowns, disease.It was very having two minds.
strange\342\200\224like
 22 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 23
When I went to visit her,.I told Arlene the joke aboutthe aunts,ourfamily doctor;they were allon me,saying I'm a very
peoplewho don'tknow any medicine readingthe medicalbook foolishyoung man who doesn'trealizewhat pain he'sgoingto
and always assuming they have a fatal disease.But I alsotold bringto thiswonderful girlby tellingher shehasa fatal disease.
herI thought we were in greatdifficulty,and that the bestI could \"Howcan you do sucha terriblething?\"they asked,in horror.
figureout was that shehad an incurable disease.We discussed \"Because we have made a pactthat we must speakhonestly
the variousdiseases,and I toldher what eachonewas like. with eachotherand lookat everything directly.There'sno use
One of the diseasesI told Arlene about was Hodgkin's foolingaround.She'sgonnaaskme what she'sgot,and I cannot
disease. When shenext saw herdoctor,sheaskedhim aboutit: lie to her!\"
64Couldit be Hodgkin's disease?\" \"Oh,that'schildish!\" they blah,blah.Every-
said\342\200\224biah,
He said,\"Well,yes,that'sa possibility.\" keptworking on me,and saidI was wrong.I thought I was
Everybody
When shewent to the county hospital,the doctorwrote the definitelyright,becauseI had already talkedto Arlene aboutthe
followingdiagnosis: \"Hodgkin's So I realizedthat
disease\342\200\224?\" diseaseand knew shecouldface tellingherthe truth was
it\342\200\224that

the doctordidn'tknow any morethan I didaboutthisproblem. the rightway to handleit.

The county hospitalgave Arlene allsortsof testsand X-ray But finally, my littlesistercomesup to was eleven me\342\200\224she

treatments for this \"Hodgkin's and there were

disease\342\200\224?\" or twelve tearsrunning downher face.Shebeatsme
then\342\200\224with

specialmeetings to discussthispeculiarcase.I rememberwait- on the chest,tellingme that Arlene is sucha wonderfulgirl,and

for her outside,in the hall.When the meetingwas over,the
waiting
that I'm sucha foolish,stubbornbrother.I couldn'ttake it any
nurse wheeledher out in a wheelchair. All of a suddena little more.That brokeme down.
guy comesrunning outof the meeting roomand catchesup with So I wrote Arlene a goodbyeloveletter,figuring that if she
us. \"Tellme,\"he says,out of breath,\"doyou spitup blood? ever foundout the truth after I had told her it was glandular
Have you ever coughed up blood?\" fever, we wouldbethrough.I carriedthe letterwith me all the time.
The nurse says,\"Goaway! Go away! What kindof thingis The godsnever make it easy;they always make it harder.I
that to ask of a patient!\"\342\200\224and brusheshim away. Then she go to the hospitalto see Arlene\342\200\224having made this decision\342\200\224
turned tous and said,\"Thatman is a doctorfrom the neighbor- and there she is, sittingup in bed, surrounded by her parents,
who comesto the meetings
neighborhood and is always making trouble. somewhatdistraught. When sheseesme,her face lightsup and
That'snot the kindof thingto askof a patient!\" shesays,\"Now I know how valuableit isthat we telleachother
I didn'tcatchon.The doctorwas checking a certainpossibil- the truth!\"Noddingat her parents,she continues,\"They're
and ifI had beensmart,I wouldhave askedhim what it was. tellingme I have glandularfever, and I'm not sure whether I
Finally, after a lot of discussion,
possibility,

a doctorat the hospitaltells believethem or not. Tell me, Richard,do I have Hodgkin's
me they figure the mostlikelypossibility is Hodgkin'sdisease. diseaseor glandularfever?\"
He says, \"There will be someperiodsof improvement,and \"You have glandularfever,\"I said,and I diedinside.It was
someperiodsin the hospital.It will be on and off, getting terrible!
terrible\342\200\224just
gradually worse.There'sno way to reverseit entirely.It's fatal Her reactionwas completely simple:\"Oh!Fine!Then I
after a few years.\" believethem.\"Becausewe had builtup so much trust in each
\"I'msorry to hearthat,\"I say. \"I'lltellherwhat you said.\" other,shewas completely relieved.Everything was solved,and
\"No,no!\"says the doctor.\"We don't want to upsetthe allwas very nice.
patient.\"We'regoingto tell her it's glandularfever.\"
\"No,no!\"I reply.\"We'vealready discussed the possibility Shegot a littlebit better,and went homefor a while.About a
of Hodgkin's disease.I know shecanadjustto it.\" week later,I get a telephone call.\"Richard,\" shesays,\"I want
\"Herparentsdon'twant herto know. You had bettertalk to to talkto you. Comeon over.\"
them first.\" \"Okay.\"I made sureI stillhad the letterwith me.I could
At home,everybody worked on me: my parents,my two tellsomething was the matter.
24 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 25
I go upstairsto her room,and she says,\"Sitdown.\"I sit importantto getas much information as possible. With Arlene's
down on the endof her bed.\"All right,now tellme,\"shesays, help,I finally convincedherparents.
\"doI have glandularfever or disease?\"
Hodgkin'\302\273s A few days later,Arlene telephones me and says,\"Theygot
\"You have Hodgkin's disease.\"
And I reachedfor the letter. a reportfrom the biopsy.\"
\"God!\" shesays.\"Theymust have put you throughhell!\" \"Yeah?Is it goodor bad?\"
I had justtoldhershehasa fatal disease,and was admitting \"I don'tknow. Comeoverand let'stalk aboutit.\"
that I had liedto her as well,and what doesshethink of? She's When I got to her house,sheshowedme the report.It said,
worriedaboutme I was terribly ashamedof myself.I gave
I
\"Biopsy showstuberculosis of the lymphatic gland.\"
Arlenethe letter. That really got me.I mean,that was the first goddamnthing
\"You shouldhave stuckby it. We know what we'redoing; on the list!I passedit by, becausethe booksaidit was easy to
we are right!\" diagnose,and becausethe doctorswere having so much trouble
\"I'msorry. I feelawful.\" trying to figureout what it was.I assumed they had checked the
\"Iunderstand,Richard.Just don'tdo it again.\" obviouscase.And it was the obviouscase:the man who had
see,shewas in bedupstairs,and didsomething
You sheused comerunning out of the meetingroomasking\"Doyou spitup
to do when she was little:she tiptoedout of bed and crawled blood?\"had the right idea.He knew what it probablywas!
down the stairsa littlebit to listento what peoplewere doing I felt like a jerk, becauseI had passedover the obvious
downstairs.Sheheardhermothercrying a lot,and went backto possibility by using circumstantial evidence\342\200\224which isn't any
bedthinking,\"IfI have glandularfever, why is Mothercrying by assuming
good\342\200\224and the doctorswere moreintelligent than
so much? But Richard saidI had glandularfever,soit must be they were. Otherwise,I would have suggested it right off, and
right!\" perhapsthe doctorswouldhave diagnosed Arlene'sdiseaseway
Latershethought,\"CouldRichardhave lied to me?\"and backthen as \"tuberculosis of the lymphatic I was a
gland\342\200\224?\"
beganto wonderhow that might be,possible. Sheconcluded that, dope.I've learned,sincethen.
incredible as it sounded, somebodymight have put me througha Anyway, Arlene says, \"SoI might live as long as seven
wringer of somesort. years.I may even get better.\"
Shewas sogoodat facingdifficultsituations that shewent on \"Sowhat do you mean,you don't know if it's goodor
to the next problem.\"Okay,\"she says, \"I have Hodgkin's bad?\"
disease.What are we goingto do now?\" \"Well,now we won't be ableto get married until later.\"
I had a scholarship at Princeton, and they wouldn'tlet me Knowingthat sheonly had two moreyears to live,we had
keep it if I got married.We knew what the diseasewas like: solvedthingsso perfectly,from herpointof view, that shewas
sometimes it would get betterfor somemonths,and Arlene disturbedto discover she'dlivelonger!But it didn'ttake me long
couldbe at home,and then shewouldhave tobe in the hospital to convince herit was a bettercircumstance.
for some and forth for two years,perhaps.
months\342\200\224back So we knew we couldface thingstogether,from then on.
So I figure,althoughI'm in the middleof trying to get my After goingthrough that,we had no difficulty facingany other
Ph.D.,I couldgeta jobat the BellTelephone Laboratories doing problem.
was a very goodplaceto
research\342\200\224it we couldgeta
work\342\200\224and When the war came,I was recruited to work on the Manhat-
littleapartment in Queensthat wasn'ttoofar from the hospitalor Projectat Princeton,
Manhattan where I was finishingup my degree.A
BellLabs.We couldgetmarriedin a few months,in New York. few monthslater,assoonas I got my degree,I announced to my
We worked everything out that afternoon. family that I wanted to get married.
For somemonths now Arlene'sdoctorshad wanted to take a My father was horrified, becausefrom the earliesttimes,as
biopsyof the swellingonherneck,but her parentsdidn'twant it he saw me develop,he thoughtI wouldbe happy as a scientist.
didn'twant to \"botherthe poorsickgirl.\"But with
done\342\200\224they He thoughtit was stilltoo early to would interfere
new resolve,I kept working on them, explainingthat it's
marry\342\200\224it

with my career.He alsohadthiscrazy idea:if a guy was in some

26 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 27

difficulty, he usedto always say, \"Cherchez la femme\"\342\200\224look went to Princeton to pickup a Woodward,oneof the
car\342\200\224Bill

for the woman behindit. He felt that women were the great graduate there,lentme hisstationwagon.I fixedit up
students
dangerto a man, that a man always has to watch out and be likea littleambulance, with a mattressand sheetsin the back,so
toughaboutwomen.And when he seesme marrying a girl with Arlene couldlie down in caseshegot tired.Although thiswas
tuberculosis, he thinksof the possibility that I'm goingto get oneof the periodswhen the diseasewas apparently not so bad
sick,too. and shewas at home,Arlenehad beenin the county hospital a
My whole family was worried about uncles,
that\342\200\224aunts, lot,and shewas a littleweak.
everyone.They broughtthe family doctoroverto ourhouse.He I droveup to Cedarhurstand pickedup my bride.Arlene's
triedto explainto me that tuberculosis is a dangerous disease, family waved goodbye,and offwe went. We crossed Queensand
and that I'm boundto get it. Brooklyn, then went to StatenIslandon the ferry\342\200\224that was our
I said,\"Justtellme how it'stransmitted, and we'llfigureit romantic boat droveto the city hallfor the boroughof
ride\342\200\224and

out.\"We were already very, very careful:we knew we must not
kiss,becausethere'sa lot of bacteriain the mouth.
Then they very carefully explained to me that when I had
promised t o marry Arlene, I didn't k now the situation.
wouldunderstand that I didn'tknow the situation
Everybody
that it didn'trepresent a realpromise.
I never had that feeling,that crazy ideathat they had,that I
was gettingmarried becauseI had promised it. I hadn'teven
thoughtof that. It wasn'ta questionof having promisedany-
anything; we had stalled around,notgettinga pieceof paperand not
beingformally married,but we were in love,and were already
married,emotionally.
I said,\"Would it be sensiblefor a husbandwho learnsthat
his wife hastuberculosis to leave her?\"
Only my aunt who ran the hotelthoughtmaybe it would be
allright for us to getmarried.Everybody elsewas stillagainstit.
But thistime,sincemy family had givenme thiskindof advice
beforeand it had beenso wrong, I was in a much stronger
position.It was very easyto resistand tojustproceed.Sothere
was no problem,really.Although it was similarcircumstance,
they weren'tgoingto convince me of anything any more.Arlene
and I knew we were rightin what we were doing.
Richmondto get married.
We went up the stairs,slowly,intothe office.The guy there
was very nice.He did everything right away. He said,\"You
Every- don'thave any witnesses,\" so he calledthe bookkeeperand an
then,and accountantfrom anotherroom,and we were married according
to the laws of the stateof New York. Then we were very happy,
and we smiledat eachother,holdinghands.
The bookkeepersays to me, \"You'remarried now. You
shouldkissthe bride!\"
Sothe bashfulcharacter kissedhisbridelightly onthe cheek.
I gave everyonea tip and we thanked them very much.We
got backin the car,and droveto DeborahHospital.
Every weekendI'd go down from Princeton to visitArlene.
One timethe buswas late,and I couldn'tgetintothe hospital.
Thereweren'tany hotelsnearby, but I had my oldsheepskin coat
on (so I was warm enough),and I lookedfor an empty lot to
sleepin. I was a littleworriedwhat it might looksolike in the
morning when people looked outof their windows, I found a
place that was far enoughaway from houses.
The next morningI woke up and discovered I'd beensleep-
in a garbage landfill!I felt foolish,and laughed.
dump\342\200\224a

Arlene'sdoctorwas very nice,but he wouldgetupsetwhen I

sleeping

Arlene and I workedeverything out.There was a hospital in

New Jerseyjust southof FortDix where shecouldstay while I broughtin a war bondfor $18every month.He couldsee we
was at Princeton. It was a charity hospital\342\200\224Deborah was the didn'thave much money, and keptinsisting we shouldn't contrib-
name of by the Women's GarmentWorkers Union to the hospital,but I did it anyway.
contribute
it\342\200\224supported
of New York. Arlene wasn't a garment worker, but it didn't One time,at Princeton,I receiveda box of pencilsin the
make any difference. And I was just a young fellaworking on mail.They were dark green,and in goldletterswere the words
thisprojectfor the government,and the pay was very low.But \"RICHARD DARLING, I LOVE YOU!PUTSY\"It was Arlene
thisway I couldtake careof her,at last. (I called her Putsy).
We decided to getmarried onthe way to DeborahHospital. I Well,that was nice,and I loveher,too, know how but\342\200\224you
 28 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 29
you absentmindedly droppencilsaround:you'reshowingProfes- Arlenewas playingher game with the world.Shehad a lotof
Wigner
Professor
a formula, or something,and leavethe pencilonhis time to think.Shewouldreadmagazines, and sendaway for this
desk. and that.Shewas always cookingup something. (Shemust have
In thosedays we didn'thave extra stuff, so I didn'twant to got help with the names from Nick Metropolisor one of the
waste the pencils.I got a razorbladefrom the bathroomand cut otherguys at LosAlamoswho wouldoftenvisither.)Arlenewas
off the writing on oneof them to seeif I couldusethem. in her room,but shewas in the world,writing me crazy letters
The next morning,I get a letterin the mail.It starts out, and sending away for allkindsof stuff.
\"WHAT'STHEIDEAOFTRYINGTOCUTTHENAME OFF Onetimeshesentme a big catalogof kitchenequipment\342\200\224
THE PENCILS?' the kindyou needfor enormous institutions
likeprisons,which
It continues:4'Aren'tyou proudof the fact that I loveyou?\" have a lotof peoplein them.It showedeverything from blowers
Then:\"WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE and hoodsfor stovesto hugepotsand pans.So I'm thinking,
THINK?\" \"What the hellis this?\"
Then came poetry:\"Ifyou'reashamedof me,dah dah,then It remindedme of the timeI was up at MITand Arlene sent
Pecansto you!Pecansto you!\"The next versewas the same me a catalogdescribing huge boats,from warships to ocean
kindof stuff, with the lastline,\"Almondsto you!Almondsto big boats.I wrote to her:\"What'sthe idea?\"
you!\"Each onewas \"Nuts to you!\"in a different form.
liners\342\200\224great
Shewrites back:\"I just thought that maybe, when we get
So I had to usethe pencilswith the names on them.What married,we couldbuy a boat.\"
elsecouldI do? I write, \"Are you crazy? It'sallout of proportion!\"
Then anothercatalogcomes:it's for big yachts\342\200\224forty-foot
It wasn't long beforeI had to go to LosAlamos.Robert schooners and stuff like very richpeople.Shewrites,
that\342\200\224for

Oppenheimer, who was in chargeof the project,arranged for \"Sinceyou saidno to the otherboats,maybe we couldgetone
Arlene to stay in the nearesthospital,in Albuquerque, abouta of these.\"
hundred milesaway. I had time offevery weekendtoseeher,so I write, \"Look:you'reway outof scale!\"
I would hitchhikedown on a Saturday, see Arlene in the Soonanothercatalogcomes:it's for variouskindsof motor
afternoon,and stay overnight in a hotelthere in Albuquerque. boats\342\200\224Chriscraft thisand that.
Then on Sunday morningI wouldseeArlene again,and hitch- I write, \"Tooexpensive!\"
backto LosAlamosin the afternoon.
hitchhike
Finally, I get a note:\"This is your last chance,Richard.
During the week I wouldoften get lettersfrom her.Someof You'realways saying no.\"It turns out a friendof hershas a
them,likethe one written on a jigsaw-puzzle blankand then rowboatshewants to sellfor used maybe
rowboat\342\200\224and
taken apart and sentin a sack,resultedin littlenotesfrom the
$15\342\200\224a

we couldbuy it so we couldrow aroundin the water next

army censor,suchas \"Please tellyour wife we don'thave time summer.
to play gamesaround here.\"I didn'ttellher anything. I likedher So,yes.I mean,how can you say no after allthat?
to play games\342\200\224even though she often put me in variousun- Well, I'm stilltrying to figureout what thisbig catalogfor
uncomfortable but amusingconditions from which I couldnot institutional kitchenequipmentis leadingto, when another cata-
escape. comes:it'sfor hotelsand restaurants\342\200\224supplies for smalland
Onetime,near the beginning of May, newspapersmysteriously catalog

medium-sized hotelsand restaurants. Then a few days later,a

appearedin almosteverybody'smailboxat Los Alamos.The catalogfor the kitchenin your new homecomes. I find out
wholedamn placewas full of them\342\200\224hundreds of newspapers. When I go down to Albuquerquethe next Saturday,
You know the open it up and there'sthisheadline
kind\342\200\224you what it's all about.There'sa littlecharcoalbroilerin her
screamingin thick lettersacross
the front page:ENTIRENA.TION room\342\200\224she'sboughtit through the mail from Sears.It's about
CELEBRATESBIRTHDAYOF R.P FEYNMAN! eighteeninchesacross,with littlelegs.
30 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 31
\"I thought we couldhave steaks,\"Arlene says. and all thoseotherfamouspeople.\"Sure enough,she's got
\"Howthe hellcan we useit in the room,here,with allthe anotherboxof cards.
smokeand everything?'* Shepullsoneout.It says theusualstuff, and then:From Dr.
\"Oh,no,\"shesays.\"All you have todo istake itouton the & Mrs.R. P. Feynman.
lawn. Then you cancookus steaksevery Sunday.\" So I had to sendthem those.
The hospital was right on Route 66,the main roadacrossthe \"What'sthisformal stuff, Dick?\"they laughed.They were
UnitedStates!\"I can'tdo that,\"I said.\"I mean,with allthe happy that shewas having sucha goodtime outof it, and that I
carsand trucks goingby, allthe peopleon the sidewalkwalking hadno controloverit.
backand forth,I can'tjustgo out there and start cookin'steaks
on the lawn!\" Arlene didn'tspendallof hertime inventing games.Shehad
\"What do you care what other peoplethink?\" (Arlene sentaway for a bookcalledSoundandSymbolin Chinese. It was
torturedme with that!)\"Okay,\"she says,openinga drawer, a lovely stillhave
book\342\200\224I aboutfifty symbolsdonein
it\342\200\224with

\"we'llcompromise:you don'thave to wear the chef'shat and beautifulcalligraphy,with explanations like \"Trouble: three
the gloves.\" women in a house.\" Shehad theright paper,brushes,and ink,
Sheholdsup a a realchef's
hat\342\200\224it's
gloves.Then
hat\342\200\224and and was practicing calligraphy.She had alsoboughta Chinese
shesays,\"Try on the apron,\"assheunfoldsit. It hassomething to
dictionary, get a lot of othersymbols.
sillywritten acrossit, like\"BAR-B-Q KING,\"or something. One time when I cameto visit her, Arlene was practicing
\"Okay,okay!\"I say, horrified.\"I'llcookthe steakson the thesethings.Shesays to herself,\"No.That one'swrong.\"
lawn!\"So every Saturday or Sunday, I'd go out there on Route So I, the \"great scientist,\"say, \"What do you mean,
66 and cooksteaks. 'wrong'?It'sonly a human convention. There'sno law of nature
which says how they'resupposed to look;you can draw them
Then there were the Christmascards.One day, only a few any way you want.\"
weeksafter I had arrived at LosAlamos, Arlene says,\"Ithought \"Imean,artistically it'swrong.It'sa question of balance,of
it wouldbe niceto sendChristmascardsto everybody. Would how it feels.\"
you liketo seethe onesI pickedout?\" \"Butoneway is just as goodas another,\" I protest.
They were nicecards,allright,but insidethey saidMerry \"Here,\"shesays,and shehands me the brush.\"Make one
Christmas, from Rich & Putsy. \"Ican'tsendtheseto Fermi and yourself.\"
Bethe,\"I protested.\"I hardly even know them!\" SoI made one,and I said,\"Wait a minute. Let me make an-
\"What doyou carewhat otherpeoplethink?\"\342\200\224naturally. So another tooblobby.\"
one\342\200\224it's (I couldn't say it was wrong, after all.)
we sentthem. \"Howdo you know how blobbyit's supposed to be?\"she
Next year comesaround,and by thistimeI know Fermi.I says.
know Bethe.I'vebeenoverat their houses.I've taken careof I learnedwhat shemeant.There'sa particularway you have
theirkids.We'reallvery friendly. to make the strokefor it to lookgood.An aesthetic thing hasa
Somewherealongthe line, Arlene says to me, in a very certainset,a certaincharacter, which I can'tdefine.Because it
formal tone,\"You haven'taskedme aboutourChristmascards couldn'tbedefinedmade me think there was nothingto it. But I
thisyear, Richard...\" learnedfrom that experience that there is something to it\342\200\224and

FEAR goesthrough me. \"Uh,well, let'sseethe cards.\" it's a fascination I've had for art ever since.
The cardssay Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,from Just at this moment,my sistersendsme a postcardfrom
Richardand ArleneFeynman. \"Well, that'sfine,\"I say. \"They're Oberlin,where she'sgoingto college.It'swritten in pencil,with
very nice.They'llgo finefor everybody.\" small in Chinese.
\"Oh,no,\"shesays.\"Theywon'tdo for Fermi and Bethe
symbols\342\200\224it's
Joan is nineyears youngerthan I am, and studiedphysics,
32 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 33
too.Having me asherolderbrotherwas toughon her.Shewas expensive to travel that far during the war, but he knew the end
always lookingfor somethingI couldn'tdo, and was secretly was near.One day he telephoned me at LosAlamos.\"You'd
taking Chinese. bettercomedown hereright away,\" he said.
Well,I didn'tknow any Chinese,but onething I'm goodat I had arranged ahead of time with a friend of mine at Los
is spendingan infiniteamount of timesolvinga puzzle.The next Alamos,KlausFuchs,to borrowhiscarin caseof an emergency,
weekendI tookthe cardwith me to Albuquerque.
Arlene showed so I couldgetto Albuquerque quickly.I pickedup a coupleof
me how to lookup the symbols. You have to start in the backof hitchhikersto helpme in casesomethinghappenedon the way.
the dictionarywith the right categoryand countthe number of Sureenough,as we were driving intoSanta Fe, we got a flat
strokes.Thenyou go intothe main part of the dictionary. It turns tire. The hitchhikershelpedme changethe tire. Then on the
out eachsymbolhasseveralpossible and
meanings, you have to othersideof Santa Fe, the sparetire went flat, but there was a
put several symbolstogether b efore you can understand i t. gas stationnearby. I rememberwaiting patiently for the gas
With great patience I workedeverythingout.Joanwas saying stationman to take care of someother car, when the two
thingslike, \"I had a goodtime today.\"There was only one hitchhikers, knowing the situation, went over and explained to
sentence I couldn'tfigure out.It said,\"Yesterdaywe celebrated the man what it was. He fixed the flat right away. We decided
mountain-forming day\"\342\200\224obviously an error.(It turned out they not to get the sparetire fixed,becauserepairingit would have
did have somecrazy thing called\"Mountain-forming Day\" at taken even moretime.
Oberlin,and I hadtranslatedit right!) We startedout again towards Albuquerque, and I felt foolish
So it was trivial things like you'dexpectto have on a that I hadn't to
thought say anything to the gas stationman when
postcard,but I knew from the situation that Joanwas trying to time was so precious. About thirty milesfrom Albuquerque, we
floorme by sendingme Chinese. got another f lat! We had to abandon the car, and we hitchhiked
I lookedbackand forth through the art bookand pickedout the restof the way. I calledup a towing company and toldthem
four symbolswhich would go well together.Then I practiced the situation.
eachone,overand over.I had a bigpad of paper,and I would I met Arlene'sfather at the hospital.He had beenthere for a
make fifty of eachone,until I got it justright. few days. \"I can'ttake it any more,\"he said.\"I have to go
When I had accidentally made one goodexampleof each home.\"He was so unhappy, hejust left.
symbol, I saved them. Arlene approved,and we gluedthe four When I finally saw Arlene,she was very weak, and a bit
of them endto end,oneon top of the other.Then we put a little foggedout.Shedidn'tseemto know what was happening. She
pieceof woodon eachend,soyou couldhang it up on the wall. staredstraight ahead most o f the time,looking around a little bit
I took a pictureof my masterpiece with Nick Metropolis's from time to time, and was trying to breathe. Every once in a
camera,rolledup the scroll,put it in a tube,and sentit to Joan. whileher breathing would shewouldsortof
stop\342\200\224and swallow\342\200\224

Soshegetsit. Sheunrollsit, and shecan'treadit. It looksto and then it would start again.It keptgoinglikethisfor a few
her as if I simply made fourcharacters, oneright after the other, hours.
on the scroll.Shetakesit to her teacher. I tooka littlewalk outsidefor a while.I was surprised that I
The first thing he says is, \"Thisis written rather well!Did wasn'tfeelingwhat I thought peoplewere supposed tofeelunder
you do this?\" the circumstances. Maybe I was foolingmyself.I wasn'tdelight-
\"Uh,no. What doesit say?\" but I didn'tfeel terribly upset,perhapsbecausewe had
delighted,

\"Elderbrotheralsospeaks.\" known for a longtime that it was goingto happen.

I'm a real would never let my littlesisterscore
bastard\342\200\224I It's hard to explain.If a Martian (who, we'llimagine,never
oneon me. diesexceptby accident) cameto Earth and saw thispeculiar race
of creatures\342\200\224these humans who live aboutseventy or eighty
When Arlene'scondition becamemuch weaker, her father years,knowing that deathis goingto would lookto
come\342\200\224it

cameout from New York to visit her. It was difficultand him like a terribleproblemof psychology to live under those
34 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? 35
circumstances, knowing that life is only temporary. Well, we a body when there'snothingthere?I didn'twant to lookat
humans somehow figureouthow to live despitethisproblem: we Arlene again;that wouldhave made me moreupset.
w e
laugh, joke, we live. I calledthe towing company and got the car, and
The only differencefor me and Arlene was, insteadof fifty Arlene'sstuff in the back.I pickedup a hitchhiker,and packed
started
years,it was five years.It was only a quantitative difference\342\200\224 outof Albuquerque.
the psychological problemwas just the same.The only way it It wasn'tmorethan five milesbefore. . . BANG!Another flat
wouldhave becomeany different is if we had saidto ourselves, tire.I startedto curse.
\"Butthoseotherpeoplehave it better,becausethey might live The hitchhiker lookedat me likeI was mentally unbalanced.
fifty years.\"But that's crazy. Why make yourselfmiserable \"It'sjust a tire,isn'tit?\"he says.
saying thingslike,\"Why do we have suchbadluck?What has \"Yeah,it'sjust a anothertire,and again another
Goddoneto us?What have we doneto deservethis?\"\342\200\224all of
tire\342\200\224and

intoyour tire,and anothertire!\"

which,if you understand reality and take it completely We put the sparetireon, and went very slowly, allthe way
heart, are irrelevant and unsolvable. They are just thingsthat backto LosAlamos,without gettingthe othertirerepaired.
nobody can know. Your situation i s just an accident of life. I didn'tknow how I was goingto faceallmy friendsat Los
We had a hellof a goodtime together. Alamos.I didn'twant peoplewith longfacestalkingto me about
I camebackinto herroom.I keptimaginingallthe things the deathof Arlene.Somebody askedme what happened.
that were going on physiologically: the lungs aren't getting \"She'sdead.And how'sthe programgoing?\"I said.
enough air into the blood, which makes the brain foggedout and They caught on right away that I didn'twant to moonoverit.
the heart weaker, which makes the breathingeven moredifficult. Only oneguy expressed his sympathy, and it turned out he had
I keptexpecting somesortof avalanchingeffect,with everything beenout of town when I camebackto Los Alamos.
caving togetherin a dramatic collapse.
in But it didn'tappear One night I had a dream,and Arlene came into it. Right
that way at all:shejustslowlygotmorefoggy, and her breathing away, I saidto her, \"No,no, you can'tbe in thisdream.You're
gradually became lessand less,until there was nomore breath\342\200\224
not alive!\"
but just beforethat, therewas a very smallone. Then later,I had anotherdream with Arlene in it. I startedin
The nurse on herroundscamein and confirmedthat Arlene again,saying,\"You can'tbe in thisdream!\"
was dead,and went wanted to bealonefor a moment.
out\342\200\224I I \"No,no,\"shesays.\"Ifooledyou. I was tiredof you, so I
sattherefor a while,and then went overto kissheronelast cookedup thisruseso I couldgo my own way. But now I like
time. you again,so I've comeback.\"My mind was really working
to discover
I was very surprised that her hair smelled
exactly againstitself.It had to be explained, even in a goddamndream,
the same.Of course,after I stoppedand thoughtaboutit, there why it was possible that shewas stillthere!
was no reasonwhy hairshouldsmelldifferent in sucha short I must have donesomething to myself,psychologically. I
time.But to me it was a kindof a shock,becausein my mind, didn'tcry until abouta month later,when I was walking pasta
something enormoushad just yet nothinghad
happened\342\200\224and departmentstorein Oak Ridgeand noticeda pretty dressin the
happened. window. I thought,\"Arlenewouldlikethat,\"and then it hit me.
The next day, I went to the mortuary. The guy hands me
someringshe'staken from her body.\"Would you liketo see
your wife onelasttime?\"he asks.
44What kindof I don'twant to seeher,no!\"I said.
a\342\200\224no,

44I just saw her!\"

\"Yes,but she'sbeenallfixedup,\"he says.
Thismortuary stuff was completelyforeignto me.Fixingup
 IT'SAS SIMPLEAS ONE, TWO, THREE 37

It's as Simpleas to 60. He had her poor duringthe

counting\342\200\224the
day: when her fever went up, he foundshe countedquicker;
woman\342\200\224all

One, Two, Three...

when her fever went down, shecountedslower.Therefore,he
thought,the thing that governedthe \"timesense\"in the brain
must be running fasterwhen she'sgotfever than when shehasn't
got fever.
Beinga very \"scientific\" guy, the psychologist knew that the
rate of a chemical reactionvaries with the surroundingtempera-
by a certainformula that dependson the energy of the
temperature

When I was a kid growingup in Far Rockaway,I had a friend reaction.He measuredthe differencesin speedof his wife's
named BernieWalker. We both had \"labs\" at home,and we counting, and determined how muchthe temperaturechangedthe
woulddo various \"experiments.\" Onetime,we were discussing speed.Then he triedto find a chemicalreactionwhose rates
must have beenelevenor twelve at the varied with temperature in the sameamounts as his wife's
did.Hefoundthat ironreactions
time\342\200\224
something\342\200\224we
and I said,\"But thinking is nothingbut talkingto yourself counting fit the pattern best.So
inside.\" he deducedthat his wife'ssenseof time was governedby a
\"Ohyeah?\" Berniesaid.\"Doyou know the crazy shapeof chemicalreactionin her bodyinvolving iron.
the crankshaft in a car?\" Well,it allseemedlikea lotof baloneyto were so me\342\200\224there

\"Yeah,what of it?\" many thingsthat couldgo wrong in hislongchainof reasoning.

\"Good.Now, tell me: how did you describeit when you But it was an interesting question:what does determinethe
were talking to yourself?\" \"timesense\"? When you'retrying tocountat an even rate,what
SoI learnedfrom Berniethat thoughtscanbe visualas well doesthat rate dependon? And what coulddo to yourselfto
as verbal. changeit?
Later on, in college,I becameinterestedin dreams.I I decidedto investigate. I startedby counting seconds\342\200\224

wonderedhow thingscouldlookso real,just as if lightwere without lookingat a clock,of to 60in a slow,steady

course\342\200\224up

hitting the retina of the eye, while the eyesare closed: are the rhythm: 1,2,3, 4, 5 When I got to 60,only 48 seconds had
nerve cellson the retina actually beingstimulated in someother goneby, but that didn'tbotherme:the problemwas notto count
the brain itself, doesthe brain have a for exactlyoneminute,but to countat a standard rate.The next
way\342\200\224by

\"judgment
perhaps\342\200\224or

department*' getsslopped
that up during dreaming? I timeI countedto 60,49 seconds had passed.The next time,48.
never gotsatisfactory answers to suchquestions from psycholo- Then 47, 48,49,48,48.. . . SoI foundI couldcountat a pretty
even though I became very interested in how the brainworks. standardrate.
psychology,

Instead, t here was all thisbusiness a bout interpretingdreams, Now, if I just sat there,without counting, and waited until I
and soon. thoughta minute had goneby, it was very irregular\342\200\224complete
When I was in graduateschoolat Princeton a kindof dumb variations.So I found it's very poor to estimatea minute by
psychologypaper came out that stirredup a lot of discussion. sheerguessing.But by counting,I couldget very accurate.
The author had decidedthat the thing controlling the \"time Now that I knew I couldcountat a standard rate,the next
sense\"in the brain is a chemicalreactioninvolving iron. I question affects the rate?
was\342\200\224what

thought to myself,\"Now, how the hellcouldhe figure that?\" Maybe it hassomething to do with the heart rate.SoI began
Well, the way he did it was, his wife had a chronicfever to run up and down the stairs,up and down, to get my heart
which went up and down a lot.Somehow he got the ideato test beatingfast.Then I'd run intomy room,throw myself down on
her senseof time.He had her countseconds to herself(without the bed, and countup to 60.
looking clock),
at a a nd checked h ow long it took her to countup I alsotriedrunning up and down the stairsand countingto
36 myselfwhile I was running up and down.
38 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? IT'SAS SIMPLEAS ONE, TWO THREE 39
The otherguys saw me running up and down the stairs,and didn'taffectthe rate!In fact,I coulddo anything while counting
laughed.\"What are you doing?\" to myself\342\200\224except talk out loud,of course.
I couldn'tanswer mqde me realizeI couldn't
them\342\200\224which What abouttyping\342\200\224copying words out of a book?I found
talk while I was counting to keptright on running
myself\342\200\224and that I coulddo that,too,but heremy time was affected.I was
up and down the stairs,looking like an idiot. excited:finally, I've foundsomethingthat appearsto affect my
(The guys at the graduate collegewere usedtome looking countingrate!I investigated it more.
likean idiot.On anotheroccasion, for example, a guy cameinto I would go along,typing the simplewords rather fast,
my had forgottentolockthe doorduring the \"experiment\"
room\342\200\224I
countingto myself 19,20, 21,typing along,counting27, 28,
foundme in a chairwearing my heavy sheepskin
\342\200\224and coat, 29, typing along, the hell is that
until\342\200\224What word?\342\200\224Oh,
leaningout of the wide-openwindow in the deadof winter, then continue
yeah\342\200\224and counting30,31,32,and soon. When
holdinga pot in one hand and stirringwith the other.\"Don't I'd get to 60,I'd be late.
botherme!Don'tbotherme!\"I said.I was stirring Jell-Oand After someintrospection and further observation,I realized
watching it closely:I had gottencuriousas to whether Jell-O what must have happened: I wouldinterrupt my countingwhen I
wouldcoagulate in the coldif you keptit moving allthe time.) got to a difficultword that \"needed morebrains,\"so to speak.
Anyway, after trying every combination of running up and My counting rate wasn't slowingdown;rather, the countingitself
downthe stairsand lying on the bed,surprise! The heartrate had was beingheldup temporarilyfrom time to time.Counting to 60
no effect.And sinceI got very hot running up and down the had becomeso automatic that I didn'teven noticethe interrup-
stairs,I figuredtemperature had nothingto do with it either at first.
interruptions

(althoughImust have known that your temperaturedoesn'treally The next morning,overbreakfast,I reportedthe resultsof all
go up when you exercise). In fact, I couldn'tfind anything that theseexperiments to the otherguys at the table.I toldthem all
affected my rate of counting. the thingsI coulddo while countingto myself,and saidthe only
Running up and down stairsgot pretty boring,so I started thing I absolutelycouldnot do while countingto myself was
countingwhile I did thingsI had to do anyway. For instance, talk.
when I put out the laundry, I had to fill out a form saying how Oneof the guys, a fellanamed JohnTukey, said,\"I don't
many shirtsI had,how many pants,and so on.I found I could believeyou canread,and I don'tseewhy you can'ttalk.I'll bet
write down \023\" in front of \"pants\"or \024\" in front of \"shirts,\" you I can talk while countingto myself,and I'll bet you you
but I couldn'tcountmy socks.There were too many of them: can'tread.\"
I'm already usingmy \"counting
hereare allthesesocksin front of
countthe socks?
machine\"\342\200\22436, 37,
40, How doI
me\342\200\22439, 41.... 38\342\200\224and SoI gave a demonstration: they gave me a bookand I readit
for a while, countingto myself.When I reached60 I said,
seconds,my regulartime.ThenI toldthem what I
\"Now!\"\342\200\22448
I foundI couldarrange them in geometrical a patterns\342\200\224like had read.
square,for example: a pairof socksin thiscomer,a pair in that Tukey was amazed. After we checked him a few timesto see
one;a pair overhere,and a pair over socks. there\342\200\224eight what hisregulartime was, he started talking:\"Maryhad a little
I continued thisgameof countingby patterns,and foundI lamb;I can say anything I want to, it doesn'tmake any
couldcountthe linesin a newspaperarticleby groupingthe lines difference;I don't know what's bothering blah,
you\"\342\200\224blah,
intopatterns of 3,3,3, and 1to get 10;then 3 of thosepatterns, blah,and finally, \"Okay!\"He hit his time right on the nose!I
3 of thosepatterns,3 of thosepatterns,and 1 of thosepatterns couldn'tbelieveit!
made 100.I went right down the newspaper likethat.After I had We talkedaboutit a while,and we discovered something. It
finishedcountingup to 60,I knew where I was in the patterns turned out that Tlikey was countingin a different way: he was
and couldsay, \"I'mup to 60,and thereare 113lines.\"I found visualizinga tape with numbers on it goingby. He would say,
that I couldeven readthe articleswhile I counted to 60,and it \"Mary had a littlelamb,\"and he wouldwatch it!Well, now it
40 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

at histapegoingby, sohe can'tread,

was clear:he's \"looking\"
and I'm *'talking\"to myselfwhen I'm counting,so I can't Getting Ahead
speak!
After that discovery, I triedto figure out a way of readingout
loudwhile counting\342\200\224something neitherof uscoulddo.I figured
I'd have to usea part of my brain that wouldn'tinterferewith the
seeingor speakingdepartments, so I decidedto usemy fingers, Onetime,backin the fifties,when I was returning from Brazil
sincethat involvedthe senseof touch. by boat,we stopped offin Trinidadfor a day, so I decided
to see
I soonsucceeded in countingwith my fingersand readingout the main city, Portof Spain.In thosedays,when I visiteda city I
loud.But I wanted the wholeprocessto be mental,and not rely was mostinterested in seeingthe poorestsections\342\200\224to seehow
on any physicalactivity. SoI triedto imaginethe feelingof my lifeworks at the bottomend.
fingersmoving while I was readingout loud. I spentsometime off in the hills,in the Negrosectionof
I never succeeded.I figuredthat was becauseI hadn't town, wandering around on foot.On the way backa taxi stopped
practicedenough,but it might be impossible: I've never met and the driver said,\"Hey,mon!You want to seethe city? It only
anybody who can do it. costfive biwL\"
By that experience Tukey and I discovered that what goeson I said,\"Okay,\"and got in the taxi.
in different people'sheadswhen they think they'redoingthe The driver startedright off to go up and seesomepalace,
samething\342\200\224something as simpleas different for
counting\342\200\224is
saying,\"I'llshow you allthe fancy places.\"
different people.And we discovered that you can externally and I said,\"No,thank you;that'ssimilarin every city. I want to
objectivelytest how the brainworks:you don'thave to ask a seethe bottompart of the city, where the poorpeoplelive.I've
personhow he countsand rely on his own observationsof already seenthe hillsup there.\"
himself;instead,you observewhat he can and can'tdo while he \"Oh!\" hesaid,impressed. \"I'llbe gladto show you around.
counts.The testisabsolute. There'sno way to beatit; no way to And I have a question for you when we'rethrough,so I want
fake it. you to lookat everything carefully.\"
It's natural to explainan ideain terms of what you already Sohe tookme to an EastIndianneighborhood\342\200\224it must have
have in your head.Concepts are piledon top of eachother:this beensomehousingproject\342\200\224and he stoppedin front of a house
ideais taught in terms of that idea,and that ideais taught in made of concrete blocks.Therewas practicallynothing inside.A
termsof another idea,which comesfrom counting, whichcan be man was sittingon the front steps.\"You seethat man?\"he said.
so different for different people! \"Hehasa sonstudyin* medicine in Maryland.\"
I oftenthink aboutthat,especially when I'm teachingsome Then he pickedup someonefrom the neighborhood so I
esoterictechnique suchas integratingBesselfunctions. When I couldbettersee what they were like.It was a woman whose
seeequations, I seethe lettersin don'tknow why. As
colors\342\200\224I
teethhad a lot of decay.
I'm talking,I seevague picturesof Besselfunctionsfrom Jahnke Further along we stoppedand he introducedme to two
and Emde'sbook,with light-tany's, slightlyviolet-bluish n's, women headmired. \"Theygotenoughmoney togetherto buy a
and dark brown jc'sflying around.And I wonderwhat the hellit sewing machine, and now they do sewingand tailoringwork for
must lookliketo the students. people in the neighborhood,\" he said,proudly.When he intro-
introduced me to them,he said,\"Thisman is a professor, and what's
interestingis, he wants to seeour neighborhoods.\"
We saw many things,and finally the taxi driver saidto me,
\"Now,Professor, hereis my question:you seethe Indianpeople
are just as poor,and sometimes even poorerthan the Negro
41
42 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

people,but they'regettingsomewhere,somehow\342\200\224this man has

senthissonto college;thosewomen are buildingup a sewing
Hotel City
business. But my peoplearen'tgetting#nywhere. Why is that?\"
I told him, of course,that I didn't is my know\342\200\224which
answer to almostevery he wouldn'tacceptthat,
question\342\200\224but
comingfrom a professor. I triedto guessat something which I
thought was possible. I said,\"There'sa longtraditionbehindlife One time, when I was in Geneva,Switzerland,for a Physical
in India that comesfrom a religionand philosophythat is Societymeeting, I was walking around and happenedto go past
thousandsof years old.And althoughthesepeopleare not in the UnitedNationsbuildings. I thoughtto myself,\"Gee!I think
India,they stillpassonthosetraditions aboutwhat'simportant I'll go in and look around.\"I wasn't particularly dressedfor
in to build for the future and supportingtheir
life\342\200\224trying
was wearing dirty pantsand an old
it\342\200\224I it turned out
coat\342\200\224but

childrenin the have comedown to them for

effort\342\200\224which therewere toursyou couldgo on where someguy would show
centuries.\" you around.
I continued, \"Ithink that your peoplehave unfortunatelynot The tourwas quiteinteresting, but the moststrikingpart was
had a chance to developsucha longtradition, or if they did,they the greatbig auditorium. You know how everythingis overdone
lostit through conquestand slavery.\"I don'tknow if it's true, for thesebig international characters, so what wouldordinarily
but it was my bestguess. be a stageor a daiswas in severallayers:you have to climbup
The taxi driver felt that it was a goodobservation, and said whole sequences of stepsto thisgreat,big,monstrouswooden
he was planningto buildfor the future,too:he had somemoney thing that you stand behind,with a bigscreenin back of you.In
on the horses,and if he won, he wouldbuy hisown taxicab,and front of you are the seats.The carpetsare elegant,and the big
reallydo well. doorswith brasshandlesat the backare beautiful. On eachside
I felt very sorry.I toldhim that bettingon the horseswas a of the greatauditorium,up above,are windowedboothsfor the
bad idea,but heinsistedit was the onlyway hecoulddo it. He translatorsof different languagesto work in. It's a fantastic
had suchgoodintentions, but hismethodwas goingto beluck. place,and I keptthinking to myself,\"Gee!How it must be to
I wasn'tgoingto go on philosophizing, so he tookme to a give a talk in a placelikethis!\"
placewhere therewas a steelbandplayingsomegreatcalypso Right after that, we were walking alongthe corridor just
music,and I had an enjoyableafternoon. outsidethe auditoriumwhen the guidepointedthrough the
window and said,\"You seethosebuildingsoverthere that are
under construction? They'llbe usedfor the first timeat the
Atoms for PeaceConference, in aboutsixweeks.\"
I suddenlyremembered that Murray Gell-Mann and I were
t
supposed giveo talksat that conference on the presentsituation
of high-energy physics.My talk was set for the plenary session,
soI askedthe guide,\"Sir,where wouldthe talks for the plenary
sessionof that conference be?\"
\"Backin that roomthat we just camethrough.\"
\"Oh!\" I saidin delight.\"Then gonnagivea speechin
\320\223\321\202

that room!\"
The guidelookeddown at my dirty pants and my sloppy
shirt.I realizedhow dumb that remark must have soundedto
him,but it was genuinesurpriseand delighton my part.
43
 44 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? HOTELCITY 45
littlebit farther, and the guidesaid,\"This
We went alonga can do it: maybe by the timewe get there,the water will be
is a loungefor the various delegates,where they often hold down.
informal discussions.\" Therewere somesmall,squarewindows \"We shouldn'twaste time,\"he replies.\"Perhapswe can
in the doorsto the lounge that you couldlookthrough,sopeople find a roomin a hotelif we lookfor it now.\"
lookedin. There were a few men sittingthere talking. \"Aw, don'tworry aboutit!\"I say. \"Let'sgo!\"
I lookedthrough the windows and saw IgorTamm, a physi- We drive outof town aboutten or twelve milesand cometo
from Russiathat I know. \"Oh!\"
physicist I said.\"Iknow that guy!\" an arroyo.Yes,even for me,there'stoomuch water. There'sno
and I startedthrough the door. question: we aren'tgoingto try to get through that.
The guidescreamed, \"No,no!Don'tgo in there!\"By this We turn around:my friend'smuttering abouthow we'llhave
time he was surehe had a maniac on hishands,but hecouldn't no chanceof findinga roomin a hotelnow, and I tellhim notto
chaseme becausehe wasn'tallowedto go through the door worry.
himself! Backin town, it'sabsolutely blockedwith peoplesleeping in
Tamm'sfacelit up when he recognized me,and we talkeda theircars,obviouslybecausethereare no morerooms.All the
littlebit.The guidewas relievedand continued the tourwithout hotelsmust be packed.I seea smallsignover a door:it says
me, and I had to run to catch up. \"HOTEL.\"It was the kind of hotelI was familiar with in
Albuquerque,when I would wander around town lookingat
At the Physical Societymeetingmy goodfriend BobBacher things,waiting to seemy wife at the hospital: you have to go up
saidto me, \"Listen: it's goingto be hard to get a roomwhen a flight of stairsand the officeis on the first landing.
that Atoms for PeaceConference is goingon. Why don'tyou We go up the stairsto the officeand I say to the manager,
have the StateDepartmentarrange a roomfor you,if you haven't \"We'dlikea room.\"
already made a reservation?\" \"Certainly,sir. We have one with two bedson the third
\"Naw!\"I said.\"I'mnot gonnahave the StateDepartment floor.\"
do a damn thing for me!I'll do it myself.\"* My friend is amazed:The town is packed with people
When I returned to my hotelI told them that I would be sleepingin cars,and here'sa hotelthat has room!
leavingin a week, but I'd be comingbackat the endof summer: We go up to our room,and gradually it becomes clearto
\"CouldI make a reservationnow for that time?\" him:there'sno dooron the room,only a hanging clothin the
\"Certainly! When will you be returning?\" doorway.The roomwas fairly clean,it had a ^ink; it wasn'tso
\"Thesecondweek in September. . .\" bad.We get ready for bed.
\"Oh, w e'reterribly sorry, Professor Feynman;we are already He says,\"I'vegot to pee.\"
completely b ooked for that time.\" \"Thebathroomis down the hall.\"
SoI wanderedoflF, from onehotelto another,and foundthey We hear girlsgigglingand walking backand forth in the hall
were allbookedsolid,six weeks aheadof time! outside,and he'snervous.He doesn'twant to go out there.
Then I remembereda trick I usedoncewhen I was with \"That'sallright;justpeein the sink,\"I say.
a physicistfriend of mine, a quiet and dignifiedEnglish \"Butthat'sunsanitary.\"
fellow. \"Naw, it's okay; you just turn the water on.\"
We were goingacrossthe UnitedStatesby car,and when we \"I can'tpeein the sink,\"he says.
gotjustbeyondTulsa,Oklahoma,therewere supposed to be big We'rebothtired,so we lie down.It's so hot that we don't
floodsup ahead.We came intothislittletown and we saw cars useany covers,and my friend can'tgetto sleepbecauseof the
parkedeverywhere, with peopleand familiesin them,trying to noisesin the place.I kindof fall asleepa littlebit.
sleep.He says,\"We had betterstophere.It'sclearwe can go no A littlelaterI hear a creakingof the floornearby, and I open
further.' oneeye slightly.Therehe is,in the dark,quietly steppingover to
\"Aw, comeon!\" I say. \"Howdo you know? Let'sseeif we the sink.
46 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? HOTELCITY 47
There'san amusingsceneI rememberfrom the HotelCity.
Anyway, I knew a littlehotelin Genevacalled the HotelCity, One night I was lookingthrough my window out into the
which was oneof thoseplaceswith justa doorway on the street courtyard.Something, in a buildingacrossthe courtyard,caught
and a flight of stairsleadingup to the office.Therewere usually the cornerof my eye:it lookedlikean upside-down bowlon the
someroomsavailable, and nobodymade reservations. windowsill. I thought it had moved,so I watched it for a while,
I went up the stairsto the officeand toldthe deskclerkthat but it didn'tmove any. Then,after a bit,it moved a littleto one
I'd be backin Genevain sixweeks,and I'd liketo stay in their side.I couldn'tfigureout what this thing was.
hotel:\"CouldI make a reservation?\" After a while I figuredit out:it was a man with a pair of
\"Certainly,sir. Of course!\" binoculars that he had against the windowsillfor support,looking
The clerkwrote my name on a pieceof hadn't acrossthe courtyard to the floorbelowme!
There'sanothersceneat the HotelCity which I'll always
paper\342\200\224they
any bookto write reservations I rememberthe clerk
in\342\200\224and

trying to find a hookto put the paperon,to remember. SoI had remember, that I'd loveto be ableto paint:I was returning one
my \"reservation,\" and everything was fine. night from the conference and openedthe doorat the bottomof
I cameback to Genevasix weeks later,went to the Hotel the stairway. There was the proprietor, standingthere,trying to
City, and they didhave the roomready for me;it was on the top look nonchalantwith a cigar in one hand while he pushed
floor.Although the placewas cheap,it was clean.(It'sSwitzerland; something up the stairswith the other.Farther up, the woman
itwas leant)There were a few holesin the bedspread,
\321\201 but it who broughtme breakfastwas pullingon thissame heavy object
was a cleanbedspread. In the morningthey serveda European with both hands.And at the top of the stairs,at the landing,
breakfast in my room;they were rather delighted to have this thereshewas, with herfake furs on, buststickingout,hand on
guestwho had madea reservationsix weeks in advance. herhip,imperiously waiting.Hercustomer was a bit drunk,and
Then I went overto the U.N.for the first day of the Atoms was not very capableof walking up the steps.I don't know
for PeaceConference. There was quitea line at the reception whetherthe proprietor knew that / knew what this was allabout;
desk,where everyone was checkingin: a woman was taking I justwalked pasteverything. He was ashamedof hishotel,but,
down everybody'saddressand phonenumber so they couldbe of course,to me, it was delightful.
reachedin casethere were any messages.
\"Whereare you staying,Professor Feynman?\" sheasks.
\"At the HotelCity.\"
\"Oh,you must mean the HotelCite.\"
\"No,it'scalled'City':CITY.\"(Why not?We wouldcall
it \"Cite\"herein America,so they calledit \"City\"in Geneva,
becauseit soundedforeign.)
\"Butit isn'ton our listof hotels.Are you sureit's 'City'?\"
\"Lookin the telephone bookfor the number.You'llfind it.\"
\"Oh!\" shesaid,after checking the phonebook.\"My listis
Some
incomplete! people a re stilllookingfor a room,so perhaps
I can recommend the HotelCity to them.\"
She must have got the word about the Hotel City from
someone,becausenobodyelse from the conference endedup
staying there. O nce in a while the people a t the Hotel
City would
receivetelephone callsfor me from theU.N.,and wouldrun up
the two flights of stairsfrom the officeto tellme,with someawe
and excitement, to comedown and answer the phone.
 WHO THE HELLIS HERMAN? 49

Who the Hell Is Herman? he thisseriousstuff. Everybody'sgot longfaces

knew\"\342\200\224all

aboutHerman,but I stilldon'tknow who Herman is\342\200\224though

I'm surethat if I knew, I'd feelvery sorry that he was dead!
The funeral proceeded, and when it cametime for everybody
to filepastthe caskets,I went up.I lookedintothe first casket,
and there was Herman's mother.I lookedintothe secondcasket,
One day I got a long-distance callfrom an oldfriend
telephone and there was I swear to you,I'd never seenhim
Herman\342\200\224and

in Los Alamos.Shesays in a very seriousvoice,\"Richard,I beforein my life!

have somesad news for you. Herman died.\"
I'm always feelinguncomfortable that I don't remember
names and then I feelbad that I don'tpay enoughattentionto
people.So I said,\"Oh?\"\342\200\224trying to be quietand seriousso I
couldget moreinformation,but thinking to myself,\"Who the
hellis Herman?\"
She says,\"Hermanand his motherwere both killedin an
automobile accidentnearLosAngeles.Sincethat is where his
motheris from,the funeral will be heldin LosAngelesat the
RoseHillsMortuary on May 3rd at three o'clock.\" Then she
says,\"Hermanwouldhave likedit very, very much to know that
you would beoneof his pallbearers.\"
I stillcan'trememberhim.I say, \"OfcourseI'd be happy to
do that.\"(At leastthisway I'll find out who Herman is.)
ThenI get an idea:I callup the mortuary. \"You'rehaving a
funeral on May 3rd at threeo'clock. . .\"
\"Which funeral do you mean:the Goldschmidt funeral,or
the Parnell funeral?\"
It cametime to carry the casketout, and I tookmy place
among the pallbearers. I very carefully laidHerman to restin his
grave, becauseI knew he would have appreciatedit. But I
haven'tany idea,to thisday, who Herman was.
Many years laterI finally got up enoughcourageto bring it
up to my friend.\"You know that funeral I went to, aboutten
years go,for Howard...\"
\"You mean Herman.\"
\"Ohyeah\342\200\224Herman. You know, I didn'tknow who Herman
was.I didn'teven recognize him in the casket.\"
\"ButRichard,you knew eachotherin LosAlamosjustafter
the war. You were bothgoodfriendsof mine,and we had many
conversations together.\"
\"I stillcan'trememberhim/'
A few days latershecalledand told me what might have
happened: maybe shehad met Herman just after I had leftLos
thereforegot the timing mixed up
Alamos\342\200\224and somehow\342\200\224but

\"Well, uh,I don'tknow.\"It stilldoesn'tclickforme;I don't becauseshewas suchgoodfriendswith eachof us, shethought
think it'seitheroneof them.Finally,I say, \"Itmight be a double we must have known eachother.So shewas the onewho had
funeral.Hismotheralsodied.\" made the mistake,not me (which is usually the case).Or was
\"Oh,yes.Then it's the Goldschmidt funeral.\" shejustbeingpolite?
\"HermanGoldschmidt?\"
\"That'sright;Herman Goldschmidt and Mrs.Goldschmidt.\"
Okay. It'sHerman Goldschmidt. But I stillcan'tremembera
Herman Goldschmidt. I haven'tany ideawhat it is I've forgot-
from the way shetalked,my friend was surethat Herman
forgotten;

and I knew eachotherwell.

The lastchanceI have is to go to the funeral and lookinto
the casket.
I go to the funeral, and the woman who had arranged
everythingcomesover,dressed in black,and says in a sorrowful
voice,\"I'mso gladyou'rehere.Herman wouldbeso happy if
48
 FEYNMAN SEXISTPIG! 51
Feynman SexistPig! there givingouthandbills to everybody goingin. We eachtook
one,and glancedat it. At the top it said,\"A PROTEST.\"
Then
it showedexcerptsfrom the lettersthey sent me, and my
response(in full).It concluded in largeletters:\"FEYNMAN
SEXISTPIG!\"
A few years after 1^gave somelecturesfor the freshmen at
Joanstoppedsuddenlyand rushedback:\"These are interest-
Caitech(which were publishedas the Feynman Lectureson shesaidto the protester.\"I'dlikesomemoreof them!\"
interesting,\"

When shecaughtup with me,shesaid,\"Geewhiz, Richard;

Physics),I receiveda longletterfrom a feministgroup.I was what did you do?\"
accusedof beinganti-woman becauseof two stories:the first I toldher what had happenedas we walked intothe halL
was a discussion of the subtleties of velocity,and involveda At the front of the hall,near the stage,were two prominent
woman driver beingstoppedby a cop.There'sa discussion womenfrom the American Association of PhysicsTeachers. One
about how fast she was going,and I had her raise valid was charge
in of women's a ffairs for the organization, and the
objections to the cop'sdefinitions of velocity.The lettersaidI otherwas Fay Ajzenberg,a professor of physicsI knew, from
was making the woman lookstupid. saw me down towards the stage
The other story they objectedto was told by the great Pennsylvania.They coming
astronomer Arthur Eddington,who had just figuredout that the accompanied by this woman with a fistful of talking to
handbills,
starsgettheirpowerfrom burning hydrogenin a nuclearreaction me. Fay walked up to her and said, \"Do you realize that
ProfessorFeynman has a sister that he to
encouraged go into
producinghelium.He recountedhow, on the night after his physics,and that shehas a Ph.D.in Physics?\"
discovery,hewas sittingon a benchwith hisgirlfriend.Shesaid, \"OfcourseI do,\"saidJoan.\"I'mthat sister!\"
\"Lookhow pretty the starsshine!\" To which he replied,\"Yes, to me that theprotesters
and rightnow, Fm the only man in the world who knows how Fay and herassociate explained were
a group\342\200\224led by a man, ironically\342\200\224who were always disrupting
they shine.\"He was describing a kindof wonderful loneliness
you have when you make a discovery. meetingsin Berkeley.\"We'llsit on eithersideof you to show
The letterclaimed that I was saying a woman is incapable of our solidarity,and just beforeyou speak,I'll get up and say
nuclear r eactions. something to quietthe protesters,\" Fay said.
understanding Becausetherewas anothertalk beforemine,I had time to
I figuredthere was no point in trying to answer their think of something to say. I thanked Fay, but declined heroffer.
accusations in detail,so I wrote a shortletterbackto them: As soonas I gotup to speak,halfa dozenprotesters marched
\"Don'tbug me, man!\" down to the frontofthelecturehalland paradedright belowthe
Needlessto say, that didn'twork too well.Another letter stage,holdingtheir picketsignshigh, chanting,\"Feynman
came: \"Your responseto our letter of September29th is sexistpig!Feynman sexistpig!\"
unsatisfactory. . blah,blah.This letterwarned that if I
.\"\342\200\224blah,
I beganmy talk by tellingthe protesters, \"I'msorry that my
didn'tget the publisherto revisethe thingsthey objectedto, shortanswer to your letterbroughtyou hereunnecessarily. There
there wouldbe trouble. are moreseriousplacestodirectone'sattentiontowards improv-
I ignoredthe letterand forgotaboutit. the statusof women in physicsthan theserelatively trivial
A year or so later,the American Association of Physics improving

that'swhat you want to call them\342\200\224ina textbook.

Teachersawardedme a prizefor writing thosebooks,and asked mistakes\342\200\224if

But perhaps,after all,it's goodthat you came.For women do

me to speakat theirmeetingin San Francisco. My sister,Joan, indeedsuffer from prejudice and discrimination in physics,and
livedin Palo hour'sdrive
Alto\342\200\224an I stayed with her
away\342\200\224so
your presence today h ere serves t oremind us of these difficulties
the night beforeand we went to the meeting together. and theneedto remedy them.\"
As we approached the lecturehall,we foundpeoplestanding The protesterslookedat one another.Their picketsigns
50 beganto comeslowly down,likesailsin a dying wind.
52 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

I continued:
PhysicsT eachers h
\"Even thoughthe American Association
as given me an award for teaching,
of
I must con-
I Just ShookHis Hand,
I don'tknow how to teach.Therefore, I have nothingto say
confess

aboutteaching. Instead,I wouldliketo talk aboutsomething

will be especially to the women in the audience:
that
I
Can You BelieveIt?
interesting
wouldliketo talk aboutthe structure of the proton/*
The protesters put theirpicketsignsdown and walked off.
My hoststoldme laterthat the man and hisgroupof protesters
had never beendefeatedso easily.
(RecentlyI discovered a transcriptof my speech,and what I For someyears now the University of Kyotohasbeeninviting
saidat the beginningdoesn'tseemanywhere near as dramatic as me to visitJapan.But every time I accepted theirinvitation,I
the way I rememberit. What I remembersaying is much more wouldhappento get sickand not be ableto go.
wonderful than what I actually said!) In the summer of 1986there was goingtobe a conference in
After my talk,someof the protesters cameup to pressme Kyoto, and the university again invitedme to come. Although I
aboutthe woman-driverstory.\"Why did it have to be a woman loveJapanand wanted very much to visit,I feltuncomfortable at
driver?\"they said.\"You are implyingthat all women are bad the invitationbecauseI had no paper to give.The university
drivers.\" saidit would be all right for me to give a summary paper,
\"Butthe woman makesthe coplookbad,\"I said.\"Why but I saidI don'tliketo do that.But then they saidthey would
aren'tyou concerned aboutthe cop?\" be honoredif I would be the chairman of onesessionof the
\"That'swhat you expectfrom cops!\"oneof the protesters conference\342\200\224that's all I would have to do. So I finally said
said.\"They'reallpigs!\" okay.
\"Butyou shouldbe concerned,\" I said.\"Iforgotto say in I was lucky thistimeand didn'tgetsick.*SoGwenethand I
the story that the copwas a woman!\" went to Kyoto,and I was chairman of onesession.
The chairman is supposed to make surethat the speakersonly
talk for a certainlengthof time,in orderto leaveenoughtime
for the next speaker.The chairman occupies a positionof such
high honor that there are two cochairmen to assisthim. My
cochairmen saidthey would take cafeof introducing the speak-
as well as tellingthem when it'stimeto stop.
speakers,

Thingswent smoothlyfor mostof the sessionuntil one

Japanese
speaker\342\200\224a stoptalkingwhen histime was
man\342\200\224didn't

up.I lookat the clockand figure it'stimeheshouldstop.I look

overat the cochairmen and gesturea littlebit.
They comeup to me and say, \"Don'tdo anything; we'lltake
careof it. He'stalkingaboutYukawa.tIt'sallright.\"
So I was the honorary chairman of onesession,and I feltI
didn'teven do my jobright.And for that,the university paidmy
was suffering from abdominal cancer.He had surgery in 1978and
he returned from Japan, he had more surgery, in October 1986
\302\246Feynman
1981.
After and
October1987.
tHideki Yukawa. Eminent Japanesephysicist;Nobel Prize, 1949.
53
 54 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? I JUSTSHOOKHISHAND, CAN YOUBELIEVE \320\223\320\223? 55

way to Japan,they tookcareof arranging my trip,and they were okay. You cancomefor onenight.You don'tneedto bringyour
allvery gracious. shovel.\"
Oneafternoonwe were talking to the hostwho was arranging The innkeeper pickedusup at the railroadstationin Iseokitsu
ourtrip.Heshowsus a railroadmap,and Gwenethseesa curved and tookustohisinn.Therewas a beautifulgardenoutside our
linewith lotsof stopsin the middleof the IsePeninsula\342\200\224it's not room.We noticeda brilliant,emerald-green treefrogclimbing a
near the water; it'snotnear anywhere. Sheputsher fingeronthe metal frame with horizontal bars(usedfor hangingout the wet
endof the lineand says, \"We want to go here.\" clothes),and a tiny yellow snakein a shrub in front of our
Helooksat it, and says,\"Oh!You want to go
Shesays,\"Yes.\"
Iseokitsu?\" to... engawa (veranda).Yes,there was \"nothing\"
was beautifula nd to
interesting us.
in Iseokitsu\342\200\224but

everything
\"Butthere'snothingin Iseokitsu,\" he says,lookingat me as It turned out there was a shrineabouta mile away\342\200\224that's
if my wife is crazy, and hopingI'll bringherbackto hersenses. why thislittleinn was we walked to it. On our way
there\342\200\224so

So I say, \"Yes,that'sright;we want to go to Iseokitsu.\" back,it beganto rain.A guy passedusin his car,then turned
Gwenethhadn'ttalkedto me aboutit, but I knew what she aroundand cameback.\"Where are you going?\"he askedin
was thinking:we enjoy traveling in placesin the middleof Japanese.\"Tothe inn,\"I said.Sohe took us there.
nowhere,placeswe'veneverheard of,placeswhich have nothing. When we got backto ourroom,we discovered that Gweneth
Our hostbecomes a littlebit upset:he'snever made a hotel had losta rollof in theman'scar. SoI got the
film\342\200\224perhaps
reservation for Iseokitsu;hedoesn'teven know if there'san inn dictionaryout and lookedup \"film\"and \"lost,\" and triedto
there. explain it to the innkeeper. I don't know how he did it, but he
He getson the telephone and callsup Iseokitsu for us. In foundthe man who had given us the ride,and in hiscar we
Iseokitsu, it turns out,there are no accommodations. But there's foundthe film.
another sevenkilometers
town\342\200\224about beyondthe end of the The bath was interesting; we had to go through anotherroom
hasa Japanese-style
line\342\200\224that inn. to get to it. The bathtub was wooden,and aroundit were all
We say, \"Fine! That'sjust what we kindsof little boatsand so on. Therewas alsoa
inn!\"They givehim the number and he calls. Japanese-style
want\342\200\224a
toys\342\200\224little
towelwith Mickey Mouseon it.
The man at the inn is very reluctant: \"Oursis a very small The innkeeperand his wife had a littledaughter who was
inn.It's a family-run place.\" two, and a smallbaby.They dressedtheirdaughterin a kimono
\"That'swhat they want,\"our hostreassures him. and broughtherup to ourroom.Hermothermadeorigamithings
\"Didhe say yes?\"I ask. for her;I madesomedrawings for her,and we playedwith her.
After morediscussion, our hostsays,\"Heagrees.\" A lady acrossthe streetgave us a beautifulsilkballthat she
Butthe next morning,ourhostgetsa telephone callfrom this had made.Everything was friendly;everything was very good.
sameinn:lastnightthey had a family conference. They decided
they can'thandlethe situation. They can'ttake careof foreigners. The next morningwe were supposed to leave.We had a
I say, \"What'sthe trouble?\" reservationat oneof the morefamousresorts,at a spa some-
Our hosttelephones the inn and askswhat theproblemis.He I lookedin the dictionaryagain;then I camedown and
somewhere.
turns to us and says,\"It'sthe don'thave a Western-
toilet\342\200\224they showedthe innkeeperthe receiptfor our reservationat the big
styletoilet.\" resort was calledthe Grand View, or somethinglike
hotel\342\200\224it

I say, 'Tellthem that the lasttimemy wife and I went on a

*
that.I said,\"We don'twant stay big hoteltomorrow night;we
trip,we carrieda smallshoveland toiletpaper,and dugholesfor want stay heretomorrownight.We happy here.Pleaseyou call
ourselves in the dirt.Ask him,'Shallwe bringour shovel?' \"
them;changethis.\"
Our hostexplains thisoverthe telephone, and they say, \"It's He says,\"Certainly! Certainly!\" I couldtellhe was pleased
56 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? I JUSTSHOOKHISHAND, CAN YOUBELIEVE \320\223\320\223? 57
by the ideathat theseforeigners
were canceling their reservation go aroundthe shrineand enterfrom the side.The head
We
in thisbig,fancy hotelin orderto stay in hislittleinn another introduces us to the mayor and other dignitaries,
night. priest and
invitesus to sitdown.A nohactordoesa dance,and allkindsof
After we returned to Kyoto,we went to the University of
otherwonderful thingsgo on.
Kanazawa. Someprofessors Then thereare speeches. First,the mayor givesa speech.
arranged to drive us alongthe coast Then the headpriestgetsup to speak.He says,\"Unano,utsini
of nearby NotoPeninsula. We passedthrough severaldelightful kuntana kanao.Untanao uni kanao.Uniyozoimasudoi zinti
fishingvillages,and went to visita pagodain the middleof the
countryside.
Fain-man-san-to unakano kane gozaimas.
4*Fain-man-san\"and tellsme to say something!
. he pointsto
.\"\342\200\224and

Then we visiteda shrinewith an enclavebehindit, where My Japanese is very poor,so I say something in English: \"I
onecouldgo onlyby specialinvitation. The Shintopriestthere love Japan/' I say. \"I am particularly impressedby your
was very gracious and invitedusintohisprivate roomsfor tea, tremendous rate of technological change,while at the sametime
and he did somecalligraphy for us. your traditionsstillmean so much,as you are showingwith this
After our hostshad taken us a littlefarther alongthe coast, shrinededication.\" I triedto expressthe mixture I saw in Japan:
they had to return to Kanazawa. Gwenethand I decided to stay change,but without losingrespectfor traditions.
in Togifor two or threedays. We stayed in a Japanese-style The headpriestsays somethingin Japanese which I do not
hotel,and the lady innkeeperthere was very, very niceto us.She believeis what I said(althoughI couldn'treally tell),because he
arranged for her brotherto take us by car down the coastto had never understood anything I had saidto him previously! But
severalvillages,and then we camebackby bus. he actedas if he understood exactly what I said,and he
The next morningthe innkeepertoldus there was something \"translated\"it with complete confidence for everyone.He was
important happeningin town. A new shrine,replacing an old much likeI am,in thisrespect.
one,was beingdedicated. Anyway, the people politelylistenedto whateverit was that I
When we arrived at the groundswe were invited to sit on a said,and then anotherpriestgave a speech. He was a young
bench,and were servedtea. There were many peoplemilling in
man, a studentof the headpriest,dressed wonderful outfit
a
around,and eventually a procession cameout from behindthe with big,wide pant legs and a big, wide hat. He lookedso
shrine.We were delighted to seethe leadingfigure was the head gorgeous, so wonderful.
priestfrom the shrinewe had visiteda few days before.He was Then we went to lunchwith allthedignitaries, and felt very
dressedin a big,ceremonial outfit,and was obviouslyin charge honoredto be included.
of everything. After the shrinededication ceremonywas over,Gwenethand
After a littlewhile the ceremonybegan.We didn'twant to I thanked the headpriestand left the dininghallto walk around
intrude intoa religious place,so we stayed backfrom the shrine the villagefor a while.After a bitwe foundsomepeoplepulling
itself.But therewere kids running up and down the steps, a bigwagon,with a shrinein it, throughthestreets.They'reall
playing and making noise,sowe figuredit wasn'tsoformal.We dressedup in outfitswith symbolson theback,singing,\"Eyoi
camea littlecloserand stoodon the stepssowe couldseeinside. Eyo!\"
The ceremonywas wonderful.There was a ceremonial cup We followthe procession, enjoyingthe festivities, when a
with branches and leaveson it; therewas a groupof girlsin with a walkie-talkie comesup to us. He takes off
specialuniforms;there were dancers,and so on. It was quite policeman him.
elaborate. hiswhite gloveand putsout hishand. I shake hands with
As we leave the policeman and beginto followthe proces-
We'rewatching alltheseperformances when allof a sudden again,we hear a loud, high-pitched voicebehind us,
we fsela tap on the shoulder. It'sthe headpriest!Hegesturesto procession

speakingvery rapidly.We turn around and see the policeman

us to followhim. clutchinghis walkie-talkie,speaking into it with great excite-
58 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

ment:\"Oganofana miyo ganu Fain-man-san

murotokala . . I couldjust
.\"\342\200\224and
iyokano muri tono
imagine him tellingthe
Letters,Photos,and Drawings
personat the otherend:*4Do you remember that Mr. Fain-man
who spokeat the shrinededication?I just shookhis hand,can
you believeit?*'
Thepriestmust have **translated\" very impressive!
something

October11,1961
HotelAmi go,Brussels
Hello,my sweetheart,
Murray and I kept each other awake arguing until
we couldstand it no longer.We wokeup over Greenland,
which was even better than lasttime because we went
right over part of it.InLondon we met otherphysicists
and cameto Brussels together.Oneofthem was worried\342\200\224

in his guidebookthe Hotel Amigo was not even

mentioned. Another had a newerguide\342\200\224five stars,and
rumoredto be the besthotelin Europe!
It is very niceindeed.All the furniture is dark red
polished wood,in perfect condition; the bathroomis
grand, etc. It is really toobad you didn't cometo this
conference insteadof the other one.
At the meetingnext day things startedslowly.I was
to talk in the afternoon. That is what I did,but I didn't
really have enough time.We had to stop at 4 pm
becauseof a reception scheduled forthat night.I think
59
60 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 61
my talk was OK though\342\200\224what I left out was in the we met them and into a roomonright(marked R). (All
written version anyway. theseroomsare very big,gilded,Victorian,fancy, etc.)
Sothat eveningwe went to the palaceto meetthe In R are many kinds of uniforms:guardsat doorin red
king and queen. Taxiswaitedfor \\is at the hotel\342\200\224long coats,waitersin white coats(to serve drinks and hors
black off we went at 5 pm,arriving through
ones\342\200\224and
d'oeuvres), military khakiand medals, and black
gateswith a guard on each side,and driving
coats\342\200\224
the palace undertaker'stype (palaceofficials).
under an arch where men in red coatsand white On the way out of L into R, I am lastbecauseI
stockings with a blackband and goldtasselunder each walk slowly from stiff back.I find myselftalkingto a
knee openedthe doors.More guardsat the entrance,in palace man. Heteachesmath part time at
official\342\200\224nice
the hallway, alongthe stairs,and up into a sortof Louvain University, but his mainjob is secretaryto the
ballroom. Theseguards,in dark grey Russian-typehats queen.He had alsotutoredthe when was young \320\232 \320\232

with chin straps,dark coats,white pants,and shiny
blackleatherboots,stand very straight\342\200\224each holding
sword straightup.
In the \"ballroom\"we had to wait perhaps 20
and has beenin palacework 23 years. Now, at least,I
a have somebody to talk to.
Someothersare talking to orto Q;everybody is
\320\232

standingup.After a while the professor who is headof

minutes. It has inlaidparquet floors,and L in each the conference (Prof.Bragg) grabs me and says
square (for Leopold\342\200\224the presentking is Baudoin,
or
\320\232

wants to talk to me.Braggsays, \"K,this is Feynman.\"

something). The gildedwalls are 18thcentury and on I pull boner#1 by wanting to shake hands
are picturesof nakedwomenridingchariots
again\342\200\224
the ceiling apparently wrong: no hand reachesup. After an
among the clouds.Lotsof mirrors and gildedchairs embarrassedpause savesday by shaking my hand.
with red cushions around the outsideedge of the
\320\232 \320\232

makespoliteremarkson how smartwe must all beand

like so many of thosepalaceswe have
room\342\200\224just how hard it must beto think. I answer,makingjokes
seen,but this time it's no museum: it's alive,with (having beeninstructedto do so by Bragg,but what
everything clearand shining,and in perfectcondition. doeshe know?)\342\200\224apparently error#2.Anyway, strainis
were millingaroundamongus.
Severalpalaceofficials relievedwhen Braggbringsoversomeother
Onehad a listand toldme where to stand but I didn't Heisenberg, I think. forgets F and F slinksoff to
professor\342\200\224

do it right and was out of placelater.

\320\232

resumeconversationwith sec'yof Q.
The doorsat the end of the hall open.Guardsare After considerable orangejuicesand time\342\200\224several
there with the king and queen;we all enter slowly and many very goodhors d'oeuvres militaryuni- later\342\200\224a

are introduced oneby oneto the king and queen.The with medalscomes
uniform over to me and says, \"Speak
king has a young semi-dopey face and a strong hand- to the queen!\" Nothing I shouldliketodobetter(pretty
the queen is very pretty. (I think her name is
handshake; girl,but don't worry, she'smarried).F arrivesat scene:
Spanishcountess
Fabriola\342\200\224a shewas.)We exit into Q is sitting at tablesurroundedby threeother occupied
anotherroomon the left wherethere are lotsof chairs roomfor F. There are severallow coughs,
chairs\342\200\224no

arrangedlikein a theatre,with two in front, alsofacing slightconfusion, etc.,and of the chairs has lo!\342\200\224one

forward,for & Q.A table at the front with six seats

\320\232
beenreluctantly vacated.Other two chairscontainone
is for illustrious scientists\342\200\224Niels Bohr,J. Perrin (a lady and one Priestin Full Regalia (who is also a
Frenchman),J. R. Oppenheimer drawing.
etc.\342\200\224see
physicist) namedLeMaitre.
It turns out the king wants to know what we are We have quite a conversation(I listen, but hear no
doing,sothe oldboysgive a setof six dull lectures\342\200\224
coughs,and am not evacuatedfrom seat) for perhaps
all very solemn\342\200\224no jokes.I had great difficulty sitting 15minutes.Sample:
in my seatbecause I had a very stiff and uncomfortable
back from sleeping on the plane. Q: \"Itmustbevery hard workthinking aboutthose
That done,the & Q passthrough the roomwhere \320\232
difficult problems
62 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 63
F: \"No,we all do it for the fun of it.\" is positivelybeautiful. You would have enjoyed that
Q: \"Itmust be hard to learn to change all your even more than visiting the palace.He planned and
thing shegotf*om the six lectures).
ideas\"\342\200\224(a builthis housein a Belgianstyle,somewhatafter an
F: \"No,all of thoseguys who gave you those oldfarmhousestyle,but donejustright.Hehas many
lecturesare old that change was in
fogeys\342\200\224all oldcabinetsand tablesinside,right besidenewerstuff,
1926,when I was only eight.Sowhen I learned very well combined. It is much easierto find antiques
physicsI only had to learn the new ideas.The in Belgiumthan in Los Angelesas there are somany
bigproblemnow is,do we have to changethem oldfarms, etc.The houseis slightly biggerthan ours
again?\" and the grounds are much biggerbut not yet land-
Q: \"You must feel good,working for peacelike landscaped, exceptfor a vegetablegarden.Hehas a bench
that.\" that he made for himselfin the garden, hidden under
F: \"No,that neverentersmy head,whetherit isfor trees,to go and sit on and lookat the surrounding
peaceor otherwise.We don'tknow.\" countryside. He has a dog\342\200\224from Washington\342\200\224that
Q: \"Thingscertainlychange things have fast\342\200\224many somebody gave to the king and the gave to him. The \320\232

changed in the lasthundred years.\" dog has a personalitysomewhatlikeKiwi* becauseI

F: \"Not in this palace.\"(I thought it, but con- think he is equally loved.
myself.)\"Yes,\"and then launchedinto
controlled I toldthe secretaryI had a queen in a littlecastlein
lectureon what was known in 1861and what we Pasadenathat I would likehim to see,and he saidhe
found out at end,laughingly, \"Can't
since\342\200\224adding hopedhe would beabletocometo Americaand seeus.
helpgiving a lecture,I a professor, guess\342\200\224I'm He would comeif the Q ever visits Americaagain.
you see.Ha, ha.\" I am enclosing a pictureof hishouse,and his card,
Q, in desperation, turns to lady on her other side so I don'tloseit.
and beginsconversationwith same. I know you must feel terrible beingleft out this
After a few moments comes over and whispers I'llmakeit up somedaysomehow.But don4
time\342\200\224but

forget I love you very much and am proud of my

\320\232

somethingto Q,who stands quietly goout.F

returnsto sec'yof Q who personallyescorts family that is and my family that is to be.t The
up\342\200\224they

him out of
palacepastguards,etc. secretaryand his wife sendtheir bestwishesto you and
I'm so terribly sorry you missedit. I don'tknow ourfuture.
when we'llfind anotherking for you to meet.* I wish you were here,or, next bestthing, that I
I was pagedin the hotelthis morningjustbefore were there.KissSNORKland tellMomall about my
leaving with the others.I returned to the others and adventuresand I will be home sooner than you think.
announced,\"Gentlemen, that callwas fromthe queen's Your husband lovesyou.
secretary.I must leave you now.\"All are awestruck, Your husband.
for it did not go unnoticed that F talked longerand
harder to Q than seemed proper.I didn'ttellthem,
however,that it was abouta meetingwe arranged\342\200\224he
was inviting me to hishome to meet hiswife and two
(offour) of hisdaughters, and to seehishouse.I had
invited him to visit us in Pasadenawhen he came to
Americaand this was hisresponse.
Hiswife and daughtersare very niceand hishouse
*The Feynmans* dog.
*Four years later Richard and Gweneth met the tGweneth was expecting Carl at the time.
king of Sweden\342\200\224

at the Nobel Prize ceremony.

64 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 65
GrandHotel tobuildoldthings.(No attentionat all yet from waiter,
Warsaw so I break down and ask a passingonefor service.A
DearestGweneth, confused callsanotherover. Net result:I am
look\342\200\224he

toldthere is no service at my table and am asked to

To beginwith, I love you. move to another.I make angry noises. The response: I
Also I missyou and the baby* and Kiwi, and really am put at another table,given a menu, and have 15
wish I home. w\302\2535re secondsto make up my mind. I orderSznycel Po
I am now in the restaurantof the GrandHotel.I was Wiedensku\342\200\224Wiener Schnitzel.)
warned by friends that the serviceis slow, so I went On the questionof whetherthe roomis bugged:I
back for pens and paper to work on my talk for look for covers of old sockets(likethe one in the
tomorrow\342\200\224butwhat couldbe better than to write to ceilingof the shower).Thereare five of them, all near
my darling instead? the ceiling\342\200\22415 feet.I needa ladderand decidenot to
What is Poland like?My strongest investigate them. But there is a similar large square
the one which gives me such a
impression\342\200\224and
that it is plate in the lower corner of my roomnear the tele-
almost exactly as I pictured it (exceptfor onedetail)
surprise\342\200\224is

telephone. I pull it backa little(onescrewisloose).I have

only in how it looks,
\342\200\224not but alsoin the people, how rarely seenso many the back of a radio.
wires\342\200\224like

they feel,what they say and think about the govern- What is it? Who knows!I didn'tseeany microphones;
etc.Apparently we are well informedin the US the endsof the wires were taped,likeconnections or
outletsno longerin use.Maybe the microphoneis in
government,

and magazinessuchas Time and Atlas are not sobad.

The detail is that I had forgotten how completely the tape.Well, I haven't a screwdriversoI don'ttake
destroyedWarsaw was during the war and therefore the plate off to investigatefurther. In short,if my room
that, with few exceptions (which are easily identified isn'tbuggedthey are wasting a lotof wires.
by the bulletholesallover them), all the buildings are The Polishpeopleare nice,poor, have at least
built sincethe war. In fact it is a rather considerable mediumstyle in (souparrives!) clothes,etc.Thereare
accomplishment\342\200\224there are very many new buildings: niceplacesto dance,with goodbands,etc.,etc.So
Warsaw is a big city, all rebuilt. Warsaw is not very heavy and dull, as one hears
The geniusofbuilders here is tobeabletobuildold Moscowis.On the other hand, you meet at every turn
buildings. There are buildingswith facings falling off that kind of dull stupid backwardnesscharacteristicof
(walls coveredwith concretewith patches of worn government\342\200\224you know, likethe fact that change for
brickshowingthru), rustedwindow bars with streaksof $20isn't availablewhen you went to get your card
rust running down the building, etc.Further,the archi- renewedat the US ImmigrationOfficedowntown. Ex-
is old\342\200\224decorations sortof 1927but
architecture Example: I lostmy pencil, and wanted to buy a new one
at the kioskhere.\"A pen costs$1.10.\"
heavier\342\200\224

nothing interestingto lookat (exceptonebuilding).

The hotelroomis very small,with cheap furniture, \"No,I want a pencil\342\200\224wooden, with graphite.\"
a very high ceilingA5 feet),old water spotson the \"No,only $1.10 pens.\"
walls, plastershowing through where bed rubs wall, \"OK,how many Zlotys is that?\"
etc.It remindsme of an old \"GrandHotel\"in New \"Youcan'tbuy it in Zlotys,only for $1.10.\" (Why?
cottonbedspreadcovering bumpy bed,
York\342\200\224faded Who knows!)
etc.But the bathroomfixtures (faucetsetc.)are bright I have to go upstairs for Americanmoney. I give
and shiny, which confusedme:they seemrelatively $1.25.
new in this old hotel.I finally found out:the hotelis Clerk at kioskcannot give go to
change\342\200\224must

only three years old\342\200\224I had forgottenabouttheir ability cashierof hotel.The billfor my pen is written in
quadruplicate: the clerk keepsone,the cashier one,and
*Carl.This letter was written in 1963. I get two copies.What shall I do with them? On the
66 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS\302\273 PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 67
back it says I shouldkeepthem to avoid paying US previous\"activity\" of somebody elseresultedin an
customs duties.It is a Papermatepen madein the USA. error or in nothing useful or in somethingpromising. It
(Thesoupdishis removed.) is likea lotof worms trying to get out of a bottleby
The real questionof government versus private crawlingallovereach other.It is not that the subjectis
enterpriseis arguedontoophilosophical and abstracta hard; it is that the goodmen are occupied elsewhere.
basis.Theoretically,planning may be good.But no- Remindme not tocometo any moregravity conferences!
his ever figured out the causeof government
nobody I went oneeveningto the homeofoneof the Polish
until they do (and find the cure),all
stupidity\342\200\224and professors(young, with a young wife). Peopleare
idealplanswill fall intoquicksand. allowedseven square yards perpersonin apartments,
I didn'tguessright the natureof the palacein which but he and his wife are lucky: they have twenty-one*
the meetingsare held.I imaginedan old,forbidding, living room,kitchen,bathroom. He was a little
large roomfrom 16thcentury or so.Again, I forgot
\342\200\224for

nervous with his guests(myself, Professor and Mrs.

that Poland was sothoroughly destroyed. The palaceis Wheeler, and another)and seemedapologetic that his
brandnew: we meet in a round roomwith white walls, apartment was sosmall. ( I ask for the check. A ll this
with gildeddecorations on the balcony;the ceilingis time the waiter has had two or three active tables,
painted with a blue sky and clouds. (The main course including mine.)But his wife was very relaxed and
comes.I eat it;it is very good.I orderdessert: kissedher Siamesecat \"Booboosh\" just likeyou do
with pineapple, 125g. Incidentally,the menu pastries
is very with Kiwi. She did a wonderful job of entertaining\342\200\224
precise: the \02125g\" is the grams.There
weight\342\200\224125 the tablefor eatinghad tobe takenfrom the kitchen,a
are things like\"filetof herring, 144g,\"etc.I haven't trick requiringthe bathroomdoorto be first removed
seenanybody checkingfor cheatingwith a scale;I didn't from itshinges. (Thereare only four activetablesin the
check if the schnitzelwas the claimed100grams.) wholerestaurantnow, and four waiters.)Herfoodwas
I am notgettinganything outof the meeting.I am very goodand we allenjoyed it.
learningnothing.Because thereare no experimentsthis Oh, I mentioned that one buildingin Warsaw is in-
fieldis not an active one,so few of the bestmen are interesting tolookat. It is the largestbuildingin Poland: the
doingwork in it. The result is that there are hostsof \"Palaceof Cultureand Science,\" given as a gift by the
dopeshere A26) and it is not goodfor my blood SovietUnion.It was designed by Soviet architects. Dar-
pressure: suchinane things are saidand seriouslydiscussed it isunbelievable! I cannoteven beginto describe
that I get into argumentsoutside
Darling,
the formal sessions it.It isthe craziestmonstrosity onland!(The checkcomes
(say, at lunch) whenever anyone asksme a questionor by a different waiter. I await the change.)
starts to tell me abouthis \"work.\"The \"work\"is Thismust be the end of my letter.I hopeI don'twait
\342\200\224brought

always: A) completely un-understandable,B) vague toolong for the change.I skippedcoflfee becauseI thought
and indefinite, C) somethingcorrectthat is obvious it would take toolong.Even so,seewhat a longletter
and self-evident, but workedoutby a longand difficult I canwrite while eating Sunday dinner at the Grand Hotel.
analysis, presentedas an importantdiscovery,or
a nd I say againI love you, and wish you were here\342\200\224or

D) a claimbasedon the stupidity of the author that better I were there.Homeis good.
someobviousand correctfact, acceptedand checked (The = has is slightly wrong (by
0.55Zlotychange
come\342\200\224it

for years, is, in fact, false(theseare the worst: no 150) b ut I let it go.)
argumentwill convincethe idiot),E) an attempttodo Goodbye for now.
somethingprobably impossible, but certainly of no
utility, which, it is finally revealed at the end,fails Richard.
(dessert arrives and is eaten),or F) justplain wrong.
Thereis a great dealof \"activity in the field\"these
days, but this \"activity\" is mainly in showing that the *About 200square feet.
68 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 69
Saturday, June 29(?)3 pm many wheels are fitted closelytogether.There are
Royal OlympicHotel.Poolside. graduatedcircles and Greekinscriptions. I wonderif it
is somekind of fake* There was an articleon it in the
Dear Gweneth,and Michelle* (and Carl?), Scientific Americanin 1959.
Thisis my third day in Athens. Yesterday afternoonI went to the Acropolis, which
I'm writing by the sideof the hotelpoolwith the is right in the middleof the high rockplateau city\342\200\224a

onwhich was built the Parthenonand other shrinesand

paper in my lapbecause the tablesare toohigh and the temples.The Parthenon lookspretty good,but the
chairs too low. Templeat Segesta, which Gwenethand I saw in Sicily,
The trip was all on time but uncomfortableanyway is justas impressivebecause you are allowedto walk
becausethe plane from New York to Athens was around in can'tgoup toor walk aroundamong
absolutely seat.I was metby Prof.Bliapoulos,
full\342\200\224every the Parthenoncolumns.
it\342\200\224you

Prof.Dliapoulos' sistercame
a student, and hisnephew,who isjustCart'sage. with us and with a notebook she is a profes-
I was surprised to find the weatherhere isjustlike archeologist\342\200\224guided our tour with allkinds of
professional
had\342\200\224she

in Pasadena, but about5 degrees cooler:the vegetation details,dates,quotations from Plutarch,etc.

is very similar,the hillslookbare and desert-like It appearsthe Greekstake their pastvery seriously.
same plants,same cactuses, same low and They study ancientGreekarcheologyin theirelementa-
samecoolnights.But therethe similarityhumidity ends.Athens schools for 6 years, having to take 10hours of that
is a sprawling, ugly, noisy, exhaust-filled messof subjecteveryweek. It is a kind ofancestor
elementary

worship,for
streetsfilledwith nervous traffic jumping likerabbits they emphasizealways how wonderful the ancient Greeks
when the lightsgo green and stopping with squealing wonderful indeedthey were. When you
were\342\200\224and
brakes when they go blowing horns when
red\342\200\224and
encourage them by saying,\"Yes,and lookhow modern
they goyellow.Very similarto Mexico City, except the man has advancedbeyond the ancientGreeks'*\342\200\224thinking
peopledon'tlookas poor\342\200\224there are only occasional of experimentalscience, the developmentof mathemat-
beggarsin the streets.You, Gweneth, would love it the art of the Renaissance, the great depth and
becausethere are so many shops(all small),and Carl understandingof the relative shallownessof Greek
mathematics,

would lovewalking around in the arcadeswith their philosophy,etc., reply, \"What doyou mean?
rabbit-warrentwists and surprises, especially in the old What was wrong with the ancient Greeks?'*
etc.\342\200\224they

They
part of town. continuallyput their age down and the oldageup,until
Yesterday morningI went to the archeological muse- to pointout the wondersof the presentseemsto them
museum.Michellewould like all the great Greekstatuesof to be an unjustifiedlack of appreciation for the past.
horses\342\200\224especially one of a small boy on a large They were very upsetwhen I saidthat the develop-
galloping horse,allin that is a sensation.
so much stuflF my feetbronze, I saw
began to hurt. I got all mixed
of greatestimportanceto mathematicsin Europe
development

was the discoveryby Tartagliathat you can solvea

are not labeledwell.Also,it was slightly
up\342\200\224things cubicequation: although it is of very little usein itself,
boring because we have seenso much of that stuff the discoverymust have beenpsychologically wonder-
before.Except for one thing: among all thoseart becauseit showed that a modern man coulddo
objectsthere was one thing so entirely different and something no ancient Greek coulddo. It therefore
wonderful

strange that it is nearly impossible. It was recovered helpedin the Renaissance, which was the freeing of
from the seain 1900and is somekind of machinewith man from the intimidation of the ancients. What the
gear trains, very much like the insideof a modern Greeksare learningin schoolis to be intimidatedinto
wind-up alarm clock.The teeth are very regular and thinking they have fallen so far below their super
Michellewas about eleven when this letter was written, ancestors.
or 1981.
1980
\302\246Daughter
in I askedthe archeologist
lady about the machinein
70 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 71
the museum\342\200\224whether other similar machines, or sim- abouta beautifulbeach(ofpebbles) here,of an impor-
simplermachinesleadingup to it or down from it, were ancient site (although in rather completeruins)
important

ever found\342\200\224but shehadn'theard of it. SoI met her there, etc.But I will go to none of them, for each,it
and her sonof Carl's age (who looksat me asifI were turns out,is a long,two- to four-hourride eachway on
a heroicancient Greek,for he is studying physics) at a tour bus.No. I'lljuststay here and preparemy talks
the museum to show it to her. She required some for Crete.(They have me giving an extra three lectures
explanationfromme why I thought sucha machinewas to sometwenty Greekuniversity students who are all
interestingand surprisingbecause, \"Didn'tEratosthenes comingto Cretejustto hear me.I'll do somethinglike
measurethe distance to the sun,and didn'tthat require my NewZealandlectures,* but I haven't gotany notes!
elaborate scientific instruments?\"Oh,how ignorant are I'll have to work them out again.)
classically educatedpeople.No wonder they don't I missyou all, especiallywhen I go to bed at
appreciate their own time.They are not of it and donot dogsto scratchand say goodnight to!
night\342\200\224no

understandit. But aftera bit shebelieved maybeit was Love,Richard.

striking, a nd she took me to the back rooms of the
museum\342\200\224surely there were other examples, she
and P.S,IF YOU CAN'T READ THE ABOVE HANDWRITING,
IS UNIMPORTANT RAMBLINGS.I AM
would geta complete bibliography. therewereno
Well, HAVE NO FEAR \320\223\320\223

other examples, and the complete bibliographywas a WEIX & IN ATHENS.

listof three articles (includingthe onein the Scientific
American)all by oneman, an AmericanfromYale!
I guessthe Greeksthink all Americansmust bedull,
beingonly interested in machinerywhen there are all MacFaddinHall
thosebeautifulstatues and portrayalsof lovely myths CornellUniversity
and stories of godsand goddesses tolookat.(In fact, a Ithaca,NY
lady from the museum staff remarked, when toldthat November19,1947t
the professorfrom America wanted to know more
about item 15087,\"Ofallthe beautifulthings in this
museum, why doeshe pick out that particularitem? My Dear Family:
What is sospecial it?\
about
of the heat,and concerned
Just a briefletterbeforewe go off toRochester.
We
Everyonehere complains have every Wednesday a seminarat which somebody
aboutwhetheryou can stand it, when in fact it isjust talks aboutsomeitem of research, and from time to
likePasadenabut about 5 degreescooleron the aver- time this is made a jointseminarwith RochesterUni-
So allstoresand officesclosefrom perhaps 1:30 Today is the first time this term that we are
pm 5:30
University.
goingover there for it. and it shouldbe a
average.

to pm (\"because of the heat\.")It turns outto

be really a goodidea(everyonetakes a nap) because It is a magnificentday, lovely
then they golate intothe night\342\200\224supper isbetween9:30 trip;Rochesteris northwest of on
here, the shores of
and 10pm,when it is cool.Right now, people hereare Lake Ontario,and we go through somewild country. I
seriously complaining abouta new law: to saveenergy, am beingtaken in Feynman*s car, which will be great
allrestaurantsand taverns must closeat 2 am. This, whom I am
fun if we survive. Feynman is a man for
they say, will spoillifein Athens. delivered in 1979,are written
*The \"New Zealand lectures,\"
It is the witching hour between 1:30and 5:30pm in QED:The Strange Theory of
up
Light and Matter (Princeton
now, and I am using it to write to you.I missyou, and University Press,1985).
I would really be happierat home.I guessI reallyhave tTheseletters were contributed by Freeman Dyson.They are the
lostmy bugfor travelling.I have a day and a half yet first and last letters he wrote that mention Richard Feynman. Other
here and they have given me all kinds of literature letters are referred to in Dyson's bookDisturbing the Universe.
72 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 73
developing a considerable admiration;he is the first Urbana,Illinois
example I have met of that rare species,the native 9, 1981
Americanscientist. Hehas developed a privateversion April
of the quantum theory, which is generallyagreedtobe Dear Sara,*
a goodpieceof work and may be morehelpful than the
orthodoxversionfor someproblems; in general he is I just spent a marvelous three days with Dick
always sizzlingwith new ideas,most of which are Feynmanand wishedyou had beenthere to sharehim
more spectacularthan helpful,and hardly any of which with us. Sixty years and a big cancer operation
have
get very far beforesomenewer inspirationeclipses it. notbluntedhim. He isstillthe same Feynman that we
Hismostvaluablecontributionto physicsis as a sus- knew in the olddays
at Cornell.
tainerof morale;when he bursts into the roomwith his We a small meetingof physicists
were togetherat
latestbrain-waveand proceedsto expoundon it with organized by JohnWheeler at the University of Texas.
the mostlavish soundeffectsand waving about of the ForsomereasonWheelerdecidedto holdthe meeting
arms, lifeat leastis not dull. at a grotesque placecalledWorld of Tennis,a country
Weisskopf,the chieftheoreticianat Rochester,is clubwhereTexasoil-millionaires go to relax.Sothere
alsoan interestingand ableman, but of the normal we were. We allgrumbledat the high pricesand the
Europeantype;he comes from Munich,wherehe was a extravagantugliness of our rooms.But there was no-
friend of Bethefrom student days. nowhere elseto sowe thought. But Dickthought
The event of the lastweek has beena visit from
go\342\200\224or

otherwise:he justsaid,\"Tohellwith it.I am not going

Peierls,who... stayed two nights with the Bethesbe- to sleepin this place,\"pickedup his suitcase, and
before flying home. . .. On Monday night the Bethesgave walked off aloneintothe woods.
a party in his honor,to which most of the young In the morning he reappeared,lookingnone the
theoreticianswere invited.When we arrived we were worsefor his night under the stars.Hesaidhe didnot
introducedto Henry Bethe,who is now five years old, sleepmuch, but it was worth it.
but he was not at allimpressed. In fact, the only thing We had many conversations aboutscience and histo-
he would say was \"Iwant Dick!You toldme Dick was justlike in the old days. B ut now he had something
Finally he had to be sent off to bed,since new to talk about,hischildren.
history,

coming!\" He said,\"I always

Dick(aliasFeynman) did not materialize. thought I would be a specially goodfather becauseI
About half an hour later, Feynman burst into the wouldn'ttry to push my kidsinto any particulardirec-
room,justhad time to say, \"Sosorry I'm a
late\342\200\224had I wouldn4 try to turn them into scientists
direction. or
brilliant ideajust as I was comingover,\" and then intellectuals if they didn'twant it. I would be just as
dashedupstairs to consoleHenry. Conversationthen happy with them if they decided to be truckdriversor
ceasedwhilethe companylistened to the joyful sounds guitarplayers. In fact, I would even likeit betterif they
above,sometimes taking the form of a duet and some- went outin the worldand didsomethingrealinsteadof
sometimesof a one-manpercussion band.. .. beingprofessors likeme.Butthey always find a way to
Much Love, hit back at you.My boy Carl,for instance. Therehe is
in hissecond year at and all he wants todo with
hislifeis to become \"t
\320\234\320\223\320\223,

Freeman a goddamnphilosopher!
As we sat in the airportwaiting for our planes, Dick
pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil a nd started to
draw the facesof peoplesitting in the lounge. Hedrew
*A family friend.
tAs it turned out, Feynman was not to be disappointed:
Carl works
at the Thinking MachinesCompany, and daughter Michelleis
studying to become
a commercial photographer.
74 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? LETTERS,PHOTOS,AND DRAWINGS 75
them amazinglywell.I saidI was sorryI have notalent \"Isee;sothereare threetimesas many numbersas
for drawing. He said,\"I always thought I have no numbers.\"
talent either.But you don'tneedany talent to do stuff \"Proveit,\"saidUncleDick.Henameda number.I
likethis.\". . . namedonethreetimesas big.Hetriedanother.I didit
again.Again.
Yours, He named a number too complicated for me to
Freeman multiply in my head.\"Threetimes that,\" I said.
\"So,is there a biggestnumber?\"he asked.
\"No,\"I replied.\"Because for every number,there
is onetwice as big,onethree times as big.There is
February17,1988 even onea million times as big.\"
London,England* \"Right,and that conceptof increasewithout limit,
\"
Dear Mrs.Feynman, of no biggestnumber,iscalled'infinity.'
At that pointLorenzarrived,sowe stopped to listen
We have not met, I believe, frequently enoughfor to him.
either of us to have taken rootin the other'sconscious I didnotseeDickoftenafterhe left Cornell. But he
memory. So pleaseforgive any impertinence, but I leftme with brightmemories, infinity, and new ways of
couldnot letRichard'sdeathpassunnoticed, orto take learningabout the world.I loved him dearly.
the opportunity to add my own senseof lossto yours.
Dickwas the bestand favoriteof several \"uncles\" SincerelyYours,
who encircled my childhood. During histime at Cornell Henry Bethe
he was a frequent and always welcomevisitorat our
house,onewho couldbecountedonto take time out
from conversations with my parentsand other adults to
lavish attentionon the children. Hewas at oncea great
player of games with us and a teachereven then who
openedoureyes to the worldaroundus.
My favoritememoryof allis of sitting as an eight-
or nine-year-old betweenDick and my mother,waiting
for the distinguished naturalistKonradLorenzto give a
lecture.I was itchy and impatient, as all young are
when askedto sit still,when Dickturned to me and
said,\"Didyou know that there are twice as many
numbersas numbers?\"
\"No,there are not!\"I was defensiveas all young
of my knowledge.
\"Yes there are; I'll show you.Namea number.\"
\"Onemillion.\"
A big number to start.
\"Twomillion.\"
\"Twenty-seven.\"
\"Fifty-four.\"
I named about ten more numbers and each time
Dick named the numbertwice as big.Light dawned.
\302\246This letter was contributed by Henry Bethe.
 PART2
MR. FEYNMAN GOESTO
WASHINGTON:
Investigatingthe Space
Shuttle ChallengerDisaster

Preliminaries

In thisstory I'mgoingto talk a lotaboutNASA,* but when I say

\"NASA did this\"and \"NASA did that/* I don'tmean all of
NASA; I just mean that part of NASA associated with the
shuttle.
To remindyou aboutthe shuttle,the largecentralpart is the
tank, which holdsthe fuel:liquidoxygenis at the top,and liquid
hydrogenis in the main part.The engineswhich burn that fuel
are at the backendof the orbiter,which goesintospace.The
crew sitsin the front of the orbiter; behindthem isthe cargobay.
Duringthe launch,two solid-fuel rocketsboostthe shuttlefor
a few minutesbeforethey separateand fall backinto the sea.
The tank separates from the orbitera few minutes later\342\200\224much

higherin the atmosphere\342\200\224and breaksup asit fallsbackto earth.

The solidrocketboosters are madeinsections. Thereare two
types of jointsto hold the sectionstogether:the permanent
\"factory joints\"are sealedat the MortonThiokolfactory in
Utah;thetemporary \"field joints\"are sealedbeforeeach flight\342\200\224

\"inthe the KennedySpaceCenterin Florida.

field\"\342\200\224at

*The National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration.

77
 DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
Committing Suicide
78 WHAT

As you probablyknow, the space shuttleChallengerhad an

accidenton Tuesday,January 28, 1986. I saw the explosion on
TV, but apart from the tragedy losing of seven people, I didn t
think much aboutit.
In thenewspaperI usedto readabout shuttlesgoingup and
down allthe time,but it bothered me a littlebit that I never saw
in any scientific results of
journalanyon theshuttle anything that had ever
comeoutof theexperiments that were supposed to
be so important. So I wasn'tpaying very muchaattention tocall it
Well a few days after the accident, I get telephone
fromtheheadof NASA, William Graham, askingme to be on
thecommittee investigating what went wrong with the shuttle!
Dr Graham saidhe had been a studentof mine at Caltech, and
laterhad worked at the HughesAircraft Company,where gave I
lecturesevery Wednesdayafternoon.
I stillwasn'texactly surewho he was.
When I heardthe investigation wouldbe in Washington,my
immediate reaction was not to do it: I have a principleof not
goinganywhere near Washingtonreaction or having anything to do with
Figure/. The spaceshuttle Challenger. government,so my immediate was\342\200\224how am I gonna
rocketboosters,
Thefueltank, flankedby two solid-fuel
is attachedto whosemain
the orbiter,
burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
engines
(\302\251 NASA.)
they explained
,0..^
i cmicu to mefriends likeAl Hibbsand DickDavies,but
that investigating the Challenger accident
was very important for the nation,and that I should it.
do
My lastchancewas to convince my wife. Look, i saia.
\"Anybody\" coulddo it. They canget somebody there will be
else.
\"No saidGweneth. you \"If don't do it,
twelve people,allin a group,goingaround from placetoi place
together.But if you join the commission, there will be eleven
in a group, going aroundfrom placeto place
people\342\200\224all
the twelfth oneruns aroundallovertoeplace,
together\342\200\224while
checkingallkindsof unusual things. There probablywont be
Imytfdn?, but if there is,that you'llfind it.\" Shesaid,\"Thereisnt
anyone elsewho cando I believed likeyou can.\"
Igniter Joints Field Joints Nozzle-to-Case
Joint
Beingvery immodest, her.
Figure2. Locationsand close-up 79
views ofbooster-rocket
fieldjoints.
 80 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

Well, it's onething to figureoutwhat went with the

shuttle.But the next thing would be to find outwrong
what was the
matter with the organization of NASA. Then there are questions
like,\"Should we continue with the shuttlesystem, or is it better
to useexpendable rockets?'* And then comeeven biggerques-
\"Where do we go from here?\"\"What shouldbe our
questions:
The Cold Facts
future goalsin space?\" I couldsee that a commission which
startedout trying to find out what happenedto the shuttlecould
endup as a commission trying to decideonnationalpolicy,and
go on forever!
That made me quitenervous. I decidedto get out at the end When I calledGraham and accepted,he didn'tknow exactly
of sixmonths,no matter what. was goingto do, who it was goingto be
what the commission
But I alsoresolvedthat while I was investigating the acci- under,or even if I wouldbe accepted ontoit. (Therewas still
I shouldn'tdo anything else.There were somephysics
accident,
hope!)
problemsI was playing with. There was a computerclassat But the next day, Monday, I got a telephonecallat 4 p.m.:
CaltechI was teachingwith anotherprofessor. (He offeredto \"Mr.Feynman, you have beenaccepted ontothe commission\"
take overthe course.) Therewas the ThinkingMachines commission\"
by that time was a \"presidential headed
in BostonI was goingto consultfor. (They saidtheyCwould ompa- \342\200\224which

Company
by William P. Rogers.
wait.)My physicswouldhave to wait, too. I remembered Mr. Rogers.I felt sorry for him when he was
By thistimeit was Sunday. I saidto Gweneth,\"I'mgonna secretary of becauseit seemedto me that President
state, Nixon
commitsuicidefor sixmonths,\" and pickedup the telephone. was usingthe nationalsecurity adviser(Kissinger) more and
more,to the pointwhere the secretary of statewas not really
functioning.
At any rate, the first meetingwould be on Wednesday.I
figuredthere'snothingto do on couldfly to Wash-
Tuesday\342\200\224I

Tuesday
Washington
I calledup Al Hibbs
night\342\200\224so
and askedhim to
get some people at JPL*who know something aboutthe shuttle
project t o brief me.
On Tuesdaymorning I rush over to JPL,full of steam,ready
to roll.Al sits me down, and different engineers comein, one
after the other,and explainthe various parts of the shuttle.I
don'tknow how they knew, but they knew allaboutthe shuttle.I
got a very thorough,high-speed, intensebriefing.The guys at
JPL had the sameenthusiasm that I did. It was really quite
exciting.
When I lookat my notesnow, I seehow quickly they gave
me hints aboutwhere to lookforthe shuttle's
problems. The first
line of my notessays \"Inhibitburning.Liner.\"(To inhibit
propellantfrom burning through the metal wail of eachbooster
*NASA*s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Pasadena; it is administered by
Caltech.
81
 82 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLE
THINK?
THE COLDFACTS
83
. f.
Propellant
SegmentTang
Insulation
Primary O-Ring)
Leak TestPort
Plug and Packin Secondary
O-Ring
GreaseBead Propellant
lelief Flap
Pin AFT Facing
RetainerClip Inhibitor

Zinc Chromate
Pin
RetainerBand Putty

Figure3. 7%^ \\ ^*~- Insulation

beginningofFeynmari s
notesfrom his informal JPL briefing, Clevis Pin
rocket,there'sa liner,which was not working right.)The second
lineof my notessays \"O-rings show scorching in clevischeck.\" Forward Facing
It was noticedthat hot gasoccasionally burned Inhibitor
in booster-rocket fieldjoints. pastthe O-rings Pin RetainerBand
On the samelineit says \"Zn CrO4makes Cork Insulation Insulation
zincchromateputty, packed as an insulator
bubbles.\" (The
makes bubbleswhich canbecome behind the O-rings
> SegmentClevis
gas leaksthrough,erodingthe O-rings.) enlargedvery fast when hot Propellant
The engineers Figure4. Detailed
diagramofa fieldjoint
toldme how
the solidrocketboosters much the pressure changes inside
madeof, how the propellant during flight,what the propellant is
is castand then bakedat different
temperatures, the percentages of asbestos,polymers,and what-
in the liner,and
whatnot
allkindsof other stuff. I learnedaboutthe
thrusts and forcesin the engines,which are the mostpowerful
enginesfor their weight ever built. The engineshad many
difficulties, especially crackedturbine blades. The engineers told
me that some of the peoplewho worked on the
had theirfingerscrossedon each engines a lways
saw the shuttleexplode, flight,and the moment they
they were sureit was the engines.
If the engineers didn'tknow something, Figure5.Photographofbubblesin zinc chromate
they'dsaysomething which can leadto erosion
putty, ofthe O-rings.
84 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 85

like,4'Oh,Liferknows aboutthat; let's him in.'*Al would is,\"somebodysays.\021*11 take you

\"Yes,I know where it
callup Lifer,who wouldcomeright away.get I couldn'thave had a down there.*'
betterbriefing. They take me to a room and, sureenough,there'sa big
It's calleda briefing,but it wasn'tbrief:it was very intense, meetinggoingon:thereare brightlightsand television cameras
very fast, and very complete. It's the only way I know to get down in front; the room is completely full,bursting people,
with
technical information quickly:you don'tjustsit there while they and all I *can do is barely squashmy way into the back.I'm
go through what they think wouldbe interesting; instead,you ask thinking, 'There'sonlyonedoorto thisplace.How the hellam
a lotof questions, you getquickanswers, a nd soon you beginto I gonnaget down to the front from here?\"
understand the circumstances and learnjustwhat to ask to getthe Then I overhear something a little so far down there
bit\342\200\224it's

next pieceof information you need.I got onehellof a good that I can't make out exactly what it it's evidently a
is\342\200\224but

educationthat day, and I suckedup the information like a different subject!

sponge. So I go backto Graham'sofficeand find his secretary.She
callsaround and findsoutwhere the commission is meeting.\"I
That night I tookthe red-eye*to Washington, and got there s
don'tknow, either,\" sayshe to the personon the otherend.
early Wednesday morning.(I never took the red-eye \"Hesimply wandered in here!\"
learned!)
again\342\200\224I
The meetingwas in Mr. Rogers'slaw offices,at 1415H
I checked intothe HolidayInnin downtownWashington,and Street.My slipof papersaid14158th Street.(The addresshad
beengiven over the telephone.)
got *'a cabto take me to the first meeting
Where to?\"the driver says.
of the commission.
I finally got to Mr. Rogers's was the only one
All I have is a littlepieceof paper.\021415 8th Street.\" office\342\200\224I

We start off. I'm new in Washington. The Capitolis over Mr.Rogersintroduced

late\342\200\224and me to the othercommissioners.
here,the Washington Monument is overthere;everything seems The only oneI had ever heardof besidesMr. Rogerswas Neil
very close.But the taxi goeson and on, farther and farther into Armstrong, the moonman,who was serving as vice-chairman.
worseand worseterritory. Buildings (SallyRide was on the commission, but I didn'trealizewho she
getsmaller,and they begin was until later.*)There was a very handsome-looking guy in a
to lookrun down a littlebit.Finally, we get onto8th Street,and Helooked
as we go along,the buildingsbegin to disappearaltogether. uniform, a General Kutyna (pronounced Koo-TEE-na).
Finally we find the interpolation: it's an empty lot formidablein his outfit,while the otherpeoplehadon ordinary
betweentwo buildings!
address\342\200\224by
suits.
By thistime I realizesomething is completelycockeyed.I This first meetingwas really just an informal get-together.
don'tknow what to do,becauseI've only got thisslipof paper, That botheredme, becauseI was stillwound up like a spring
and I don'tknow where to go. from my JPLbriefingthe day before.
I say to the taxi driver, \"The meetingI'm goingto has Mr. Rogersdid announcea few things.He read from the
somethingto do with NASA. Can you take me to NASA?\" executiveorderthat definedour work:
\"Sure,\"he says,\"You know where it is, don'tyou? It's The Commission shall:
right where I pickedyou up!\" 1. Review the circumstancessurrounding the accident
It was true.NASA I couldhave walked to from the Holiday and establishthe probablecauseor causesof the
Inn:it was right acrossthe street!I go in,pastthe guard at the accident;and
gate,and start wandering around. 2. Developrecommendationsfor corrective or other
I find my way to Graham'soffice,and ask if there'sa action basedupon the Commission's findings and
meetingaboutthe shuttle. determinations.
*Note for foreign readers:a flight that leaves the West Coastaround 11p.m.and space.
arrives on the East Coastaround 7 a.m., five hours and three times zoneslater. *Note for foreign readers:Sally Ride was the first American woman in
 THE COLDFACTS 87
86 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
STS 51-LCARGO ELEMENTS
Mr. Rogersalsosaidwe would complete our investigation
within120days.
That was a relief:the scopeof our commission would be
limitedto investigatingthe accident,and our work might be \342\200\242 TRACKING AND DATA RELAY SATELLITE-B/INERTIAL
UPPER STAGE
finishedbeforeI was donecommittingsuicide!
PECULIAR SUPPORTSTRUCTURE
SPARTAN-HALLEY/MISSION
Mr.Rogersaskedeachof us how much of ourtime we could
\342\200\242

spendon the commission. Someof the commissioners were CREW COMPARTMENT

retired,and almosteverybody said they had rearranged their
\342\200\242

schedules.I said, ready to work 100percent,startingright

- TISP- IN SPACE
TEACHER PROGRAM

- - COMET
\"\320\223\321\202

now!\" CHAMP ACTIVE MONITORING

HALLEY PROGRAM
Mr. Rogersasked,\"Who will be in chargeof writing the - FDE - FLUID DYNAMICS EXPERIMENT
report?'' - STUDENT
Mr. Hotz, who had beenthe editorof Aviation Week
A EXPERIMENTS
magazine, volunteered to do that. - - MONITORING
RADIATION EXPERIMENT
Then Mr. Rogersbroughtup anothermatter. \"I'vebeenin RME

Washington a longtime,\"he said,\"andthere'sonethingyou - PPE - PARTITIONING

PHASE EXPERIMENT
allmust know:no matter what we do,there will always beleaks Figure6.An exampleof \"bullets.\"
to the press.The bestwe cando is just try to minimize them.
The properway to dealwith leaksis to have publicmeetings. We \"Well,I collectautographs,\"he says.\"Could you do me a
will have closedmeetings,of course,but if we find anything favor?\"
important,we will have an openmeetingright away, so the \"Sure,\"I say.
publicwill always know what is goingon.\" I'm reachingfor my penwhen he says,\"When we getthere,
Mr. Rogerscontinued, \"To start thingsoff right with the couldyou pointoutto me which oneNeil Armstrongis,soI can
press, o ur first meetingwill be a publicmeeting.We'll
official gethis autograph?\"
meettomorrow at 10a.m.\" Beforethe meetingstarted,we were sworn in. Peoplewere
As we were leaving the get-together, I heardGeneralKutyna millingaround;a secretary handedus eacha badgewith our
say, \"Where's the nearest M etro station?\" pictureon it so we couldgo anywhere in NASA. There were
I thought,\"Thisguy, I'm gonnaget alongwith him fine: alsosomeformsto sign,saying you agreeto thisand that soyou
he'sdressedsofancy, but inside,he'sstraight.He'snot the kind can get your expenses paid,and so on.
of generalwho'slookingfor his driver and his specialcar;he After we were sworn in,I met BillGraham.I did recognize
goesbackto the Pentagonby theMetro.\"Right away I liked him,and remembered him as a niceguy.
him,and overthe courseof the commission I foundmy judg- Thisfirst publicmeetingwas goingto be a generalbriefing
in thiscasewas excellent. and presentationby the big cheesesof Moore,Mr.
judgment
NASA\342\200\224Mr.

Aldrich, Lovingood,
M r. and others.We were seatedin big
The next morning,a limousine calledfor me\342\200\224someonehad leatherchairson a dais,and there were brightlightsand TV
arranged for us to arrive at our first officialmeetingin limou- cameraspointingat us every time we scratched our noses.
I satin the front seat,next to the driver.
limousines.
I happenedto sit next to GeneralKutyna. Justbeforethe
On the way to the meeting,the driver says to me, \"I meetingstarted,he leansoverand says,\"Copilot to pilot:comb
understand a lotof important
\"Yeah,I s'pose.. .\"
peopleare on thiscommission ...\" your hair.\"
 88 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 89
I say, \"Pilotto copilot:
canI borrowyour comb?\" \"We'llget backto you on equalsnothing!Al-
that\"\342\200\224which
The first thing we had to learnwas the crazy acronyms that it looked like we were doingsomethingevery day in
NAJSA usesall over the place:\"SRMs\"are the solidrocket Although
Washington, we were, in reality, sittingaround doingnothing
motors,which make up mostof the \"SRBs,\" the solidrocket mostof the time.
boosters. The \"SSMEs\" are the spaceshuttlemain engines; they That night I gave myselfsomethingto do:I wrote out the
burn \"LH\" (liquidhydrogen)and \"LOX\" (liquidoxygen), kindsof questions I thought we shouldask during our investiga-
which are storedin the \"ET,\"the external tank. Everything's and what topicswe shouldstudy. My planwas to find out
got letters. wanted to do, so we could
investigation,

what the rest of the commission

And not just the big things:practicallyevery valve has an divideup the work and get going.
acronym, so they said,44We'll give you a dictionaryfor the
acronyms\342\200\224it's really very simple.\" Simple,sure,but thedictio- The next day, Friday, we had ourfirst realmeeting.By this
is a great,big,fat book that you'vegottakeeplooking
dictionary time we had an met in the Old ExecutiveOffice
office\342\200\224we

through for thingslike\"HPFTP\"(high-pressure fuel turbopump) there was even a guy there to transcribe every
and \"HPOTP\" (high-pressure oxygenturbopump).
Building\342\200\224and
word we said.
Thenwe learn about*'bullets\"\342\200\224little blackcirclesin front of Mr. Rogerswas delayedfor somereason,sowhilewe waited
phrasesthat were supposed to summarizethings.Therewas one for him, GeneralKutyna offeredto tell us what an accident
after anotherof theselittlegoddamnbulletsin ourbriefingbooks investigation islike.We thoughtthat was a goodidea,sohe got
and on the slides. up and explained to us how the air forcehad proceeded with its
It turned out that apart from Mr. Rogersand Mr. Acheson, investigation of an unmanned Titan rocket which had failed.
who were lawyers,and Mr.Hotz,who was an editor,we allhad I was pleasedto seethat the system he described\342\200\224what the
degreesinscience:GeneralKutyna had a degreefrom Mr. questions were,andthe way they went aboutfindingthe answers\342\200\224

all
\320\234\320\223\320\223;

Armstrong, Mr. Mr.

Covert, Rummel, and Mr. Sutterwere was very much likewhat I had laidout the night before,except
aeronauticalengineers, while Ms.Ride,Mr. Walker,Mr. Wheelon, that it was much moremethodical than I had envisioned. General
and I were allphysicists. Mostof usseemedto have donesome Kutyna warned us that sometimes it looks like the causeis
preliminary work on our own. We kept askingquestions that obvious,but when you investigatemorecarefully you have to
were much moretechnical than someof the big cheeseswere changeyour mind.They had very few clues,and changedtheir
preparedfor. mindsthree timesin the caseof the Titan.
When oneof them couldn'tanswer a question, Mr. Rogers I'm allexcited.I want to do thiskindof investigation, and
wouldreassure him that we understood he wasn'texpecting such figure we can get started right we have to do isdecide
detailed questions, and that we were for
satisfied, the time being who 'willdo what.
away\342\200\224all

at least,by the perpetual answer, \"We'llgetthat information to But Mr. Rogers,who camein partway through General
you later.\" Kutyna'spresentation, says, \"Yes, your investigationwas a
The main thing I learnedat that meetingwas how inefficienta great success, General, but we won'tbe ableto useyour methods
publicinquiry is: mostof the time, otherpeopleare asking herebecausewe can'tget as much informationas you had.\"
questions you already know the answer are not interested
to\342\200\224or
PerhapsMr. Rogers,who is not a technicalman, did not
you get fogged
in\342\200\224and so out that you'rehardly listening when realizehow patently falsethat was. The Titan, beingan un-
are
important points beingpassed over. unmanned rocket,didn'thave anywhere near the number of check
What a contrast to JPL, where I had beenfilledwith allsorts gadgetsthe shuttledid.We had television picturesshowinga
of informationvery fast. On Wednesday we have a 4'get- flame comingout the sideof a boosterrocketa few seconds
together\" in Mr. Rogers's takes two
office\342\200\224that then hours\342\200\224and
before the explosion; all we couldsee in GeneralKutyna's
we've got the rest of the day to do what? Nothing.And that pictures o f the Titan was a lousydotin the a little,tiny
night? Nothing.The next day, we have the public
sky\342\200\224just
meeting\342\200\224 he was ableto figurestuff out from that.
flash\342\200\224and
 90 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 91
Mr. Rogerssays,\"I have arranged for us to go to Florida He says,\"What'sthe matter?\"
next Thursday. We'llget a briefingthere from NASA officials, \"I want to do something! I want to go aroundand talk to
and they'lltake us on a tourof the Kennedy SpaceCenter.\" someengineers!\"
I get thispictureof the czarina comingto a PotemJkinvillage: Hesays,\"Sure! Why not?I'llarrange a trip for you.You can
everythingisallarranged; they show us how the rocketlooksand go wherever you want: you couldgo to Johnson, you couldgo to
how they put it together. It's not the way to find out how things Marshall, or you couldgo to Kennedy.
really are. I thought I wouldn'tgo to Kennedy, becauseit wouldlook
Then Mr. Armstrong says,\"We can'texpectto do a techni- likeI'm rushing to find outeverything aheadof the others.Sally
investigationlikeGeneralKutyna did.\"This botheredme a Rideworked at Johnson,and had offeredto work with me,so I
said,\"I'llgo to Johnson.\"
technical

lot, becausethe only things I picturedmyselfdoing were he says.\"I'lltellDavid Acheson. He'sa personal
technical! I didn'tknow exactly what he meant:perhapshe was \"Fine,\"
saying that allthe technical lab work wouldbedoneby NASA. friendof Rogers,and he'sa friendof mine.I'm sureeverything
I begansuggesting thingsI coulddo. will be okay.\"
While I'm in the middleof my
list,a secretarycomesin with Half an hourlater,Acheson callsme: \"I think it's a great
a letterfor Mr. Rogersto sign.In the interim,when I've just idea,\"he says,\"andI toldMr.Rogersso,but he says no.I just
been shut up and I'm waiting to comeback,variousother don'tknow why I can'tconvince him.\"
commission membersofferto work with me. Then Mr. Rogers Meanwhile,Graham thoughtof a compromise: I wouldstay
looksup again to continuethe meeting,but he callson some- in Washington, and he wouldget peopleto cometohisofficeat
if he'sabsentmindedand forgotI'dbeeninterrupted. NASA, right acrossthe streetfrom my hotel.I would get the
kindof briefingI wanted, but I wouldn'tbe running around.
else\342\200\224as
somebody
SoI have to get the flooragain,but when I start my stuff again,
another\"accident\" happens. Then Mr. Rogerscallsme:he'sagainstGraham'scompro-
In fact,Mr. Rogersbroughtthe meetingto a closewhile I \"We'reallgoingto Floridanext Thursday,\"he says.
compromise.

was in midstream! He repeated hisworry that we'llnever really I say, \"If the ideais that we sit and listento briefings, it
figure out what happenedto the shuttle. won'twork with me.I can work much moreefficientlyif I talk to
This was extremely discouraging. It's hard to understand engineers directly.\"
now, because NASA hasbeentaking at leasttwo years to put the \"We have to proceed in an orderlymanner.\"
shuttlebackon track.But at the time,I thoughtit would be a \"We'vehad severalmeetings by now, but we stillhaven't
matter of days. beenassignedanything to do!\"
I went overto Mr. Rogersand said,\"We'regoingto Florida Rogerssays,\"Well,do you want me to botherallthe other
next Thursday.That meanswe'vegotnothingto do for^iv^ days: commissioners and calla specialmeetingfor Monday,sowe can
what'U I do for five days?\" make suchassignments?\"
\"Well,what wouldyou have doneif you hadn'tbeenon the \"Well,yes!\"I figuredourjob was to work, and we should
commission?\" be know what I mean?
bothered\342\200\224you

\"I was goingto go to Bostonto consult,but I canceled it in
orderto work 100percent.\"
\"Well,why don'tyou go to Bostonfor the five days?\"
I couldn'ttake that. I thought,\"I'm dead already! The
goddamnthing isn'tworking right.\"I went backto my hotel,
devastated.
Then I thought of BillGraham,and calledhim up. \"Listen,
Bill,\"I said.\"You got me intothis;now you'vegottasave me:
I'm completely depressed;I can'tstandit.\"
Sohe changes the subject,naturally. He says,\"Iunderstand
you don'tlikethe hotelyou'rein. Let me put you in a good
hotel.\"
\"No,thank you;everything is fine with my hotel.\"
Pretty soonhe tries again,so I say, \"Mr. Rogers,my
personalcomfortis not what I'mconcerned with. I'm trying to
get to work. I want to do something!\"
Finally,Rogerssays it'sokay to go acrossthe streetto talk to
peopleat NASA.
92 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDEACTS 93
I was obviouslyquitea painin the assfor Mr. Rogers.Later, SOLIDROCKETBOOSTER
Graham triedto explainit to me. \"Suppose you, as a technical
person,were giventhe job as chairman of a committee to look
into somelegalquestion.Your commission is mostly lawyers,
and oneof them keepssaying,*I canwork moreeffectivelyif I
talk directlyto otherlawyers.'I assumeyou'dwant to get your
bearingsfirst, beforelettinganybody rush off investigating on
his own.\"
Much later,I appreciated that therewere lotsof problems
which Mr. Rogershad to address.For example,any pieceof
information any of usreceived had to be enteredintothe record
and madeavailableto the othercommissioners, so a central
library had to be set up.Thingslikethat tooktime.
On Saturday morningI went to NASA. Graham broughtin
guys to tellme allaboutthe shuttle.Although they were pretty
highup in NASA, the guys were technical.
The firstguy toldme allaboutthe solidrocketboosters\342\200\224the
propellant, themotor,thewholethingexceptthe seals.He said,
\"Thesealsexpertwill be here thisafternoon.\"
The next guy told me all about the engine.The basic
operation was moreor lessstraightforward,but then therewere
all kindsof controls,with backingand haulingfrom pipes,
heatingfrom thisand that, with high-pressure hydrogen pushing
a little propellerwhich turns something else, which pumps
oxygenthrough a vent kindof stuff.
valve\342\200\224that FiauRE 7. Jointrotationiscaused from inside
by pressure
It was interesting, and I did my bestto understand it, but the rocketpushing the walls outfarther than the joints.
A gap

after a while I toldthe fella,\"That'sas much asI'm goingto opens, and hot gas flows pastone or both ofthe O-rings.
take,now, on the engine.\" name was Mr.
\"But thereare many problemswith the enginesthat you In the afternoon,the sealsexpertcame in\342\200\224his

shouldhearabout,\"he says. gave me what amounted

Weeks\342\200\224and to a continuationof my
I was hotonthe trail of the booster rocket,soI said,'I'llhave
*
JPLbriefing,with stillmoredetails.
is
to put off the main enginestilllater,when I have moretime.\" There'sputty and other things,but the ultimate sealare
Then a guy camein to tell me about the orbiter.I felt supposedto be two rubber rings,calledO-rings,a circle12
w hich
terrible,becausehe had comein on a Saturdayto seeme,and it approximately a quarter of an inchthickand lieon
didn'tlooklikethe orbiterhad anything to do with the accident. feetin diameter\342\200\224that's somethinglike37 feetlong.
I was having enoughtroubleunderstandingthe rest of the When the seals were originallydesignedby the Morton
shuttle\342\200\224there's only a certain ThiokolCompany,it was expected from the burn-
that pressure
amount of information per cubic wouldsquashthe O-rings. Butbecausethe jointis
incha brain can I lethim tellme someof the stuff, but propellant the
strongerthan the wall (it's threetimes thicker), wall bows
hold\342\200\224so burning

soonI had to tellhim that it was gettingtoodetailed,sowe just to lift the

had a pleasant outward, causingthe jointto bend a
little\342\200\224enough
conversation\302\273
rubber O-ringsoff the seal area. Mr. Weeks told me this
94 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 95

phenomenon is called\"jointrotation/'and it was discovered \342\200\242

dataindicates
Analysis of existing that it is safeto continue
very early, beforethey everflew the shuttle. design
flying existing as longas alljointsare leakchecked*
The piecesof rubberin the jointsare calledO-rings,but ..
with a 200psigstabilization.
they'renot usedlike normal O-ringsare. In ordinary circum-
suchas sealingoilin the motorof an automobile,
circumstances, there I was struck by the contradiction: \"Ifit's 'mostcritical,'how
are slidingpartsand rotatingshafts,but the gapsare always the couldit be 'safeto continue flying'? What's the logic of this?\"
same.An O-ringsjustsitsthere,in a fixedposition.
But in the caseof the shuttle,the gapexpandsasthepressure
buildsup in the rocket.And to maintainthe seal,the rubberhas
Mr.Weeks says,\"Yes,I seewhat you mean!
it says here,'Analysisof existingdata.. \"
We went backthrough the reportand foundthe analysis.
.'
Well, let'ssee:
It
to expandfast enoughtoclosethe during a launch,the gap\342\200\224and was somekindof computermodelwith variousassumptions that
gap opensin a fractionof a second.Thus the resilience of the were not necessarily right.You know the dangerof computers,
rubberbecamea very essential part of the design. it'scalledGIGO:garbagein,garbageout!The analysis conclud-
When the Thiokolengineers were discovering theseprob- that a littleunpredictable
concluded
leakage here and there could be
they
problems, went to the Parker Seal Company, w hich manufac- tolerated, though
even it wasn't part of the originaldesign.
the rubber,to ask for advice.The Parker SealCompany
manufactures If allthe sealshad leaked,it wouldhave beenobviouseven to
toldThiokolthat O-ringsare not meant to beusedthat way, so NASA that the problemwas serious. But onlya few of the seals
they couldgiveno advice. leakedon only some of the flights. o NASA had developeda
S
Although it was known from nearly the beginningthat the peculiarkindof attitude: if one of the sealsleaksa littleand the
joint was not working as it was designedto, Thiokolkept
strugglingwith the device.They madea number of makeshift
improvements. One was to put shimsin to keepthe jointtight,
but the jointstillleaked.Mr.Weeks showedme picturesof leaks
on previous the engineerscalled\"blowby,\"a
flights\342\200\224what
flight is successful, problemisn't so serious.Try playing
the
Russianroulettethat way: you pull the triggerand the gun
doesn'tgo off, soit must be safeto pullthe triggeragain.
Mr. Weeks saidthere was a rumor that the history of the
sealsproblem was beingleakedto the newspapers. That bothered
..
blackening b ehind an O-ringwhere hotgas leakedthrough,and him a littlebit,because i t made NASA looklikeit was trying to
what they called\"erosion,\" where an O-ringhad burneda little keepthingssecret.
bit.There was a chart showingallthe flights,and how serious I toldhim I was entirely satisfiedwith the peopleGraham
the blowby and erosionwere on eachone.We went throughthe had broughtin to talk to me, and that sinceI had already heard
wholehistory up to the flight,51-L. aboutthesealsproblemat JPL, it wasn'tany big deal.
I said,\"Where doesit say they were ever discussing the
it'sgoingalong,or whetherthere'ssomeprogress?\"
problem\342\200\224how The next day, Sunday, BillGraham tookme with hisfamily
Theonly placewas in the \"flightreadiness reviews\"\342\200\224between to the National Air and SpaceMuseum.We had an early
flightsthere was no discussionof theseals problem! breakfasttogether,and then we went acrossthe streetto the
We lookedat the summary of the report.Everything was museum.
behindlittlebullets,asusual.The top linesays: I was expecting to seebig crowdsthere,but I had forgotten
that Graham was sucha big shot.We had the whole placeto
\342\200\242

The lackof a goodsecondarysealin the fieldjointis most ourselves for a while.

criticaland ways to reducejointrotationshouldbe incorpo- We did seeSallyRide there.Shewas in a displaycase,in an
assoonas possibletoreducecriticality.
incorporated
*Later in our investigation we discoveredthat it was this leakcheckwhich was a
I
likely causeof the dangerous bubblesin the zinc chromate putty that had heard
And then,near the bottom,it says: about at JPL.
 96 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 97
STS51-C

SHIM Field Joint

61A

II 41B 41C 41D

61C STS-2

t..
Flights
with no
incidents \\
PIN 50* 55\302\260 60\302\260
'.I
\342\200\242

65\302\260
\342\200\242 \342\200\242

1
i

70* 75\302\260 80*

Calculated Joint Temperature, \302\260F

Figure10.The correlationbetween
temperatureand O-ringincidents.

Recommendations
The lack of a goodsecondaryseal in the fieldjoint is most critical and ways to
reducejoint rotation should be incorporated as soonas possibleto reduce
Figure:8. Thiokolattemptedtocure the criticality

joint-rotation
problemwith shims. The flow conditions in the joint areas during ignition and motor operation need
to be establishedthrough coldflow modeling to eliminate O-ring erosion
QM-5statictest should be used to qualify a secondsourceof the only flight
certified joint filler material (asbestos-filled
vacuum putty) to protect the flight
program schedule
VLS-1should usethe only flight certified joint filler material (Randolph
asbestos-filledvacuum putty) in all joints
Additional hot and coldsubscaletests need to be conductedto improve
analytical modeling of O-ring erosionproblem and for establishing margins of
safety for erodedO-rings
Analysis
y of existing
data indirrate^ *bat it i to continue flying existing g yg
bilii
Ijesignas long as ailjoints are leak checkedwith a 200 psig i stabilization
pressure,are free of contamination in the sealareasand meet O-ring squeeze \"*\" ~\"

requirements
Efforts needsto continue at an acceleratedpace to eliminate SRM sealerosion

Figure9. Two examplesofO-ringerosion.

Such erosion
wouldoccurunpredictably
along2 or3 inchesofthe 37-footO-ring.
11.
Figure The self-contradictory recommendations
ofthe sealsreportare underlined.
 98 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE.WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 99
astronaut'ssuit, holdinga helmetand everything. The wax That'sallhe had to tellme.It was a cluefor which I gota lot
modellookedexactly likeher. of creditlater,but it was his observation.A professorof
At the museum therewas a specialtheaterwith a movie theoreticalphysicsalways hasto betoldwhat to lookfor.Hejust
aboutNASA and itsachievements. The movie was wonderful.I useshisknowledgeto explainthe observationsof the experimenters!
had not fully appreciatedthe enormous number of peoplewho
were working on the shuttle,and allthe effort that had goneinto On Monday morning GeneralKutyna and I went over to
making it. And you know how a movie is: they can make it Graham'sofficeand askedhim if he had any information on the
dramatic.It was so dramatic that I almostbeganto cry. I could effectsof temperatureon the O-rings.Hedidn'thave it on hand,
seethat the accidentwas a terribleblow.To think that so many but saidhe wouldget it to usassoonas possible.
peoplewere working so hard to make it then it go\342\200\224and
busts\342\200\224 Graham did,however, have someinteresting photographs to
made me even more determined to help straightenout the showus.They showeda flame growingfrom the right-hand solid
problems of the shuttleas quicklyas possible, to get all those rocketboostera few seconds beforethe explosion. It was hard to
peopleback on track. After seeingthis movieI was very tell exactly where the flame was comingout, but therewas a
changed,from my semianti-NASA attitude to a very strong modelof the shuttle righttherein the office.I put the modelon
pro-NASA attitude. the floorand walked aroundit until it lookedexactly likethe
size,and in orientation.
picture\342\200\224in
callfrom GeneralKutyna.
That afternoon,I got a telephone I noticedthat on eachboosterrocketthere'sa little hole\342\200\224

\"ProfessorFeynman?\" he says.\"I have someurgent news calledthe leaktest you can put pressure
port\342\200\224where
in to test
for you.Uh,justa minute.\" theseals.It'sbetweenthe two O-rings,soif it'snotclosedright
I hear somemilitary-typebandmusicin the background. and if the first O-ringfails,the gas would go out through the
The musicstops,and GeneralKutyna says,\"Excuse me, hole,and it wouldbe a catastrophe. It was just aboutwhere the
Professor; I'm at an Air ForceBandconcert,and they justplayed flame was.Of course,it was stilla question whether the flame
the nationalanthem.\" was comingout of the leaktest port or a largerflame was
I couldpicturehim inhisuniform,standingat attentionwhile
the band is playing the \"StarSpangledBanner,\"
comingoutfarther around,andwe were seeingonly the tip of it.
salutingwith
onehand and holdingthe telephone with the other.\"What's the That afternoon we had our emergency closedmeetingto hear
news,General?\" from the guy whosestory was in the New York Times. Hisname
\"Well,the first thing is,Rogerstoldme totellyou notto go was Mr.Cook.He was in the budgetdepartmentof NASA when
overto NASA.\" he was askedto lookinto a possiblesealsproblemand to
I didn'tpay any attentionto that,because I had already gone estimatethe costsneededto rectify it.
overto NASA the day before. By talking to the engineers, he foundout that the sealshad
He continued, \"The otherthing is, we'regoingto have a beena bigproblemfor a longtime.So he reportedthat it would
specialmeetingtomorrowafternoonto hear from a guy whose costso-and-so much to fix lotof money. From the pointof
it\342\200\224a

story cameout in the New York Timestoday.\" view of the pressand someof the commissioners, Mr. Cook's
I laughedinside:sowe'regoingto have a specialmeeting on storysounded likea bigexpose,asif NASA was hidingthe seals
Monday, anyway!
Then he says,\"I was working on my carburetorthismorn-
problemfrom us.
I had to sit through thisbig,unnecessary excitement,won-
and I was thinking:the shuttletookoff when the tempera-
morning, wondering if every time therewas an article
would
in the newspaper,
was 28or 29 degrees.The coldesttemperature previousto
temperature
we have to have a specialmeeting? We would never get any-
that was 53degrees. what, sir,is the effectof
You'rea professor; anywhere that way!
coldon the O-rings?9 9
But later,during that samemeeting,somevery interesting
\"Oh!\" I said.\"Itmakesthem stiff.Yes, of course!\" thingshappened.First,we saw somepictureswhich showed
100 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 101

FiauRE 12.Progression
ofa flame,possibly
from the leaktestportarea. nasa.)
(\302\251

puffs of smokecomingout of a fieldjointjust after ignition,

beforethe shuttleeven got off the pad.The smokewas coming
out of the sameplace\342\200\224possibly the leak test the
port\342\200\224where
flame appearedlater.Therewasn'tmuch question now. It was all
fitting together.
Then something happenedthat was completelyunexpected.
An engineerfrom the ThiokolCompany,a Mr. McDonald,
wanted to tellus something. He had cometo ourmeetingon his
own, uninvited.Mr. McDonaldreportedthat the Thiokolengi-
had cometo the conclusion
engineers that low temperatures had
something to do with the seals problem, and they were very, very
worriedaboutit. On the night beforethe launch,during the flight
readiness review, they toldNASA the shuttleshouldn't fly if the
 102 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

Propellant
SegmentTang
Insulation
'Primary O-Ring)
Leak TestPort
Plug and Packing 'Secondary4^
GreaseBead Propeilant
lelief Flap
Pin AFT Facing
RetainerClip Inhibitor

Zinc Chromate
Pin Richardand
Putty
RetainerBandTi
Insulation Arlene on the
Clevis Pin
boardwalkin
Atlantic City.

Forward Facing On their

Inhibitor wedding day.
Pin RetainerBand
Cork Insulation Insulation

SegmentClevis
Propellant
Fioure13,An incorrectlysealed
leak
testportcould
providean escaperoutefor a
flamewhich burns pastthe primary \320\236-ring.

temperaturewas below53degrees\342\200\224the previouslowesttemperature

and on that morning it was 29.
Mr McDonaldsaidNASA was \"appalled\" by that state-
statement. The man in chargeof the meeting,a Mr. Mulloy, argued
that the evidencewas \"incomplete\"\342\200\224some flightswith erosion
and blowby had occurred at higherthan 53degrees\342\200\224so Thiokol
shouldreconsiderits opposition
to flying.
Thiokolreverseditself,but McDonaldrefusedto go along,
saying,\"If somethinggoeswrong with this flight,I wouldn't
want to stand up in front of a boardof inquiry and say that I
Gesturingat a CaltechAlumni
Dav lecture,1978.

In the Caltechproduction
ofFiorello,1978.(caltech)
 Describing
Feynman
diagrams,1984.
(FAUSTIN BRAY)

ThechieffromBaliHai
in South Pacific,1982.
f\320\241 ALTECH)
Modulating soundsofthe \"crazydrum\"
with Ralph Leighton,1984.(faustinbrayj
 With 3,and Carl,
Michelle,
10, (BBC.
Yorkshire,England.
in
YORKSHIRE TELEVISION)

With son Carlon the day

Richardwon the Nobel
Prize,1965.
 RichardFeynmanbegantakingart lessons
at the age of 44, and continueddrawing
for the rest of his life. Thesesketchesinclude
portraitsof professionalmodels,his friend
BobSadler,and his daughterMichelle
(at the age of 14).Feynmansignedall of
his artwork \"Ofey\"to make sure no one
would suspectwho really drew them.

Richardand Gwenethon theirsilverweddinganniversary, 1985.

(PHOTO BY YASUSHI OHNUKJ)
 THE COLDFACTS 103

Figure14.Puffs ofblack\"smoke\"
(fine,
unburnedparticles)
were seenescapingfrom the
sameplacewhere the flamewas observed.(<o nasa.)
 104 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 105
went aheadand toldthem to go aheadand fly thisthing outside having NASA sendnotesbackand forth:I justhave to try it!All
what it was qualifiedto.\" I have to do is geta sampleof the rubber.\"
That was so astonishing that Mr. Rogershad to ask,\"DidI I think, 44I coulddo this tomorrowwhile we'reall sittin'
understandyou correctly, that you said.. . ,\"and herepeated
the around,listening to thisCookcrapwe heard today.We always
story.A nd McDonald says,\"Yes, sir.\" get ice water in those meetings; that'ssomething I can doto save
The whole commission was shocked,becausethiswas the time.\"
first time any of us had heard thisstory:not only was therea Then I think,44No, that wouldbe gauche.\"
failure in the seals,but there may have been a failure in But then I think of LuisAlvarez, the physicist. He'sa guy I
management,too. admirefor his gutsinessand senseof humor, and I think, 44If
Mr. Rogersdecidedthat we shouldlookcarefully intoMr. Alvarez was on thiscommission, he woulddo it, and that'sgood
McDonald's story, and get more detailsbefore we made it enough for me.\"
public.But to keepthe publicinformed,we wouldhave an open There are storiesof physicists\342\200\224great have
heroes\342\200\224who

meetingthe followingday, Tbesday,in which Mr.Cookwould gotten information one,two, like

three\342\200\224just every-
that\342\200\224where

testify. everybody elseis trying to do it in a complicated way. Forexample,

I thought,4'Thisis goingto belikean act:we'regoingto say after ultraviolet rays and X rays had beendiscovered, there was a
the samethingstomorrowas we did today,and we won't learn new type, calledN rays, discovered by Andre Blondel, in
anything new.\"
France.It was hard to detectthe N rays:other scientists had
difficulty repeating BlondeFs experiments, sosomeone askedthe
As we were leaving,BillGraham cameoverwith a stackof great American physicist R. W. Wood to go to Blondel'slaboratory.
papersfor me. Blondelgave a publiclectureand demonstration. N rays
\"Geez!That'sfast!\"I said. \"I only asked you for the were bentby aluminum, so he had allkindsof lenseslinedup,
informationthismorning!\" Grahamwas always very cooperative. followedby a big disk with an aluminum prismin the middle.
The paperon top says,4'Professor As the aluminum prismslowly turned,the N rays came up this
Feynman of the Presiden- way and bent that way, and Blondel's assistantreportedtheir
Commission wants to know aboutthe effectsovertimeof
for different
numbers angles.
Presidential

temperatureon the resiliency of theO-rings.. a memo-

.\"\342\200\224it's
intensity\342\200\224different
N rays were affected by light,so Blondelturned out the
addressedto a subordinate. His assistantcontin-
lightsto make hisreadingsmoresensitive.
memorandum

Underthat memois anothermemo:44Professor Feynman of to reporttheirintensity.

the Presidential Commission wants to know...\"\342\200\224from that continued

subordinate to hissubordinate,
and soon down the line. When the lightscameback on, there'sR. W. Wood in the
There'sa paper with somenumberson it from the poor front row, holdingthe prismhighin the air,balanced on the tips
bastardat the bottom,and then there'sa seriesof submission of his fingers,for allto see!So that was the endof the N ray.
paperswhich explainthat the answeris beingsentup to the next I think,\"Exactly! I've got to get a sampleof the rubber.\" I
level. callBillGraham.
Sohere'sthisstackof papers,justlikea sandwich,and in the It'simpossible to get:it'skeptsomewheredown at Kennedy.
middle is the But then Graham remembers that the modelof the fieldjoint
44
the wrong question!
answer\342\200\224to The answer was: we'regoingto usein our meetingtomorrowhas two samples of
You squeeze the rubberfor two hoursat a certaintemperature
and pressure,and then see how longit takesto creepback\" the rubberin it. He says,44We couldmeetin my officebefore
hours.I wanted to know how fast therubberresponds
\342\200\224over in the meetingand seeif we canget the rubberout.\"
milliseconds duringa launch.Sotheinformation was of no use. The next morningI get up early and go out in front of my
I went back to my hotel.I'm feelinglousyand I'm eating hotel.It'seightin the morningand it's snowing.I find a taxi and
dinner;I lookat the table,and there'sa glassof icewater. I say
to myself,\"Damnit, / can find out aboutthat rubberwithout say to the driver,4Td liketo go to a hardware store.\"
106 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 107
\"A hardware store,sir?\"
\"Yeah.I gottaget sometools/*
\"Sir,there'sno hardware storesaroundhere;the Capitolis
overthere,the White Houseisover a minute:I thinkthere\342\200\224wait
I rememberpassingonethe otherday/*
Hefoundthehardware store,and it turned outit didn'topen
till was about
8:30\342\200\224it I waitedoutside,in my suitcoat
8:15\342\200\224so

and tie, a costume I had assumed sinceI cameto Washingtonin

orderto move amongthe nativeswithout beingtooconspicuous.
The suitcoatsthat the natives wear insidetheir buildings
(which are well heated)are sufficientfor walking from one
buildingto from a building to a taxi if the buildings
another\342\200\224or
are toofar apart.(All the taxisare heated.)But the nativesseem
to have a strangefear of thecold:they put overcoatson top of
theirsuitcoatsif they wish to stepoutside.I hadn'tboughtan
overcoatyet, so I was stillrather conspicuous standingoutside
the hardware storein the snow.
At 8:30I went in and boughta couple of screwdrivers, some Figure15.Thefield^jointmodelfrom
pliers,and the smallestC-clamp I couldfind.Then I went toNASA. which Feynman gotthe sample.
\320\236-ring

On the way to Graham'soffice,I thoughtmaybe the clamp

was too big.I didn'thave much time,so I ran down to the who lookslikehe'sin charge,and I say, \"I'dlikea glassof ice
medicaldepartment of NASA. (I knew where it was, becauseI water, please.\"
had beengoingtherefor bloodtestsordered by my cardiologist, He says,4'Certainly!Certainly!\"
who was trying to treat me by telephone.) I askedfor a medical Five minuteslater,the guardsclosethe doors,the meeting
clamplikethey put on tubes. starts,and I haven'tgot my icewater.
They didn'thave any. But the guy says,\"Well,let'sseeif I gestureoverto the guy I justtalkedto.He comesover and
your C-clampfits insidea glass!\" It fittedvery easily. says,\"Don'tworry, it'scoming!\"
I went up toGraham's office. The meetingis goingalong,and now Mr. Mulloy beginsto
The rubbercameoutof the modeleasilywith just a pairof tellus aboutthe seals.(Apparently,NASA wants to tellusabout
pliers.So there I was with the rubber samplein my hand. the sealsbeforeMr. Cookdoes.)The modelstarts to go around,
Although I knew it wouldbe moredramatic and honestto do the and eachcommissioner looksat it a littlebit.
experiment for the first time in the publicmeeting,I did Meanwhile,no icewater!
something I'm a littlebit ashamedof. I cheated.I couldn't
that Mr.Mulloyexplains how the sealsare supposed to work\342\200\224in

resist.I triedit. So,followingthe exampleof having a closed the usualNASA way: he usesfunny words and acronyms,and
meeting beforean openmeeting, I discovered it workedbeforeI it'shard for anybody elseto understand.
did it in the openmeeting.Then I put the rubberbackintothe In orderto setthingsup while I'm waiting for the icewater, I
modelso Graham couldtake it tothemeeting. start out:\"Duringa launch,there are vibrationswhich causethe
rocketjointsto move a little that correct?''
bit\342\200\224is

I go to the meeting,allready, with pliersin onepocketand a \"Thatis correct,sir.\"

C-clampin the other.I sitdown next to GeneralKutyna. \"And insidethe joints,theseso-called
Oringsare supposed
At the previousmeeting, there was icewater for everybody. to expandto make a that right?\"
seal\342\200\224is

Thistime,there'sno icewater. I getup and go overto somebody beindirectcontact

they should
\"Yes,sir.In staticconditions
 108 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE COLDFACTS 109
with the tang and clevis*andsqueezed
twenty-thousandthsof an
inch/'
don'twe take the O-ringsout?\"
4'Why
6'Because then you would have hot gas expandingthrough
the joint. . .\"
\"Now, in orderfor the sealto work correctly,the O-rings
must be madeof something
rubber\342\200\224not likelead,which, when
it
you squashit, stays.\"
44Yes, sir.\"
\"Now, if the Oringweren'tresilientfor a secondor two,
wouldthat be enoughto be a very dangeroussituation?\"
\"Yes,sir.\"
That ledus rightup to the question of coldtemperature and
theresilience of the rubber.I wanted provethat Mr. Mulloy
to
must have known that temperature had an efiFect, although\342\200\224

according to Mr. McDonald\342\200\224he claimedthat the evidence was

\"incomplete.\" still,
But no ice water! So I had to stop,and
somebody e lse started askingquestions.
The modelcomesaroundtoGeneralKutyna, and then tome.
The clampand plierscomeoutof my pocket,I take the model
apart,I've got the O-ringpiecesin my hand,but I stillhaven't
got any ice water! I turn aroundagainand signalthe guy I've
beenbotheringaboutit, and he signalsback, \"Don'tworry,
you'llget it!\"
Pretty soonI seea young woman, way down in front,bring
in a tray with glasseson it. Shegivesa glassof icewater to Mr.
Rogers,she givesa glassof ice water to Mr. Armstrong,she
works her way backand forth alongthe rows of the dais,giving
ice water to everybody!The poorwoman had gotteneverything
glasses,
together\342\200\224jug, ice,tray, the whole that every-
thing\342\200\224so
couldhave icewater.
everybody
So finally, when I get my ice water, I don't drink it! I
squeezethe rubberin the C-clamp, and put them in the glassof
icewater.
After a few minutes,I'm ready to show the resultsof my
littleexperiment. I reachfor the littlebuttonthat activatesmy
microphone.
GeneralKutyna, who'scaught onto what I'mdoing,quickly
leansover to me and says,\"Copilot to pilot:not now.\"
Pretty soon, I 'm f or
reaching my microphone again. FigureISA.The \320\236-ring ice-waterdemonstration.
C\302\251
MARILYNN K. YEE, NYT PICTURES.)
*The tang is the male part of the joint; the clevisis the female part (seeFigure
13).
\320\277\320\276 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
\"Notnow!\"He pointsin our briefingbook\342\200\224with all the
charts and slidesMr. Mulloy is goingthrough\342\200\224and says,\"When
hecomesto thisslide,here,that'sthe right timeto do it.\"
Finally Mr. Mulloycomesto the place,I pressthe buttonfor
my microphone, and I say, \"Itook thisrubberfrom the model
and put it in a clampinicewater for a while/'
Check Six!
I take the clampout,holdit up in the air,and loosenit as I
talk:\"I discovered that when you undothe clamp,the rubber
doesn'tspring back. In other words, for more than a few
seconds, there is noresilience inthis materialwhen it
is at a temperature of 32 degrees.particular
I believethat has some My cousinFranceseducatedme aboutthe press.Shehad been
significanceforour problem.\" the AP White Housecorrespondent duringthe Nixon and Ford
BeforeMr. Mulloycouldsay anything, Mr. Rogerssays, administrations,and was now working forCNN.Franceswould
\"Thatis a matter we will consider,
of course,at lengthin the tellme storiesof guys running outback doorsbecausethey're
sessionthat we will holdon the weather, and I think it is an afraid of the press.FromherI got the ideathat the pressisn't
importantpointwhich I'm sureMr. Mulloyacknowledges and doing anything evil; the reportersare simplytrying to help
will comment on in a further session.\" peopleknow what'sgoingon, and it doesn'tdo any harm to be
the
During lunch break,reporters cameup to me and asked courteous tothem.
questionslike, \"Were you talking about the O-ring,or the I foundoutthat they'rereally quitefriendly, if you givethem
putty?\" and \"Would you explain to us what an O-ring is, a chance.So I wasn'tafraid of the press,and I would always
exactly?\"So I was rather depressed wasn'tableto make
t hat I answer theirquestions.
my point.But that night,all the news showscaught on to the Reporterswould explainto me that I couldsay, \"Notfor
significanceof the experiment, and the next day, the newspaper But I didn'twant any hocus-pocus.
attribution.\" I didn'twant it
articlesexplainedeverything perfectly. tosoundlikeI'mleakingsomething. Sowhenever I talkedto the
press,I was straight.As a resultof this,my name was in the
newspaperevery day, alloverthe place!
It seemedlikeI was always the oneanswering the reporters'
questions. Oftenthe restof the commissioners wouldbe anxious
to go off to lunch,and I'd stillbe there,answering questions.
But I figured,\"What's the pointof having a publicmeetingif
you run away when they ask you what a word meant?\"
When we'd finally get to our lunch,Mr. Rogerswould
remindus to be careful not to talk to the press.I would say
something like,\"Well,I was justtellingthem aboutthe O-rings.\"
He wouldsay, \"That'sokay. You'vebeendoingallright,Dr.
Feynman; I have no problemwith that.\"So I never did figure
out,exactly, what he meant by \"nottalkingto thepress.\"
Beingonthe commission was rather tensework, soI enjoyed
having dinner once in a while with Francesand Chuck,my
sister'sson,who was working for the Washington Post.Because
Mr. Rogerskepttalking aboutleaks,we made surewe never said
111
112 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? CHECKSIX! 113
a word aboutanything I was doing.If CNN neededto find out he says,\"that'sright.You'reinvincible\342\200\224as far as
\"Well,\"
somethingfrom me,they'dhave to senda differentreporter.
The we cansee.But in the airforcewe have a rule:checksix.\"
samewent for the Post. He explained, \"A guy is flying along,lookingin all direc-
I toldMr. Rogersaboutmy relativesworking for the press: and feelingvery safe.Another guy fliesup behindhim (at
\"We'veagreednot to talkaboutmy work. Do you think there's directions,
'sixo'clock'\342\200\224'twelve o'clock'is directlyin front),and shoots.
any problem?\" Mostairplanes are shotdown that way. Thinkingthat you'resafe
He smiledand said,\"It'sperfectlyallright.I have a cousin is very dangerous! Somewhere, there'sa weaknessyou'vegotto
in the press,too.There'sno problemat all.\" find.You must always checksixo'clock.\"
OnWednesdaythe commission
An underling comesin.There'ssomemumblingaboutsome-
hadnothingto do,soGeneral elseneedingthe briefingroomnow. GeneralKutyna says,
invited me overto the Pentagonto educateme on the
somebody
Kutyna \"Tellthem I'll be finished intenminutes.\"
relationshipbetween the air forceand NASA. \"Yes,sir!\"
It was thefirsttimeI hadeverbeenin the Pentagon. There Finally, we gotout.There,in the hall,are TEN GENERALS
were alltheseguys in uniform who wouldtake like
orders\342\200\224not
waiting to usethe I had beensittingin there,getting
in civilianlife.He says to one of them,\"I'dliketo use the
room\342\200\224and

thispersonal I felt
briefing. great.
briefingroom.. .\"
\"Yes,sir!\"
\"...
and we'llneedto seeslidesnumber such-and-such
so-and-so.\"
and
For the rest of the day, I wrote a letterhome.I beganto
worry about\"check six\"when I describedMr. Rogers*reaction
\"Yes,sir!Yes, sir!\"
We've got all these guys working for us while General
Kutyna givesme a bigpresentation inthisspecialbriefingroom.
The slidesare shownfrom the backon a transparentwall.It was
...
to my visitingFrancesand Chuck.I wrote,
I was pleased
writethis I have second
by Rogers*reaction,
thoughts.It was too
but now as I
he explicitlytalkedaboutthe importanceofnoleaksetc.at
easy\342\200\224after

really fancy. earliermeetings. Am I beingsetup? (SEEDARLING,

GeneralKutyna wouldsay thingslike,\"Senator So-and-so is WASHINGTONPARANOIA ISSETTING IN) ... Ithink
in NASA's pocket,\" and I would say, half-joking,\"Don'tgive
me thesesideremarks,General;you'refillingmy head!But
don'tworry, I'll forgetit all.\"I wanted to benaive:I'd find out
what happenedto the shuttlefirst; I'd worry about the big
politicalpressures later.
it ispossible

discredit
that thereare things in this somebodymight
be trying to keepme from finding out and might try to
me if I gettooclose. So,reluctantly, I will
have to not visit Francesand Chuckany more.Well, I'll
ask Fran first if that is tooparanoid. Rogersseemedso
...
Somewherein his presentation, GeneralKutyna observed agreeable reassuring.
and Itwasso easy,yet I amprobably
that everybody on the commission hassomeweaknessbecause a thorn in his side.. ..
of theirconnections; he, having workedvery closelywith NASA Tomorrowat 6:15amwe goby special airplane(two
personnelin his former positionas Air ForceSpaceShuttle planes) t o Kennedy Space Center to be \"briefed.\"No
Programmanager, findsit difficult,if not impossible, to drive doubtwe shallwanderabout,beingshowneverything\342\200\224
homesomeof the tougherquestionson NASA management. gee no time to get intotechnicaldetailswith
whiz\342\200\224but

Sally Ride stillhas a job with NASA, so she can'tjust say anybody. Well, it won't work. If I am not satisfied by
Friday, I will stay overSat& Sun,orif they don'twork
everything she wants. Mr. Coverthad workedon the engines, then,Monday & Tuesday.I amdeterminedtodothejobof
and had beena consultant to NASA, and so on. finding out what happened\342\200\224let the chipsfail!
I said,\"I'massociated with Caltech, but I don'tconsiderthat My guessis that I will be allowed to do this,
a weakness!\" overwhelmedwith data and details. . . , so they have
114 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

time tosoftenup dangerouswitnessesetc.But it won't

work because A) I do technicalinformationexchange
and understandingmuch faster than they imagine, and
B) I already smellcertainrats that I will not forget,
because I justlove the smellof rats, for it is the spoor
of excitingadventure.
I feellikea bullin a china shop.Thebestthing isto
Gumshoes
put the bulloutto workonthe plow.A better metaphor
will be an ox in a china shop,because the china is the
bull,of course.*
So,much as I would rather be home and doing
somethingelse,I am having a wonderful time. Finally, early on Thursday morning,we get to Florida.The
Love, originalideawas that we wouldgo aroundthe Kennedy Space
Richard Centerat CapeCanaveral and seeeverything on a guidedtour.
But becauseinformation was comingout in the newspapers so
The presswas reportingrumorsthat NASA was undergreat fast,we had a publicmeeting first.
politicalpressureto launch the shuttle,and there were various First,we saw somedetailed picturesof the smokecomingout
theoriesas to where the pressurewas comingfrom.It was a of the shuttlewhile it was stillon the launch pad.There are
greatbig world of mystery to me, with tremendousforces.I camerasalloverthe placewatching thelaunch\342\200\224something like
wouldinvestigate it, allright,and if I protected
myself,nothing a hundred of them.Where the smokecameout,there were two
wouldhappen.But I haddawatch out. cameraslookingstraight at bothfailed,curiously.Never-
it\342\200\224but

Nevertheless, from othercameras w e couldsee four or five puffs of

blacksmokecoming out from a fieldjoint.This smokewaswas not
burning material; it was simply carbon and mucky stuff that
pushedout becauseof pressureinside the rocket.
The puffs stoppedafter a few seconds: the sealgotplugged
up somehow,temporarily, only to break openagain a minute
later.
Therewas somediscussion abouthow much matter cameout
in the smoke. puffs
The ofsmoke were aboutsixfeetlong,and a
few feet thick.The amount of matter dependson how fine the
particlesare,and there could always a bigpieceof glopinside
be
the smokecloud, s o it's hard to judge.And because the pictures
were taken from the side, it was t
possible here was moresmoke
farther aroundthe rocket.
a minimum, I assumed
To establish a particle sizethat would
produceas much smokeas possible o ut of a given amount of
material.It cameout surprisinglysmall\342\200\224approximately one
cubicinch:if you have a cubicinchof stuff, you can get that
The thing much smoke.
Feynman was going to break up was the baloney (the We askedfor picturesfrom otherlaunches. We foundout
\"bull\342\200\224\") about how good everything was at NASA.
115
 116 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
GUMSHOES 117
later that there had never beenany puffs of smokeon any
previousflights.
We alsoheardaboutthe low temperatures beforethe launch
from a man named Charlie who was in chargeof the
Stevenson,
icecrew. He saidthe temperaturehad gonedown to 22 degrees
during the night,but hiscrew gotreadings
as low as 8 degreesat
someplaceson the launch pad, and they couldn'tunderstand
why.
Duringthe lunch break,a reporterfrom a localTV station
askedme what I thought aboutthe low temperature readings.I
saidit seemedto me that the liquidhydrogenand oxygenhad
chilledthe 22-degree air even further as it floweddown the big
fueltank ontothe rocketbooster.For somereason,the reporter
thought I had just toldhim someimportant,secretinformation,
so he didn'tusemy name in hisreportthat evening.Instead,he
said,\"Thisexplanationcomesfrom a NobelPrizewinner, soit
must be right.\"
In the afternoon,the telemetering peoplegave us allkindsof
informationon the last momentsof the shuttle.Hundredsof
thingshad beenmeasured, allof which indicated that everything
was working as well as it couldunderthe circumstances: the
pressure i n the hydrogen tank suddenly fella few seconds a fter
the flame had beenobserved;the gyroswhich steerthe shuttle
were working perfectlyuntil onehad to work harder than the
otherbecausethere were sideforcesfrom the flame shooting out
of the sideof the boosterrocket;the main engineseven shut
themselves down when the hydrogentank exploded,because
there was a pressure dropin the fuel lines.
That meetinglasteduntil 7:30in the evening,so we post-
postponed the tour until Friday and went straight to a dinnerset up
by Mr. Rogers.
At the dinnerI happened to be seatednext to Al Keel,who
had joinedthe commission on Monday asitsexecutiveofficerto
helpMr.Rogersorganizeand run our work. He came to usfrom
the White something
House\342\200\224from calledthe hada
OMB*\342\200\224and

goodreputation doingf or a fine job at thisand that. Mr. Rogers

keptsaying how lucky we were to getsomebodywith suchhigh
qualifications.
FiavRE 16.Detailed Onething that impressed me,though,was that Dr. Keelhad
picture, taken from the
launch pad,ofthe \"smoke.\" (\302\251 nasa.) *The Office of Management and Budget
 118 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? GUMSHOES 119
a Ph.D.in aerospace,and had donesomepost-docwork at \"Soit was evenly divided?\"
'
Berkeley.When heintroduced himselfon Monday,he jokedthat
the last 'honestwork\" he had donefor a living was some
\"That'sa very estimatednumber.\"
It struck me that the Thiokolmanagers were waffling. ButI
aerodynamics work for the shuttleprogramten or twelve years only knew how to ask simpleminded questions.So I said,
ago.So I felt very comfortablewith him. \"Couldyou tell me, sirs,the names of your four bestseals
Well,I haven'tbeentalkingto Dr.Keelfor morethan five experts,in orderof ability?\"
minutes, when he tellsme he'snever beensoinsulted in hislife, \"RogerBoisjolyand Arnie Thompson are oneand two.Then
that he didn'ttake thisjob to beso insulted, and that he doesn't there'sJackKappand,uh.. . Jerry Bums.\"
want to talk to me anymore! I turned to Mr.Boisjoly,who was right there,at the meeting.
Now, I have a way of not remembering thingswhen I do \"Mr. Boisjoly,were you in agreementthat it was okay to
something dumb or annoying to people,so I forgetwhat I said fly?\"
that put him out. Whatever it was, I thoughtI was joking,so I He says,\"No,I was not.\"
was very surprised by hisreaction. I had undoubtedly saidsome I askMr. Thompson,who was alsothere.
boorish, brash,damn-fool thing, which I thereforecan'tremember! \"No,I was not.\"
Then therewas a rather tenseperiodof five or ten minutes, I say, \"Mr.Kapp?\"
with me apologizing and trying to get a conversation going Mr. Lund says, \"Heis not here.I talkedto him after the
again.We finally got to talkingagain,somewhat.We were not meeting,and he said,\"I\"wouldhave made that decision,given
big friends,but at leasttherewas peace. the information we had.'
\"And the fourth man?\"
On Friday morning,we had anotherpublicmeeting, thistime \"Jerry Burns.I don'tknow what his position was.\"
to hear peoplefrom Thiokoland NASA talk aboutthe night \"So,\"I said,\"ofthe four,we have one'don'tknow,'one
beforethe launch.Everything cameout so slowly:the witness 'very likelyyes,' and the two who were mentioned right away as
doesn'treally want to tellyou everything, soyou have to get the being the bestsealexperts,both saidno.\"So this \"evenly
answers out by askingexactly the right questions. split\"stuff was a lotof crap.The guys who knew the mostabout
Otherguys on the commission were completely awake\342\200\224Mr. the seals\342\200\224what were they saying?
Sutter,for instance.\"Exactlywhat were your quality criteriafor
acceptance undersuch-and-such and so-and-so?\"\342\200\224he'd ask spe- Late in the afternoon,we were shown around the Kennedy
questions
specific like that,and it wouldturn out they didn'thave SpaceCenter.It was interesting; it wasn't as bad as I had
any suchcriteria.Mr. Covertand Mr. Walker were the same predicted.The other commissioners asked a lot of important
way. Everybody was askinggoodquestions, but I was fogged questions. We didn'thave time to see the booster-rocket assem-
out mostof the time,feelinga littlebit behind. but near the endwe were going to seethe wreckage that had
Thenthisbusiness thisgroupstuff, I so
assembly,

of Thiokolchangingitsposition came up. beenrecoveredso far. I was pretty tiredof

Mr. Rogersand Dr. Ride were askingtwo Thiokolmanagers, excusedmyselffrom the rest of the tour.
Mr. Masonand Mr. Lund,how many peoplewere againstthe I ran down to CharlieStevenson's placeto seemorepictures
launch,even at the lastmoment. of the launch.I alsofoundout moreabout the unusually low
\"We didn'tpolleveryone,\" says Mr. Mason. temperature readings. T he guys were very cooperative, and
\"Was there a substantial number againstthe launch,or just wanted me to work with them. I had been waiting for ten
oneor two?\" days to run around in one of these places, a nd here I was,
\"Therewere, I wouldsay, probablyfive orsixin engineering at last!
who at that pointwouldhave saidit is not as conservative to go \"Iwas thinking of
At dinnerthat night,I saidto Mr.Rogers,
with that temperature, and we don'tknow. The issuewas we staying hereover the weekend.\"
didn'tknow for surethat it wouldwork.\" \"Well,Dr.Feynman,\" he said,\"I'dpreferyou comeback
 120 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? GUMSHOES 121
to Washington with us tonight.But of course,you'refreeto do errorsand determinewhat the temperaturesreally were that
whatever you want.\" morning.Todothis,I needto know moreaboutyour instrument.\"
\"Well,then,\"I said,\"I'llstay.\" The guy finally camearound,and became quitecooperative.
With his help,I advisedthe ice-crewguys on an experiment.
Oh Saturday I talkedto the guy who had actually taken the They cooleda roomdown to about40 degrees,and put a big
temperature readingsthe morningof the launch\342\200\224a nicefella block of ice in ice, you can be sure the surface
it\342\200\224with

named Davis.Next toeachtemperaturehe had written the

\320\222. \320\232.
temperature is 32 degrees. Then they broughtin the scanning
exacttimehe had measured it, and then tooka pictureof it. You gun from a room which was 70 degreesinside,and made
couldsee largegaps betweenthe timesas he climbedup and measurements of the iceblockevery 30seconds. They were able
down the big launch tower.He measured the temperature of the to measure how far off the instrumentwas as a functionof time.
air, rocket, ground, ice,
the t he t he and even a puddleof slush Mr. Davis had written hismeasurements so carefully that it
with antifreezein it. He did a very complete job. was very easyto fix all the numbers. And then,remarkably,the
NASA had a theoretical calculation of how the temperatures recalculated temperatures were closeto what was expected ac-
shouldvary aroundthe launch pad:they shouldhave beenmore according to the theoretical model.It lookedvery sensible.
uniform,and higher.Somebody thought that heat radiatingto the The next time I talkedto a reporter, I straightened everything
clearsky had something to do with it. But then someoneelse out aboutthe temperatures, and informedhim that the earlier
noticedthat BK'sreadingfor the slushwas much lowerthan the theory expounded by the NobelPrizewinner was wrong.
photographindicated: at 8 degrees,the slush\342\200\224even with anti- I wrote a reportfor the othercommissioners on the tempera-
antifreeze in beenfrozensolid.
it\342\200\224should have problem,and sentit to Dr.Keel.
temperature

Then we lookedat the devicethe icecrew usedfor measur-

the temperatures. I got the instruction manual out,and found Then I investigatedsomething we were lookinginto as a
measuring

that you'resupposed to put the instrumentoutin the environment possible contributing c ause of the accident:when the booster
for at least20 minutesbeforeusingit. Mr. Davis saidhe had rocketshit the ocean,they becameoutof rounda littlebit from
taken it out of the 70 began making
box\342\200\224at the impact.At Kennedy they'retaken apart,and the sections\342\200\224

measurements right away. Therefore we had to find out whether

degrees\342\200\224and
four for each sentby rail to Thiokolin Utah,where
rocket\342\200\224are

the errorswere reproducible. In otherwords,couldthe circum- they are packedwith new propellant. Thenthey'reput backon a
be duplicated?
circumstances train to Florida.During transport, the sections (which are hauled
On Monday I calledup the company that made the device, on theirside)get squasheda little softishpropellantis
bit\342\200\224the

and talkedto oneof theirtechnical guys:\"Hi,my name is Dick very heavy. The totalamount of squashing is onlya fractionof
Feynman,\" I said. \"I'm on the commission investigatingthe an inch,but when you put the rocketsections backtogether,a
Challenger a ccident, a nd I have some questions a bout your smallgap is enoughto let hot gasesthrough:the O-ringsare
infrared scanninggun...\" only a quarter of an inch thick,and compressed only two-
\"May I callyou right back?\"he says. hundredthsof an inch!
\"Sure.\" I thoughtI'd do somecalculations. NASA gave me all the
After a littlewhile he callsme back:\"I'msorry, but it's numberson how far outof roundthe sections canget,so I tried
proprietaryinformation.I can'tdiscussit with you.\" to figureout how much the resulting squeezewas, and where it
By this time I realizedwhat the real difficulty was: the was located\342\200\224maybe the minimum squeeze was where the leak
company was scaredgreenthat we were goingto blamethe occurred.The numbers were measurements taken alongthree
accident on theirinstrument. I said,\"Sir,your scanninggun has diameters, every 60degrees. But three matching diameters won't
nothing to do with the accident. It was usedby the peopleherein guarantee that thingswill fit; sixdiameters, or any othernumber
a way that's contrary to the procedures in your instruction of diameters, won'tdo,either.
manual, and I'm trying to figure out if we can reproduce the Forexample, you can make a figuresomething likea triangle
122 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? GUMSHOES 123
It was rumoredthat the reasonNASA triedtothe make the shuttle
fly onJanuary 28th, spite
in of the cold, w as that president was
goingto give his State of the Unionaddress night.According
that
to theory, White Housethe
the the had it allcooked up sothat during
the Stateof the Unionaddress, teacher, McAuliffe, Mrs. would
talk to the president and Congress from space. I t was gonnabe
great: the presidentwould say, \"Hello! How are you doing?\" And
she wouldsay, \"Fine\"\342\200\224something very dramatic.
Sinceit soundedlogical,I beganby supposing it was very
likelypossible. But was there any evidence? This kindof thing I
to
didn'tknow how investigate. I could only think of this: it's
very hard to get through to the president; I alsocan't just call up
an astronaut and talk to she's in space.
her\342\200\224if Therefore,
switchingthe signalsdown frommust the shuttleoverto the president
FiauRE 17.This figure has allits diametersthe while he's talking Congress be a complicated
to business.
same it is obviously not round! To findout whether anybody had set up to do that, I went
down to the lowestlevelsand askedguys at the bottomsome
length\342\200\224yet

with roundedcorners,in which three diameters,60 degrees technical questions.

apart,have the samelength. They showedme the antennas,they told me about the
I remembered seeingsucha trick at a museum when I was a frequencies, they showed me the big radio system and the
kid.There was a gearrack that movedbackand forth perfectly computersystem;they had showedme allthe ways they didthings.
smoothly,while underneath it were somenoncircular, funny- I said, \"If you to send a transmission somewhere
looking,crazy-shaped gearsturning on shaftsthat wobbled.It Marshall, would you do it?\"
lookedimpossible, but the reasonit worked was that the gears
else\342\200\224to say\342\200\224how

They said,\"Oh,we'rejust a relay station.Everything is

were shapeswhose diameters
were always the same. automatically sentover to Houston, and they switch everything
here.\"
Sothe numbers NASA gave me were useless. out from there. We don't do any switching
So I didn'tfind any evidence\342\200\224at least at Kennedy.But the
During the weekend,just as I had predicted in my letter guys therewere soniceto me, and everything was so pleasant,
home,I keptgettingnotesfrom the commission headquarters in that I feelbad.I don'tliketo cheatpeople.It was a little sneaky,
Washington: \"Checkt he temperature readings,check the pic- what I was doing. Nevertheless, I thought I 'd better d o the same
pictures, check this,checkthat.. was quitea list.But as
.\"\342\200\224there
thing when I got to Houston.
the instructions camein, I had donemostof them already.
One note had to do with a mysteriouspieceof paper. On Monday, Mr. Hotzcamedown to Floridato work with
Someone at Kennedy had reportedlywritten \"Let'sgo for it\" me.(Hetoldme later that he had been sent down with specific
while assembling oneof the solidboosterrockets.Suchlanguage instructions to see what I was doing, and to keep me from
appeared to show a certainrecklessness.My mission: find that \"goingwild.\") Mr. Hotzbrought a list of things to look into:
of
piece paper. \"Thereare a lot of things on this list,\" he said, \"so I'd be
Well, by thistimeI understood how much paperthere was in happy to splitthe work with you.\" Some things he said he could
NASA. I was sureit was a trick to make me get lost,so I did do moreeasily,and the restof the things\"Let's I had already done\342\200\224

nothingaboutit. of paper
exceptfor that piecethat which said go for it.\"Mr.
Instead,I pursuedsomething Hotzhintedaround it might have come from the diary of
surreptitiously.
 124 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? GUMSHOES 125
someone in the booster-rocket assembly. Thatwasn'tenoughof a sectionroundenough,the pressurewas up to 1350.\"Thisis
cluefor me;I just wasn'tgonna do it. Instead,I went of the lackof discipline
Mr. Lamberth,who had saidhe wanted to talk to me. to seea another example
Mr. Lamberth said.
among the workers,\"
Mr. Lamberth was way up in the works, a big cheesein I had wanted to talk with the assemblyworkers anyway (I
chargeof assembling the solid-rocket boosters. He wanted to tell lovethat kindof thing),soI arrangedto seethem the next day at
me aboutsomeproblems he had. \"The workers usedto have 2:30in the afternoon.
much better
not likethey discipline,\"
he
usedto be/' Heexplained,
\"but nowadays they're
gave me a coupleof examples.
The first incidenthad to do with taking the boosterrockets
2:30I walk intothisroom,and there'sa longtablewith
At
thirty or forty people\342\200\224they're all sittingthere with morose
apart after they had beenrecoveredfrom the sea.The rocket faces,very serious,ready to talk to The Commissioner.
sections are heldtogether 180 aboutan inchand a I was terrified.I hadn'trealizedmy terriblepower.I could
half in diameterand two by inches
pins\342\200\224each
the way around. seethey were worried.They must have beentoldI was investi-
There was somekindof procedure long\342\200\224all

for taking sectionsapart, the errorsthey had made!

in which the workers were supposed to pull the rocketup a So right away I said,\"I had nothin'to do,so I thought I'd
investigating

-certaindistance. They had gottento paying attentiononly to the comeoverand talk to the guys who put the rocketstogether.I
amount oiforcethey were 11,000 pounds.That
applying\342\200\224about didn'twant everybody to stopworking just 'causeI wanna find
was a bettermethod,from a physicalstandpoint, becausethe out something for my own curiosity; I only wanted to talk with
ideais to take the loadoff the pins.
Onetime the forcegaugewasn'tworking right.The workers the workers ...\"
Most of the peoplegot up and left. Six or seven guys
kept putting moreforceon,wonderingwhy they weren'treaching crew who actually put the rocketsections together,
11,000pounds,when allof a suddenoneof the pinsbroke. stayed\342\200\224the
their foreman,and somebosswho was higherup in the system.
Mr. Lamberth reprimandedthe workers for not following Well,theseguys were stilla littlebit scared.They didn't
procedures. It remindedme of when I triedto make thingswork really want to openup.The first thing I think to say is, \"Ihave a
betterat my aunt'shotel:your methodis better than the regular question:when you measurethe threediametersand all the
way, but then you have a littleaccident. . .* diameters match,do the sectionsreally fit together? It seemsto
The secondstory Mr. Lamberth told me had to do with me that you couldhave somebumpson onesideand someflat
puttingthe rocketsections areasdirectlyacross,sothe three diameters
to stackone sectionon toptogether.
The regularprocedure was wouldmatch,but the
of the otherand match the upper sectionswouldn'tfit.\"
sectionto the lower one. \"Yes, yes!\"they say. \"We get bumpslike that. We call
If a sectionneededto be reshaped a littlebit, the procedure them nipples.\"
was to first pick up the section with a crane and let it hang The only woman theresaid,\"It'sgot nothingto do with
sidewaysa few days.It's rather simpleminded. everybody laughed.
me!\"\342\200\224and
If they couldn'tmake a sectionroundenoughby the hanging \"We get nipples allthe time,\"they continued. \"We'vebeen
method,there was anotherprocedure; use the \"rounding try in' to tellthe supervisor about it, but we never get anywhere!\"
rod with a hydraulicpresson oneendand
machine\"\342\200\224a
a nut on We were talking details,and that works wonders.I would
the increasethe pressure.
other\342\200\224and
ask questions basedon what couldhappentheoretically, but to
Mr. Lamberth told me the pressureshouldn'texceed1200 them it lookedlikeI was a regularguy who knew abouttheir
poundsper squareinch(psi).One time,a sectionwasn'tround technical problems. They loosened up very rapidly, and toldme
enoughat 1200psi, so the workers took a wrench and began allkindsof ideasthey had to improve things.
turning the nut on the otherend. When they finally got the Forexample, when they usethe rounding machine, they have
*The reference is to Feynman's method of slicingstring beans,recounted in Surely to put a rod through holesexactly opposite eachother.Thereare
You're Joking,Mr. Feynman! 180holes,so they have to make sure the otherendof the rod
 126 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? GUMSHOES 127
goesthrough the hole90 holesaway. Now, it turns out you have Later,I talkedto Mr. Fichtelaboutthisincident
notes
of increasing
made as he
to climb up into an awkward placeto countthe holes.It's very the pressure past 1200. He showed me the he
slow and very difficult. went along:they weren't the formal papers that are stamped;
They thought it wouldbevery helpfulif there were four paint they were part of an informal but carefully written diary.
marks,90 degreesapart,put on at the factory. That way, they I said,\"I hear the pressuregot up to 1350.\"
would never have to countmore than 22 holesto the nearest \"Yes,\" hesaid,\"wehad tightenedthe nut at the otherend.\"
mark. Forexample, if they put the rodthrough a holewhich is9 \"Was that the regularprocedure?\"
holesclockwise from a paintmark, then the otherendof the rod \"Oh,yes,\"he said,\"it'sin the book.\" It
wouldgo through the holewhich is 9 holesclockwisefrom the He' opensup the manual and showsme the procedure.
oppositemark. says, 'Build up the pressureon the hydraulic jack.If this is
The foreman,Mr. Fichtel,saidhe wrote a memowith this insufficient obtain desiredroundness,then
to very carefully
roundness''\342\200\224it said
suggestion to his superiorstwo years ago, but nothinghad tighten nut onother endto get to the desired
happenedyet. When he askedwhy, he was toldthe suggestion soin blackand white!It didn'tsay that tightening the nut would
was too expensive. increasethe pressurepast 1200psi;the people wrote the
who
\"Tooexpensive to paintfourlittleUnesVI saidin disbelief. manual probablyweren'tquiteaware of that.
They all laughed.\"It'snot the paint;it's the paperwork,\" Mr. Fichtelhad written in his diary, \"We very carefully
instructions.
Mr. Fichtelsaid.\"Theywouldhave to reviseallthe manuals.\" tightened the the same language
nut\"\342\200\224exactly
a s the
The assemblyworkers had otherobservations and sugges- I said,\"Mr.Lamberth told me he admonished you about
They
suggestions. were concerned that if two rocket sectionsscrapeas
metal filingscouldgetintothe rubber
goingabove1200.'* me about shouldhe/
they'rebeingput together, \"Henever admonished that\342\200\224why
sealsand damagethem.They even had somesuggestions for We figuredout what probablyhappened. Lamberth's Mr.
redesigning the seal. T hose suggestions weren't very good, utb admonishment went down through the levelsuntil somebody in
the pointis, the workers were thinking]I got the impression that middlemanagement realizedthat Mr. Fichtel h ad
instead
goneby the
of telling
they were not undisciplined; they were very interestedi n what book, a nd that the errorwas in the manual. But
they were doing,but they weren'tbeinggiven much encourage- Mr. Lamberth about the error,they simply threw away the
Nobodywas paying much attentionto them. It was
encouragement.
admonishment, and justkept quiet.
remarkable that their moralewas as high as it was under the
circumstances. Over lunch,Mr. Fichteltoldme aboutthe inspection proce-
Then the workers beganto talk to the bosswho had stayed. \"There'sa sheetfor eachprocedure, likethisonefor the
he said. \"On it there are boxesfor
procedures
\"We'redisappointed by something,\" oneof them said.\"When roundingprocedure,\"
the commission was goingto see the booster-rocket assembly, from the supervisor,onefrom quality control,one
from the manufacturer, and for the biggerjobs, one from
stamps\342\200\224one
the demonstration was goingto be doneby the managers. Why
wouldn'tyou letus do it?\" NASA.\"
\"We were afraid you'dbe frightenedby the commissioners He continued, \"We make the measurements, go through one
and you wouldn'twant to do it.\" measurements
courseof rounding,and then make the the again.If
\"No,no,\"saidthe workmen.\"We think we do a goodjob, they don'tmatch well enough,we repeat steps.Finally,when
and we wanted to show what we do.\" the diameterdifferencesare smallenough,we go for it.\"
After that meeting, the bosstookme to the cafeteria. As we I woke up. \"What do you mean,'gofor it'?\"I said. It
were workmen weren'twith us said, soundssortof cavalier. we usewhen we
eating\342\200\224the anymore\342\200\224he
\"I was surprised they were soconcerned aboutthat.\" \"No,no,\"he says.\"That'sjust the lingo
mean that all the conditionsare satisfied, we're ready to
and
move to the next phaseof the operation.\"
 128 WHAT D6YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? GUMSHOES 129
\"Doyou ever write that 'gofor it'?\"
down\342\200\224that a Nobel
members\342\200\224he's down there in Floridatoday,
laureate\342\200\224is

\"Yes,sometimes.\" investigatingin the way you'dlikehim to investigate.\"

\"Let'sseeif we can find a placewhere you wrote it.\" (Mr.Rogersdidn'tknow it, but I was actually eatinglunch
Mr. Fichtellookedthrough hisdiary, and foundan example. with someengineers when he saidthat!)
The expressionwas completely natural to wasn'treck-
him\342\200\224it SenatorHollings says,\"I'mnot questioning the competence
or cavalier;it was just his way of speaking.
reckless of the Nobellaureate; I'vebeenreadingwith greatinterestwhat
he said. There'sno questionabout the competence of the
On Monday and Tuesday,while I was running around down commission itself.It'sjustthat when you investigate a case,you
at Kennedy, Mr. Rogerswas in Washington appearingbeforea needinvestigators. You have already broughtto the public's
Senatecommittee. Congress was considering whether it should attentiona lot of very interestingfacts,so I think you haven't
have its own investigation. beennegligent in any fashion.\"
SenatorRollings,from South Carolina,was giving Mr. So I saved Mr. Rogersa littlebit. He saw that he had an
Rogersa hard time:\"SecretaryRogers,\" he says,\"I'manxious answer for Mr. Hollings by the goodluck that I stayed in Florida
that you have an adequatestaff thayah. How many investigators anyway, againsthiswishes!
doesyo' commission have?\"
Mr. Rogerssays,\"We don'thave investigators in the police
sense.We'rereadingdocuments, understanding what they mean,
organizinghearings,talking to witnesses\342\200\224that sort of thing.
We'llhave an adequatestaff, I assureyou.\"
\"Well,that'sthe point,\"SenatorHollingssays.\"Frommy
experience in investigating cases,I'd want four or five investiga-
steeped i
investigators n science a nd spacetechnologygoingarounddown
thereat Canaveraltalkingto everybody,eatinglunch with them.
You'dbe amazed,if you eat in the restaurants around there for
two or three weeks,what you'llfind out. You can'tjust sit and
readwhat'sgiven to you.\"
\"We'renot just goingto sit and read,\"Mr. Rogerssays
defensively. \"We'vegottena lotof peoplein a roomand asked
them questions allat the sametime,rather than have a gumshoe
walking around,talkingto peopleoneat a time.\"
\"I understand,\" says SenatorHollings. \"Yet I'mconcerned
aboutyo' productif you don'thave somegumshoes. That'sthe
troublewith presidential commissions; I'vebeen on 'em: they go
on what's/^to 'em,and they don'tlookbehindit. Thenwe end
up with investigative reporters, peoplewriting books,and every-
else.Peopleare stillinvestigating
everything the Warren Commission
Report around this town.\"*
Mr. Rogerscalmly says, \"I appreciate your comments,
Senator.You'llbe interested to know that oneofourcommission
*Note for foreign readers: the Warren Report was issuedin 1964
by the Warren
Commission,headedby retired SupremeCourt Chief Justice Earl Warren, which
investigated the assassinationof President John F. Kennedy.
 FANTASTIC FIGURES 131
\"Thenwhy did you guys set me up in a hotelwhich costs
$80or $90a night,and then you giveme only$75a day?\"
\"Yes,I agree;it's toobad,but that'sthe way it goes!\"
I thoughtof Mr.Rogers'soffer to put me in a \"goodhotel.\"
What did he mean by it wouldcostme more?
Fantastic Figures If you'reaskedtocontribute
that\342\200\224that
monthsof timeand effort to the
government(and you losemoney you wouldhave made consult-
for a company),the governmentoughtto appreciate it a little
morethan to be cheapaboutpaying you back.Fm not trying to
consulting

make money off the government, but I'm not wanting to lose
money, either! I said, \"I'm not goingto signthis.\"
On Tuesday afternoonI flew backto Washington, and went to Mr. Rogerscameover and promised he would straighten it
the next meetingof the commission, on Wednesday. It was out, so I the
signed paper.
anotherpublicmeeting.A manager of the ThiokolCompany I really think Mr. Rogerstriedto fix it,but he was unableto.
named Mr.Lund was testifying.On the nightbeforethe launch, I thoughtof fightingthisoneto the end,but then I realizedit's
Mr. Mulloy had told him to put on his \"management hat*' impossible: if I had beenpaid for my actual expenses, then of
insteadof his \"engineering
hat,\"so he changedhis opposition courseallthe othercommissioners wouldhave to be paid,too.
to launch and overruledhis own engineers.I was askinghim That would be all right, but it would also mean that this
someharsh questionswhen suddenlyI had this feeling of the commission was the only commission to be paid its actual
Inquisition. expenses\342\200\224and pretty soon, word would get out.
Mr.Rogershad pointedouttous that we oughtto be careful They have a saying in New York: \"You can't fight City
with thesepeople,whose careersdependon us. He said,\"We Hall,\"meaning \"It'simpossible.\" But this time,it was a hellof
have all the advantages:we're sittingup here;they'resitting a lot biggerthan City Hall;the $75 a day ruleis a law of the
down there.They have to answer ourquestions; we don'thave to UnitedStates!It mighthave beenfun to fight it to the end,but I
answer their questions.\" Suddenly, all thiscame backto me and guessI was notas young as I usedto
tired\342\200\224Fm I just
be\342\200\224so

I felt terrible,andI couldn'tdo it the next day. I went backto gave up.
Californiafor a few days,to recover. Somebodytoldme they heardcommissioners make $1000a
While I was in Pasadena, I went overto JPL and met with day, but the truth is, government
our doesn't even pay their
Jerry Solomon a nd Meemong ee.They were studying the flame
L costs.
which appeareda few seconds beforethe main fuel tank explod-
and were ableto bringoutallkindsof details.
exploded,
(JPLhasgood the beginningof March,abouta month after the commis-
At
enhancers of TV picturesfrom alltheirexperience with planetary started,we finally splitup intoworking groups:the Pre-
commission

missions.) Later, I tookthe enhancementsover to CharlieStevenson groupwas headedby Mr. Acheson;

and his crew at Kennedyto expedite things.
Somewhere alongthe line,somebodyfrom the staff brought
me something to sign:it saidthat my expenses were so-and-so
much,but they weren't\342\200\224they were more.I said,\"Thisis not
the amount I actually spent.\"
The guy said, \"I know that, sir; you're only alloweda
maximum of $75 a day for the hoteland food.\"
Launch Activities Mr.Sutter
was in chargeof the Design,Development,and Production
panel;GeneralKutyna was leaderof the AccidentAnalysis
group;and Dr.Ridewas in chargeof the MissionPlanningand
Operationsgroup.
I spentmostof my timein Kutyna'sgroup.I was in Ride's
group,too,but I endedup not doingvery much for her.
GeneralKutyna'sgroupwent to MarshallSpaceFlightCen-
Alabama,to do its work.The first thing that
in Huntsville,
Center

130
 132 WHAT PO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? FANTASTIC FIGURES 133
happenedthere was, a man namedUlliancamein to tell us sions,so we went over and over things,checkingall the
something. As range safety officerat Kennedy,Mr.Ullianhadto evidenceand seeinghow well everything fittedtogether.
decidewhether to put destructchargesonthe shuttle.(If a rocket There was an awful lot of detaileddiscussion aboutexactly
goesoutof control,the destructchargesenableit to beblownup what happenedin the lastfew seconds o f the flight,but I didn't
into smallbits.That'smuch lessperilousthan a rocketflying pay much attentionto any of it. It was as though a train had
aroundloose,ready to explodewhen it hitsthe ground.) in
crashedbecausethe track had a gap it, we were analyzing
and
Every unmannedrockethasthesecharges. Mr.Ulliantoldus which carsbrokeapart first,which carsbrokeapart second,and
that 5 outof 127rocketsthat helookedat had rate of why somecar turned overon its side.I figuredoncethe train
failed\342\200\224a

about4 percent.He took that 4 percentand dividedit by 4, goesoff the track,it doesn'tmake any difference\342\200\224it's done.I
becausehe assumeda manned flightwould be safer than an becamebored.
unmanned one.He cameout with abouta 1 percentchanceof So I madeup a gamefor myself:\"Imaginethat something
failure,and that was enoughto warrant the destructcharges. elsehad main engines,for
failed\342\200\224the
we were instance\342\200\224and
But NASA toldMr.Ullianthat the probability offailurewas making the samekindof intensive investigation as we are now:
morelike 1 in 105. would we discover thesameslippingsafety criteriaa nd lackof
I triedto make senseoutof that number. \"Didyou say 1 in communication?''
105?\" I thoughtI would do my standard out from the
thing\342\200\224find
\"That'sright;1 in 100,000.\" engineers how the engineworks, what all the dangersare,what
\"That means you couldfly the shuttleevery day for an
problems they'vehad,and everything then,when I'm
else\342\200\224and

average of 300years betweenaccidents\342\200\224every day, oneflight, all loadedup so I know what I'm talking about, I'd confront
for 300 is obviouslycrazy!\"
years\342\200\224which whoeverwas claiming the probability of failure was 1 in 100,000.
\"Yes,I know,\"saidMr. Ullian.\"Imovedmy number up to I askedto talk to a couple engineers of about the engines.
1 in 1000to answer allof NASA's they were much claims\342\200\224that
The guy says,\"Okay, I'll fix it up. Is nine tomorrow morning
morecareful with manned flights,that the typicalrocketisn'ta okay?\"
valid comparison, et put the destructchargeson
cetera\342\200\224and
Thistime therewere three engineers, theirboss,Mr. Lovingood,
anyway.\" and a few assistants\342\200\224about eight or nine people.
But then a new problem cameup:the Jupiterprobe,Galileo, Everybodyhad big,thicknotebooks, full of papers,allnicely
was goingto usea powersupplythat runs on heatgeneratedby On the front they said:
radioactivity.If the shuttlecarrying Galileofailed,radioactivity organized.
couldbe spreadover a largearea.So the argument continued: REPORTON MATERIAL GIVEN TO COMMISSIONER
1986.
NASA keptsaying 1 in 100,000 and Mr.Ulliankeptsaying 1 in RICHARD P. FEYNMAN ON MARCH WA-WA,*
1000,at best. I said,\"Geez! You guys must have workedhard allnight!\"
Mr.Ullianalsotoldus aboutthe problems he had in trying to
talk to the man in charge,Mr. Kingsbury: hecouldgetappoint- \"No,it'snotsomuch work;we justput in the regular papers
but he never couldgetthrough to Kingsbury
with underlings, that we useallthe time.\"
appointments

and find out how NASA got its figureof 1 in 100,000. I said,\"Ijustwanted to talkto a few engineers. Thereare so
The
detailsof the story I can'trememberexactly, but I thoughtMr. many problems to work on, I can't expectyou to stay here
all
Ullianwas doingeverything sensibly. and talk to me.\"
But thistime,everybody stayed. to me
Our panelsupervised the tests that NASA was doing to Mr.Lovingood gotup and beganto explaineverything
and which matched
discoverthe propertiesof the much pressurethe in theusualNASA way, with charts graphs
seals\342\200\224how
the information in my big with bullets,of course.
putty couldtake,and so orderto find out exactly what book\342\200\224all
on\342\200\224in

had happened. GeneralKutyna didn'twant to jump to conclu- \302\246Feynman's way of saying, \"whatever it was.\"
134 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? FANTASTIC FIGURES 135
I won't botheryou with all the details,but I wanted to drops;I lookat him,everybody looksat uh, minus him\342\200\224\"uh,
understand everything aboutthe engine.So I kept askingmy epsilon!\"
usualdumb-sounding questions. So I say, \"Well,yes;that'sfine.Now, the onlyproblemis,
After a while,Mr. Lovingood says.\"Dr.Feynman, we've WHAT IS EPSILON?\"
beengoingfor two hours,now.There are 123pages,and we've He says,\0210~5.\" It was the samenumber that Mr. Ullian
onlycovered20so far.\" had toldusabout: 1 in 100,000.
My first reactionwas to say, \"Well,it isn'treally goingto I showedMr.Lovingood theotheranswers andsaid,\"You'll
take sucha longtime.I'm always a littleslow at the beginning; be interested to know that there isa difference betweenengineers
it takesme a while to catchon.We'llbe ableto go much faster and management factorof more than
here\342\200\224a 300.\"
near the end.\" He says,\"Sir,I'll be glad to sendyou the documentthat
But then I had a secondthought.I said,\"Inorderto speed containsthisestimate,so you can understand it.\"*
thingsup,I'll tellyou what I'mdoing,soyou'llknow where I'm I said,\"Thankyou very much.Now, let'sget backto the
aiming.I want to know whether there'sthe samelack of engine.\"So we continued and,just likeI guessed,we went
communication betweentheengineers and the managementwho faster nearthe end. I had to understand how the engine worked\342\200\224

are working on the engineas we foundin the caseof the booster the preciseshape of the turbine blades,exactly how they turned,
rockets.\" and so I could
on\342\200\224sounderstand its problems.
Mr. Lovingoodsays,\"Idon'tthink so.As a matter of fact,
althoughI'm now a manager, I was trainedas an engineer.\" After lunch,the engineers told me all the problems of the
\"All right,\"I said.\"Here'sa pieceof papereach.Please engines: blades cracking inthe oxygenpump, bladescrackingin
write on your paperthe answer to this question: what do you the hydrogenpump,casingsgettingblistersand cracks,and so
think is the probability
that a flight wouldbe uncompleted dueto on. They lookedfor thesethingswith periscopes and special
a failure in thisengine?\" instruments when the shuttlecamedown after eachflight.
They write down theiranswersand hand in theirpapers.One There was a problemcalled\"subsynchronous whirl,\" in
guy wrote \"99-^100% pure\"(copyingthe Ivory soapslogan), which the shaft getsbentintoa slightlyparabolic shapeat high
meaning about 1 in 200.Another guy wrote something very speed. T he wear on the bearings w as so thenoise terrible\342\200\224all
technical and highly quantitative in the standard statistical way, and the it seemedhopeless.
vibration\342\200\224that But they had founda
carefully definingeverything, that I had to translate\342\200\224which also way to get rid of it. There were abouta dozenvery serious
meant about1 in 200.The third guy wrote,simply,\021 in 300.\" problems; abouthalfof them were fixed.
Mr. Lovingood's paper,however, said. Most airplanesare designed\"fromthe bottomup,\"with
Cannotquantify. Reliabilityisjudgedfrom:
pastexperience *Later, Mr. Lovingood sent me that report.It saidthings like \"The probability of
mission successis necessarilyvery closeto that mean it is closeto
\342\200\242

quality controlin manufacturing

1.0\"\342\200\224does
\342\200\242

engineeringjudgment
\342\200\242
1.0, or it ought to be closeto \"Historically,this high degreeof mission
1.0?\342\200\224and

successhas given rise to a difference in philosophy between unmanned and

\"Well,\" I said,\"I'vegot four answers,and one of them manned space flight programs;
I
i.e.,
numerical probability
means
versus engineering
As far as can tell, \"engineering they're just going
weaseled.\"
I turned toMr.Lovingood: \"Ithink you weaseled.\" judgment.\" judgment\"
to make up numbers!The probability of an engine-bladefailure was given as a
\"I don'tthink I weaseled.\" universal constant, as if all the bladeswere exactly the same, under the same
\"You didn'ttellme what your confidence was, sir;you told conditions.The whole paperwas quantifying everything. Just about every nut and
bolt was in there: \"Thechance that a HPHTP pipe will burst is 1(T7.\" You can't
me how you determined it. What I want to know is:after you estimate things like that; a probability of 1in 10,000,000 is almost impossibleto
determinedit, what was it?\" estimate.It was clearthat the numbers for each part of the engine were chosenso
He says,\02100 percent\"\342\200\224the engineers'
jaws drop,my jaw that when you add everything together you get 1in 100,000.
 136 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? FANTASTIC FIGURES 137
parts that have already beenextensivelytested.The shuttle, three smaller there were two partitions.They
pipes\342\200\224where

however, was designed \"fromthe top savetime.But

down\"\342\200\224to explained how far they had gottenin figuring out the problem.
whenever a problemwas discovered, a lot of redesigning was When I left the meeting, I had the definiteimpression that I
required in order to fix it. had foundthe samegame as with the seals:managementreduc-
Mr. Lovingoodisn't saying much now, but different engi- criteriaand acceptingmore and more errorsthat weren't
intothe device,while the engineers
reducing

engineers, depending on which problemit is, are tellingme allthis designed are screaming from
stuff, just like I could have foundout if I went down to the below,\"HELP!\" and \"Thisis a RED ALERT!\"
engineers at Thiokol. I gaineda greatdealof respectfor them.
They were allvery straight, and everything was great.We went The next evening,on my way homein the airplane, I was
allthe way down to the endof the book.We madeit. having dinner.After I finished butteringmy roll,I tookthe little
Then I said, \"What about this high-frequency vibration pieceof thin cardboard that the butter pat comeson, and bentit
where someenginesget it and othersdon't?\"* around in a U shapesotherewere two edgesfacingme.I heldit
There'sa quickmotion,and a littlestackof papersappears. up and startedblowingon it, and pretty soonI got it to make a
It's allput togethernicely;it fits nicelyintomy book.It's all noiselikea whistle.
aboutthe 4000-cycle vibration! Back in California, I got somemoreinformation on the
Maybe I'm a littledull,but I tried my bestnot to accuse shuttleengineand itsprobability of failure.I went to Rocketdyne
anybody of anything. I justlet them show me what they showed and talkedto engineers who were buildingthe engines.I also
me, and actedlikeI didn'tseetheirtrick.I'm not the kindof talkedto consultants for the engine.In fact one of them,Mr.
investigatoryou see on TV, who jumpsup and accusesthe Covert,was on the commission. I alsofoundout that a Caltech
corruptorganization of withholding information. But I was fully professorhad beena consultant for Rocketdyne.He was very
aware that they hadn'ttoldme aboutthe problemuntilI asked friendly and informative, and toldme aboutall theproblemsthe
aboutit. I usually actedquite I was, for the most
naive\342\200\224which enginehad,and what he thoughtthe probabilityof failure was.
part. I went to JPLand met a fellowwho had justwrittena report
At any rate,the engineers all leapedforward.They got all for NASA on the methods usedby the FAA* and themilitary to
excitedand beganto describethe problemto me.I'm surethey certify theirgas turbine and rocketengines. We spentthe whole
were delighted, becausetechnical peopleloveto discusstechni- day goingbackand forth overhow to determine the probability
problems with technical
peoplewho might have an opinionor of failurein a machine.I learneda lot of new names\342\200\224like

a particularmathematical distribution that makesa

technical

a suggestion that couldbeuseful.And of course,they were very \"Weibull,\"

anxiousto cureit. certainshapeon a graph.Hesaidthat the originalsafety rulesfor
They kept referringto the problemby somecomplicated the shuttlewere very similar to thoseof theFAA, butthat NASA
*'pressure-induced
name\342\200\224a
vorticity oscillatorywawa,\" or had modifiedthem as they beganto getproblems.
something. It turned outthat NASA'sMarshallSpaceCenterin Huntsville
I said,\"Oh,you mean a whistle!\" designed the engine,Rocketdyne builtthem,Lockheed wrote the
\"Yes,\"they said;\"itexhibits
the characteristics
of a whistle.\" instructions, and NASA's KennedySpaceCenter i nstalledthem!
They thought the whistle couldbe coming from a place It may be a geniussystemof organization, but it was a complete
where the gas rushedthrougha pipeat highspeedand splitinto fuzdazzle,as far asI was concerned. It gotme terribly confused.
*Ihad heard about this from Bill Graham. Hesaid that when he was first on the I didn'tknow whether I was talkingto the Marshall man, the
job as head of NASA, he was looking through some reports and noticed a little Rocketdyne man, the Lockheedman, ortheKennedyman!Soin
bullet: cycle vibration is within our data base.\"He thought that was a
\"\302\2534,000 the middleof allthis,I got lost.In fact, allduring this time\342\200\224in

funny-looking phrase, so he began asking questions.When he got all the way

he discoveredit was a rather seriousmatter: some of the engineswould
March and was running back and forth so much
April\342\200\224I
through,
vibrate so much that they couldn't be used. He used it as an exampleof how
difficult it is to get information unlessyou go down and checkon it yourself. *Note for foreign readers:Federal Aviation Administration.
138 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

betweenCalifornia,Alabama, Houston, Florida,and Washing-

D.C.,
that
Washington, I oftendidn't
k now what day it was, or where I
was.
After allthisinvestigating
on my own, I thoughtI'd write up An Inflamed Appendix
a littlereporton the enginefor the othercommissioners. But
when I lookedat my noteson the testingschedules, therewas
someconfusion: therewouldbetalkabout**engine#12\"andhow
long \"the engine\"flew. But no engineever was likethat:it
would be repairedall the time.After eachflight,technicians
would inspectthe enginesand see how many crackedblades All duringthistime,I had the impression that somewhere along
therewere on the rotor,how many splitstherewere in the the linethe wholecommission wouldcometogether again so we
casing,and so on. Then they'drepair\"theengine\"by putting couldtalkto eachotheraboutwhat we hadfoundout.
on a new casing,a new rotor,or new bearings\342\200\224they would In orderto aid sucha discussion, I thought I'd write little
replacelotsof parts.SoI wouldreadthat a particularenginehad reportsalongthe way: I wrote aboutmy work with the icecrew
rotor#2009,which had run for 27 minutesin flight such-and- (analyzing the picturesand the faulty temperature readings); I
wrote aboutmy conversations with Mr. Lamberthand the assem-
such,and casing#4091,which hadrun forS3minutes in flights workers;and I even wrote aboutthe pieceof paperthat said
such-and-such and so-and-so. It was allmixedup. \"Let'sgo for it.\"All theselittlereportsI sentto Al Keel,the
assembly

When I finished my report,I wanted to checkit. Sothe next executive officer,to giveto the othercommissioners.
timeI was at Marshall,I saidI wanted to talkto the engineers Now, this particular adventure\342\200\224investigating the lack of
abouta few very technical problems, justtocheckthe details\342\200\224I
communication between the managersand the engineers who
didn'tneedany management there. were working on the engine\342\200\224I alsowrote about,on my little
This time, to my surprise,nobodycame but the three IBMPCat home.I was kindof tired,soI didn'thave the control
engineers I had talkedto before,and we straightened everything I wanted\342\200\224it wasn't written with the samecareas my other
out. reports.But sinceI was writing it only as a reportto the other
When I was aboutto leave,one of them said,\"You know I didn'tchangethe languagebeforeI sentit on
that question you askedus lasttime\342\200\224with the papers?We felt commissioners,
that was a loadedquestion. It wasn'tfair.\" to Dr.Keel.I simply attacheda notethat said\"Ithink the other
commissioners wouldbe interested in this,but you can do with it
I said,\"Yes,you'requiteright.It was a loadedquestion.I what you want\342\200\224it's a littlestrongat theend.\"
had an ideaof what would happen.\" He thanked me, and saidhe sentmy reportto everybody.
The guy says,\"Iwouldliketo revisemy answer. I want to Johnson
say that I cannot quantify it.\"(Thisguy was theonewho hadthe
Then I went to the SpaceCenter,in Houston,to
mostdetailedanswer before.) lookinto the avionics. Sally Ride's groupwas there,investigat-
I said,\"That'sfine. But do you agreethat the chanceof safety matters in connection with the astronauts' experiences.
to
investigating

failure is 1 in 100,000?\" Sally introduced m e the software engineers, and they gave me
a tourof the training facilities for the astronauts.
\"Well,uh,no, I don't.I just don'twant to answer.\" It's really quite wonderful.There are different kinds of
Thenoneof the otherguys says,\"Isaidit was 1 in 300,and simulators with varying degrees of sophistication that the astro-
I stillsay it's 1 in 300,but I don'twant to tellyou how I got my astronauts practice on. Oneof them is just likethe realthing:you
number.\" climbup, you get in;at thewindows,computers are producing
I said,\"It'sokay. You don'thave to.\" pictures. When the pilot moves the controls, the view outof the
windows changes.
139
 140 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? AN INFLAMED APPENDIX 141
This particularsimulatorhad the doublepurpose of teaching atmosphereat just the right angle.That'sthe dangerouspart,
the astronautsand checking the computers. In the backof the where allthe tilesheat up.
crew area,therewere trays full of cablesrunning down through During this time, the astronautscan't see anything, and
the cargo bay to somewherein the back,where instruments everything'schangingso fast that the descenthas to be done
simulatedsignalsfrom the engines\342\200\224pressures, fuel flow rates, automatically. At around 35,000 feet the shuttle slowsdown to
and soon. (The cableswere accessible becausethe technicians less than the speedof sound,and the steeringcan be done
were checkingfor \"crosstalk\"\342\200\224interferences in the signals manually,if necessary. But at 4000feet something happensthat
goingbackand forth.) is not doneby the computer: the pilotpushesa buttonto lower
The shuttleitselfis
operatedessentially
by computer. Once the landingwheels.
it'slitup and startsto go,nobodyinsidedoesanything, because I found that very kind of silliness
odd\342\200\224a
having to do with
there'stremendousacceleration. When the shuttlereachesa the psychology of the pilots:they're heroes in the eyesof the
certainaltitude,the computers adjustthe enginethrust down for public;everybody has is the idea that they'resteeringthe shuttle
a littlewhile,and as the airthinsout,the computers adjustthe around,whereas the truth they don't have todo anything until
thrust up again.About a minute later,the two solidrocket they pushthat button to lower the landinggear.They can'tstand
boostersfall away, and a few minutes after that,the main fuel the ideathat they really have nothingto do.
tank fallsaway; eachoperation is controlled by the computers.
I thought it would be saferif the computerwouldlowerthe
The shuttlegetsintoorbitautomatically\342\200\224the astronauts landingwheels, i n casethe astronauts were unconscious for
in theirseats.
just sit somereason.The software engineersagree, and added that
The shuttle's omputers don'thave enoughmemory to hold putting down the landingwheels at the wrong time is very
allthe programsfcor the wholeflight.After the shuttlegetsinto dangerous.
orbit,the astronautstake out sometapesand loadin the program The engineers told me that groundcontrolcansendup the
for the next phaseof the are as many assixin all. signalto lower the landingwheels,but this is
backupgave them
flight\342\200\224there
Near the endof the flight,the astronauts loadin the programfor somepause:what happens if the pilot half-conscious, and
coming down. thinks the wheels shouldgo down at a certain time, the
and
The shuttlehas four computers on board,all running the controller on the ground knows it's the wrong time? It's much
sameprograms.All four are normally in agreement. If one betterto have the whole thing done by computer.
computeris out of agreement, the flight can stillcontinue.If The pilotsalsousedto controlthe brakes.But there was lots
only two computers agree,the flight has to be curtailed and the of trouble:if you brakedtoomuch at the beginning, you'dhave
shuttlebroughtbackimmediately. nomorebrake-padmaterial left when you reached t he endof the
Foreven moresafety, there'sa fifth computer\342\200\224located away you're
runway\342\200\224and still moving! So the software engineers
from the otherfourcomputers, with its wires goingon different were askedto designa computer programto controlthe braking.
has only the programfor going up and the pro- At first die astronauts objectedto the change,but now they're
paths\342\200\224which
program for comingdown.(Bothprogramscan barely fit into its very delighted becausethe automatic brakingworks sowell.
memory.)If something happensto the othercomputers, thisfifth
computer bring c an the shuttlebackdown. It's never had to be Although there'sa lot of good software beingwritten at
used. Johnson,the computers on the shuttleare so obsoletethat the
The mostdramatic thing is the landing.Oncethe astronauts manufacturersdon'tmake them anymore.The memories in them
know where they'resupposed to land,they push one of three are the old kind, made with little ferrite cores that have wires
buttons\342\200\224marked Edwards,White Sands, and Kennedy\342\200\224which goingthrough them.In the meantime we've developed much
tellsthe computer where the shuttle'sgoingto land.Then some betterhardware: the memory chipsof today are much,much
smallrocketsslow theshuttledown a little,and get it into the smaller; they have much greatercapacity; and they'remuch more
 142 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? AN INFLAMED APPENDIX 143
reliable.They have internal error-correcting codesthat automati- saying we always passthe tests,so what'sthe useof having so
automatically
the
keep memory good. W ith today'scomputers we can many?\"
designseparateprogrammodulesso that changingthe payload
doesn'trequireso much programrewriting. BeforeI leftHouston, I continued my surreptitious investiga-
Becauseof the hugeinvestment in the flight simulators and of the rumor that the White Househad put pressureon
all the otherhardware,
investigation

to start all over again and replacethe NASA to launch the shuttle.Houstonis the centerof communi-
millionsof linesof codethat they'vealready builtup wouldbe so I went overto the telemetry peopleand askedabout
communication,

very costly. theirswitchingsystem.I went through the samestuff as I did in

I learnedhow the software engineers developedthe avionics they were justasniceto
Florida\342\200\224and thistime I found
me\342\200\224but

for the shuttle.Onegroupwoulddesignthe software programs, out that if they wanted to tie in the shuttleto the Congress, the
in pieces.After that,the partswouldbe put together intohuge White House, orto anywhere,they needa three-minute warning\342\200\224
programs,and testedby an independent group. not three months,notthree days,notthree minutes. hours\342\200\224three
After bothgroupsthoughtallthe bugshad beenworked out, Thereforethey can do it wheneverthey want, and nothinghasto
they wouldhave a simulation of an entireflight,in which every be written down in advance.So that was a blindalley.
part of the shuttlesystemis tested.In suchcases,they had a I talkedto a New York Timesreporteraboutthisrumor one
principle: thissimulation is notjust an exerciseto checkif the time.I askedhim,\"Howdo you findoutif thingslikethisare
programsare allright;it is a real failsnow, true?\"
it'sextremely serious,as if the astronautswanything
flight\342\200\224if

ere really on board He says,\"Oneof the thingsI thoughtto do was to go down

and in trouble.Your reputationis on the line. and talkto the peoplewho run the switchingsystem. I triedthat,
In the many years they had beendoingthis, they had had but I wasn'tableto comeup with anything.\"
onlysixfailuresat the levelof flight simulation, and not onein
an actual flight. During the first half of April,GeneralKutyna'sgroupre-
So the computerpeoplelookedlike they knew what they received the final resultsof the tests NASA was making at
were doing:they knew the computerbusiness was vital to the Marshall.NASA includedits own interpretations of the results,
shuttlebut potentiallydangerous, and they were beingextremely but we thought we shouldwrite everythingover again in ourown
careful.They were writing programsthat operatea very complex way. (Theonly exceptions were when a testdidn'tshowanything.)
machinein an environment where conditionsare changing GeneralKutyna setup a wholesystemat Marshallforwriting
drastically\342\200\224programs which measure thosechanges,are flexible our group'sreport.It lastedabouttwo days.Beforewe couldget
in their responses, and maintain high safety and accuracy. I anywhere, we got a message from Mr. Rogers:\"Comebackto
wouldsay that in someways they were oncein the forefrontof Washington. You shouldn'tdo the writing down there.\"
how to ensurequality in roboticor interactivecomputer systems, So we went backto Washington,and GeneralKutyna gave
but because of the obsoletehardware, it's no longertrue today. me an officein the Pentagon. It was fine, but there was no
I didn'tinvestigatethe avionicsas extensivelyas I did the secretary, so I couldn'tw ork fast.
engines,so I might have beengettinga littlebitof a salestalk, BillGraham had always beenvery cooperative, so I called
but I don'tthink so.The engineers and the managers communi- him up.He arranged for me to usea guy's guy was office\342\200\224the
well with eachother,and they were allvery careful notto
communicated
outof his secretary.Shewas very, very helpful:she
town\342\200\224and

changetheir criteriafor safety. couldwrite up something as fast as I couldsay it, and then she'd
I toldthe software engineers I thought their system and their revamp it, correcting my mistakes. We worked very hard for
attitude were very good. about two or threedays, and got large piecesof the report
One guy muttered somethingabout higher-upsin NASA written that way. It worked very well.
wanting to cut back on testingto save money:\"They keep NeilArmstrong, who was in our group,is extremelygoodat
 144 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? AN INFLAMED APPENDIX 145
writing.Hewouldlookat my work and immediately
find every So he says to his secretary, \"Please make a copyfor allthe
weak spot,just like that\342\200\224he was right every time\342\200\224and I was commissioners and give it to them.\"
very impressed. Then I saidto him, \"I appreciatehow much work you're
Eachgroupwas writing a chapteror two of the main report. doing,and that it's difficultto keepeverything in mind.But I
Our groupwrote someof the stuflF in \"Chapter 3: The Acci- thought you toldme that you showedmy reportto everybody.\"
Accident,\" but our main work was *'Chapter 4: The Causeof the He says,\"Yes,well, I meant allof the staff.\"
Accident/'Oneresultof this system,however, was that we I laterdiscovered, by talkingto people on thestaff, that they
never had a meetingto discusswhat eachof our groupsfound hadn'tseenit either.
commenton eachother'sfindingsfrom our dfflerent
out\342\200\224to

perspectives. Instead,we did what they call \"wordsmithing\" When the othercommissioners finally got to seemy report,
what Mr. Hotz later called\"tombstone
\342\200\224or
engraving\" mostof them thoughtit was very good,and it oughttobe in the
punctuation,
\342\200\224correcting refiningphrases,and so on.We never commission reportsomewhere.
had a realdiscussion of ideas,exceptincidentally in the course Encouraged by that, I keptbringingup my report.\"I'dlike
of thiswordsmithing. to have a meetingto discusswhat to do with it,\"I keptsaying.
For example,a questionwould comeup: \"Shouldthis \"We'llhave a meetingaboutit next week\" was the standard
sentenceaboutthe enginesbe wordedthisway or that way?\" answer. (We were toobusy wordsmithingand voting on the color
I wouldtry to geta littlediscussion started.\"Frommy own of the cover.)
experiences, I gotthe impression that the engines aren'tas good Gradually I realizedthat the way my reportwas written, it
as you'resaying here...\" wouldrequirea lot of wordsmithing\342\200\224and we were running out
Sothey'dsay, \"Thenwe'llusethe moreconservativewording of time.Then somebodysuggested that my reportcouldgo in as
here,\"and they'dgo on to the next sentence.Perhapsthat'sa an appendix. That way, it wouldn'thave tobe wordsmithedto fit
very efficientway to get a reportout quickly,but we spent in with anything else.
meetingafter meetingdoingthiswordsrnithing. But someof the commissioners felt stronglythat my report
Every oncein a while we'd interrupt that to discussthe shouldgo in the main reportsomehow:\"Theappendices won't
typographyand thecolorof the cover.And after eachdiscussion, comeout until monthslater,so nobodywill read your reportif
we were askedto vote.I thought it would be mostefficientto it's an appendix,\" they said.
voteforthe samecolorwe had decided onin the meetingbefore, I thought I'd compromise, however, and let it go in as an
but it turned outI was always in the minority!We finally chose
red. (It cameout blue.) appendix.
But now there was a new problem: my report,which I had
written on my word processorat home,would have to be
One time I was talkingto Sally Ride about something I convertedfrom the IBMformat to the big documentsystem the
mentionedin my reporton the engines,and shedidn'tseemto commission was using.They had a way of doingthat with an
know aboutit. I said,\"Didn'tyou seemy report?\" device.
Shesays,\"No,I didn'tgeta copy.\" optical s canning
So I go over to Keel'sofficeand say, \"Sallytellsme she I had to go to a littlebitof troubleto find the right guy to do
didn'tget a copyof my report.\" it. Then,it didn'tget doneright away. When I askedwhat
happened, the guy saidhe couldn'tfind the copyI had given
He lookssurprised, and turns to hissecretary.\"Please
make him.So I had to givehim anothercopy.
a copyof Dr.Feynman'sreportfor Dr. Ride.\" A few days later,I finishedwriting my report aboutthe
Then I discoverMr. Acheson hasn'tseenit. avionics,and I wanted to combineit with my reporton the
\"Makea copyand give it to Mr. Acheson.\" engines.SoI tookthe avionicsreportto the guy and I said,\"I'd
I finally caught on, so I said,\"Dr.Keel, I don't think liketo put thisin with my otherreport.\"
anybody hasseenmy report.\" Then I neededto see a copy of my new reportfor some
146 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

reason,but the guy gave me an oldcopy,beforethe avionicswas

added.\"Where's the new onewith the avionics?\" I said.
\"I can't find so on. I don't rememberall the
it\"\342\200\224and

details,but it seemedmy reportwas always

cooked.It couldeasilyhave beenmistakes,butmissing
many of them.It was quitea struggle,
or half-
there were too The Tenth Recommendation
nursing my reportalong.
Then,in the last coupleof days, when the main reportis
ready to be sentto the printer,Dr.Keelwants my reportto be
wordsmithedtoo,eventhoughit'sgoingin as an appendix. SoI
tookit to the regulareditorthere,a capableman named Hansen,
and he fixedit up without changingthe senseof it. Then it was Sometime in May, at oneof our lastmeetings, we got around to
put backintothe machine as \" Version were revi- making a list of possiblerecommendations. Somebodywould
and revisions.
revisions
#23\"\342\200\224there
say, \"Maybeoneof the things w e should is the establish-
discuss
(By the way: everything had 23versions. It hasbeennoted of a safety board.\"
establishment

that computers, which are supposed to increasethe speedat \"Okay, we'llput that down.\"
which we do things,have not increased the speedat which we I'm thinking,\"At last!We'regoingto have a discussion!\"
write reports:we usedto make only threeversions\342\200\224because But it turns out that thistentative listof topicsbecomes the
they'reso hard to now we make 23 versions!) recommendations\342\200\224that therebe safety board,
a t hat there be a
type\342\200\224and
The next day I noticedKeelworking on my report:he had this,that there be a that. The only discussionwas about which
put all kindsof big circlesaround whole sections,with X's recommendation we shouldwrite first,which oneshouldcome
through them;therewere all kindsof thoughtsleft out. He second,and so forth.
explained, \"Thispart doesn'thave to go in because it says more There were many thingsI wanted to discussfurther. ' For
or lesswhat we saidin the main report.\" example, in regard to the safety board,o necouldask: 'Wouldn't
I triedto explainthat it'smuch easierto get the logicif all sucha committee justaddanotherlayer to an alreadyovergrown
the ideasare together, insteadof everything beingdistributedin bureaucracy?\"
littlepiecesalloverthe main report. ''Afterall,\"I said,\"it's There had beensafety boardsbefore.In 1967,after the
only gonnabe an appendix. It won't make any diflFerenceif Apolloaccident, the investigating committee at the time invented
there'sa littlerepetition.\" panelfor safety.
a special It worked for a while,but it didn'tlast.
Dr.Keelput back something hereand there when I asked We didn'tdiscusswhy the earlier safety boardswere no
him to, but there was stillsomuch missing that my reportwasn't longereffective;instead, just
w e made up moresafety boards:
anything likeit was before. we calledthem the Solid
\"Independent RocketMotorDesign
OversightCommittee,\" the \"Shuttle Transportation SystemSafety
Advisory Panel,\" and the \"Officeof Safety, Reliability, and
QualityAssurance.\" We decided who wouldoversee eachsafety
board,but we didn'td iscuss w hether the safety boards createdby
our commission any
had better chance of working, hether we
w
couldfix the existing b oards so they would work, or whetherwe
shouldhave them at all.
I'm not as sure about a lot of thingsas everybody else.
Thingsneedto be thought out a littlebit,and we weren'tdoing
enoughthinking together.Quickdecisions on important matters
147
148 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE TENTHRECOMMENDATION 149
are not very at the speedwe were going,we were
good\342\200\224and wrote Rogersa letter.At the endI wrote,\"Thisrecommendation
boundto make someimpractical recommendations. remindsme of the NASA flight reviews:\"'Thereare critical
We endedup rearranging the list of possiblerecommenda- problems, but never on flying!'
and wordsmithing
recommendations them a little,and then we votedyes or mind\342\200\224keep
It was Saturday, and I wanted Mr. Rogersto read my letter
no.It was an oddway of doingthings,and I wasn'tusedto it. In beforeMonday. So I calledup his secretary\342\200\224everybody was
fact, I got the feelingwe were beingrailroaded; thingswere working sevendays a week to getthe reportout in I
time\342\200\224and
beingdecided,somehow,a littleoutof our control. said, \"I'd liketo dictatea letterto you; is that allright?\"
At any rate,in our lastmeeting, we agreedto ninerecom- She says,\"Sure!To save you somemoney, let me callyou
recommendations. Many of the commissioners went homeafter that rightback.\" Shecallsme back,I dictatethe letter,and shehands
I was to New a few days later,so I it directlyto Rogers.
meeting, but going York
in
stayed Washington.
The next day, I happenedto be standingaround in Mr. When I cameback on Monday, Mr. Rogerssaid, \"Dr.
Rogers'sofficewith Neil Armstrong and anothercommissioner Feynman, I've read your letter,and I agreewith everything it
when Rogerssays,\"I thought we shouldhave a tenth recom- says.But you'vebeenout-voted.\"
recommendation. Everything in our reportis so negative; I think we \"Out-voted?How was I out-voted,when there was no
needsomething positivea t the endto balance i t.\" meeting?\"
He showsme a pieceof paper.It says, Keelwas there,too. He says,\"We calledeverybody, and
they allagreewith the recommendation. They allvotedfor it.\"
The Commission strongly recommendsthat NASA con- \"I don't think that's fair!\"I protested.\"If I couldhave
to receivethe supportof the Administrationand
continue
presentedmy arguments to the othercommissioners, I don't
the nation.The agency constitutes a nationalresource think Fd have beenout-voted.\" I didn'tknow what to do,so I
and plays a critical rolein spaceexploration and devel- said,\"I'dliketo make a copyof it.\"
It alsoprovides
development. a symbolof nationalpride and When I cameback,Keelsays,\"We justremembered that we
technological leadership. The Commission applauds didn'ttalk to Hotzaboutit, becausehe was in a meeting.We
NASA's spectacular achievementsof the pastand antic-
impressiveachievementsto come.The findings forgotto get hisvote.\"
anticipates
and recommendationspresentedin this report are in- I didn'tknow what to make of that,but I foundoutlaterthat
intended to contributeto the future NASA successes that Mr.Hotzwas in the building,not far from the copymachine.
the nation bothexpects and requiresas the 21stcentury Later,I talkedto David Acheson aboutthe tenth recommen-
approaches. He explained,
recommendation. \"Itdoesn'treally mean anything; it'sonly
motherhood and applepie.\"
In ourfourmonthsof work as a commission, we had never I said,\"Well,if it doesn'tmean anything, it'snotnecessary,
discusseda policyquestionlike that, so I felt there was no then.\"
reasonto put it in.And althoughVm not saying I disagreed with \"If this were a commission for the National Academy of
it, it wasn'tobviousthat it was true,either.I said,\"Ithink this Sciences, your objections would be proper.But don'tforget,\" he
tenth recommendation is inappropriate.\" says, \"this is a presidentialcommission. We should say some-
I think I heardArmstrong say, \"Well,if somebody's not in for the President.\"
favor of it, I think we shouldn't put it in.\"
something
\"Idon'tunderstandthe difference,\" I said.\"Why can'tI be
But Rogerskeptworking on me.We arguedbackand forth a a nd
careful scientific when I'm a
writing reportto the President?''
littlebit,but then I had to catch my flight to New York. Being naive doesn't always work: my argument had no
While I was in the airplane,I thoughtabout this tenth effect.Achesonkepttellingme I was making a big thing outof
recommendation somemore.I wanted to lay outmy arguments nothing,and I keptsaying it weakenedourreportand it shouldn't
carefully on paper,so when I got to my hotelin New York, I go in.
150 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THETENTHRECOMMENDATION 151
So that's where it ended,up:\"The Commission strongly I senta telegramto Mr. Rogers:
recommends that NASA continue to receivethe supportof the PLEASE TAKE MY SIGNATURE OFF THE REPORTUNLESS
Administration and the nation. this \"motherhood and
..\"\342\200\224all
TWO THINGS OCCUR: 1) THERE IS NO TENTH RECOM-
applepie\"stuff to \"balance\" the report. AND 2) MY REPORT APPEARS WITHOUT
While I was flying home,I thoughtto myself,\"It'sfunny
RECOMMENDATION,

MODIFICATIONFROM VERSION #23.

that the only part of the reportthat was genuinely balanced was
my own report:I said negativethingsaboutthe engine,and (I knew by thistimeI had to defineeverything carefully.)
positivethingsaboutthe avionics.And I had to strugglewith In orderto getthe number of the versionI wanted, I called
them to get it in, even as a lousyappendix!\" Mr. Hotz,who was in chargeof the documentation system and
I thought about the tenth recommendation. All the other the
publishing report. He sent m e Version #23, soI had something
recommendations were basedon evidence we had found,but this definiteto publishon my own, if worse cameto.worst.
one had no evidencewhatsoever.I couldsee the whitewash
drippingdown.It was obviouslya mistake!It wouldmake our The resultof thistelegramwas that Rogersand Keeltriedto
reportlookbad.I was very disturbed. negotiate with me. They askedGeneralKutyna to be the inter-
When I gothome,I talkedto Joan,my sister.I toldherabout intermediary, because they knew he was a friend of mine.What a
the tenth recommendation, and how I had been\"out-voted.\" good friendof mine he was, they didn'tknow.
\"Didyou callany of the othercommissioners and talk to Kutyna says, \"Hello, Professor, I justwanted to tellyou that
them yourself?\" shesaid. I think you'redoingvery well.But I'vebeengiven the job of
\"Well,I talkedto Archeson, but he was for it.\" trying to talk you out of it, so I'm going to give you the
\"Any others?\" arguments.\"
\"Uh,no.\"So I calledup three othercommissioners\342\200\2241*11 \"Fearnot!\"I said.\"I'mnot gonnachangemy mind.Just
callthem A, B, and C. giveme the arguments, and fear not.\"
I callA, who says,\"What tenth recommendation?\" The first argument was that if I don't acceptthe tenth
I callB, who says,\"Tenthrecommendation? What are you recommendation, they won't acceptmy report,even as an
talkingabout?\" appendix.
I didn'tworry aboutthat one,becauseI couldalways put out
I callC, who says,\"Don'tyou remember, you dope?I was
in the officewhen Rogersfirsttoldus, and I don'tseeanything my reportmyself.
wrong with it.\" All the arguments were likethat:noneof them was very
It appearedthat the only peoplewho knew aboutthe tenth good,and noneof them had any effect.I had thought through
recommendation were the peoplewho were in the officewhen carefully what I was doing,so I just stuckto my guns.
Rogerstoldus.I didn'tbotherto make any moretelephone calls. Then Kutyna suggested a compromise: they were willingto
After all, it's didn'tfeel that I had to openall the go along with my report as I wrote it, exceptfor one sentence
near the end.
enough\342\200\224I
safesto checkthat the combination is the same!*
ThenI toldJoanaboutmy it was soemasculat- I lookedat the sentenceand I realizedthat I had already
even thoughit was goingin as an appendix.
report\342\200\224how
made my pointin the previousparagraph.Repeating the point
amountedto polemics;removing the phrasemade my report
emasculated,

She says, \"Well,if they do that to your report,what have

you accomplished, beingon the commission? What'sthe result much better.I accepted the compromise.
of allyour work?\" Then I offereda compromise on the tenth recommendation:
\"Aha!\" \"Ifthey want to say something niceaboutNASA at the end,just
don'tcallit a recommendation, sopeoplewill know that it's not
*This refers to \"Safecracker
Meets Safecracker,\"another story told in Surely in the same classas the other recommendations: call it a
You*reJoking, Mr. Feynman! 'concluding thought'if you want. And to avoidconfusion, don't
152 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

use the words 'stronglyrecommends/ Just say 'urges'\342\200\224'The

Coiranission urgesthat NASA continue toreceivethe supportof
the Administration and the nation/All the otherstuff can stay
the same.\"
A littlebit later,Keelcallsme up: \"Canwe say 'strongly
urges'?\" Meet the Press
\"No.Just 'urges/\"
\"Okay,\"he said.And that was the finaldecision.

/ put nay name on the main report,my own reportgot in as an

appendix,and everything was allright.In early June we went
back to Washington and gave our reportto the Presidentin a
ceremonyheldin the RoseGarden.That was on a Thursday.The
reportwas not to be releasedto the publicuntil the following
Monday, so the President couldstudy it.
Meanwhile,the newspaperreporterswere working likede-
demons:they knew our reportwas finished and they were trying to
scoop each otherto find out what was in it. I knew they would
be callingme up day and night,and I was afraid I would say
something abouta technical matter that wouldgivethem a hint.
Reporters verya re clever and persistent. They'llsay, \"We
heard such-and-such\342\200\224is it true?\"And pretty soon,what you're
thinking you didn'ttellthem showsup in the newspaper!
I was determined notto say a word aboutthe reportuntil it
was madepublic, on Monday.A friend of mine convincedme to
go on the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, so I saidyes for Monday
evening'sshow.
I alsohad my secretarysetup a pressconference for Tuesday
at Caltech. who want to talk to me that
I said,\"Tellthe reporters
I haven'tany commenton anything:any questions they have, I'll
be glad to answer on Tuesday at my pressconference.\"
Over the weekend,while I was stillin Washington,it leaked
somehowthat I had threatenedto take my name offthe report.
Somepaperin Miami startedit, and soonthe story was running
alloveraboutthisargument betweenme and Rogers.When the
reporterswho were usedto coveringWashington heard \"Mr.
Feynman has nothingto say;he'llanswer allyour questions at
his pressconference on Tuesday,\"it soundedsuspicious\342\200\224as
thoughthe argument was stillon, and I was goingto have this
153
154 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? MEETTHE PRESS 155
pressconference on Tuesdayto explainwhy I tookmy name off
the report.
But I didn'tknow anything aboutit. I isolatedmyself from
the pressso much that I wasn'teven readingthe newspapers.
On Sunday night,the commission had a goodbyedinner
arrangedby Mr. Rogers at some club. A fter we finished
eating,I
said to General Kutyna, \"I can'tstay around anymore.I have to
leave a littleearly/*
He says,\"What can be so important?\"
I didn'twant to say.
He comesoutsidewith me, to see what this \"important\"
somethingis. It's a brightred sportscar with two beautiful
blondesinside,waiting to whisk me away.
I get in the car.We'reaboutto speedoff, leavingGeneral
Kutyna standingthere scratching his head,when one of the
FIGURE18.The Commission Reportwas presented blondssays, \"Oh!GeneralKutyna!I'm Ms. So-and-so,I
to the presidentin the RoseGardenat the White House. interviewedyou on the phonea few weeks ago.\"
Visible,from left to right, are GeneralKutyna, William Rogers, So he caughton. They were reportersfrom the MacNeil/
EugeneCovert,PresidentReagan,NeilArmstrong,and LehrerNewshour.
RichardFeynman. petesouza,the white house.)
They were very nice,and we talkedaboutthisand that for
(\302\251

the show Monday night.Somewhere alongthe lineI toldthem I

was goingto have my own pressconference on Tuesday,and I
was goingto give out my thoughit was goingto
report\342\200\224even

appear as an appendix three months later. They saidmy report

soundedinteresting, and they'dliketoseeit. By thistime we're
all very friendly, so I gave them a copy.

They droppedme off at my cousin'shouse,where I was

FIGURE19.At the reception.
(\302\251
PETE SOUZA, THE WHITE
staying. told Francesaboutthe show, and how I gave the
I
reportersa copy of my report.Francesputs her hands to her
head,horrified.
I said,\"Yes,that was a dumb mistake,wasn'tit!I'd better
call'emup and tell'em notto useit.\"
I couldtellby the way Francesshookher headthat it wasn't
gonnabe so easy!
I calloneof them up: \"I'msorry, but I made a mistake: I
shouldn't to
have given my report you, so I'd preferyou didn't
useit.\"
\"We'rein the news business, Dr. Feynman. The goalof the
HOUSE.) news business is to get news,and your reportis newsworthy.It
156 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? MEETTHE PRESS 157

againstour instincts
wouldbe completely notto use
and practice play that card. But when one of them made the mistakeof
it.\" proposingthe possibility, I said,\"You saidit; /
didn't\"\342\200\224very

\"Iknow, but I'm naive aboutthesethings.I simplymadea if to say, \"I'm threateningyou,but you can figure
cold\342\200\224as not
mistake.It's not fair to the otherreporterswho will be at the it out for yourself,honey!\"
pressconference on Tuesday.After all,wouldyou likeit if you They calledme back,and saidthey wouldn'tusemy report.
came to a pressconference and the guy had mistakenlygiven his When I went on the show,I never gotthe impression that any
to
report somebody e lse?I think you can understand that.\" of the questions were based on my report. M r. Lehrer
d idask me
\"I'lltalk to my colleague and callyou back.\" whether there had been any problems b etween me and Mr.
Two hourslater,they call bothon the Rogers,but I weaseled: I saidthere had beenno problems.
After the show was over, the two reporterstold me they
line\342\200\224
back\342\200\224they're
and they try to explainto me why they shoulduse it: \"Inthe
news business, it'scustomary that whenever we get a document thoughtthe show went fine without my report.We left good
from somebody theway we did from you, it means we canuse friends.
it.\" I flew back to Californiathat night,and had my press
\"Iappreciatethat there are conventions in the news business, conference on Tuesday at Caltech.A largenumber of reporters
but I don'tknow anything aboutthesethings,soas a courtesyto came. A few askedquestions aboutmy report,but mostof them
me,pleasedon'tuse it.\" were interested in the rumor that I had threatened to take my
It went backand forth a littlemorelikethat.Then another name oflF the commission report.I found myselftellingthem over
\"We'llcallyou back,\"and anotherlongdelay.I couldtellfrom and over that I had no problemwith Mr. Rogers.
the longdelaysthat they were having a lot of troublewith this
problem.
I was in a very goodfettle,for somereason.I had already
lost,and I knew what I needed,so I couldfocuseasily.I hadno
difficulty admittingcomplete idiocy\342\200\224which is usually the case
when I dealwith the I didn'tthink there was any law
world\342\200\224and
of nature which saidI had to give in. I just kept going,and
didn'twaver at all.
It went lateinto the night:oneo'clock,two o'clock,we're
stillworking on it. \"Dr.Feynman, it's very unprofessional to
give someone a story and then retract it. This is not the way
peoplebehave in Washington.\"
\"It'sobviousI don'tknow anything aboutWashington. But
thisis the way / a fool.I'm sorry, but it was simply
behave\342\200\224like
an error,soas a courtesy,pleasedon'tuseit.\"
Then, somewherealongthe line,oneof them says,\"Ifwe
go ahead and useyour report,doesthat mean you won't go on
the show?\"
\"You saidit;/ didn't.\"
\"We'llcallyou back.\"
Another delay.
Actually, I hadn'tdecidedwhether I'd refuseto go on the
show, because I kept thinking it was possibleI couldundomy
mistake.When I thought about it, I didn'tthink I couldlegitimately
 AFTERTHOUGHTS 159
tomorrow morning,and there'sbeen someobjectionby the
but we've decidedto fly
Thiokolengineers, do anyway\342\200\224what
you think?\"But instead,Mulloy saidsomething
like,\"All the
questions have beenresolved.\" Thereseemed tobesomereason
Afterthoughts why guys
level.
at the lower level didn't bringproblems up to the next
I invented a theory which I have discussed with a consider-
number of people,and many peoplehave explained
considerable to me
why it's wrong. But I don't remember t heir explanations, so I
cannotresisttellingyou what I think ledtothislackof commu-
Now that I've had moretime to think aboutit, I stilllikeMr. in NASA.
communication

Rogers,and I stillfeelthat everything'sokay. It's my judgment When NASA was trying to go to the moon,there was a great
that he'sa fine man.Over the courseof the commission I got to deal of enthusiasm: it was a goal everyone was anxiousto
appreciate histalentsand his abilities, and I have greatrespect achieve.They didn'tknow if they coulddo it, but they were all
for him.Mr. Rogershas a very good,smoothway abouthim,so working together.
I reservein my headthe possibility\342\200\224not as a suspicion, but as I have this ideabecauseI worked at Los Alamos,and I
an unknown\342\200\224that I likehim because he knew how to make me experienced the tensionand the pressure of everybodyworking
likehim.I preferto assume he'sa genuinelyfinefellow,and that together to make the atomic bomb. W hen somebody's having a
he is the way he appears.But I was in Washington longenough with the detonator\342\200\224everybody knows that it's a
to know that I can'ttell. problem\342\200\224say,
big problem,they'rethinking of ways to beatit, they'remaking
I'm notexactlysurewhat Mr. Rogersthinks of me.He gives suggestions, and when they hear about the solutionthey're
me the impression that,in spiteof my beingsucha painin the excited,becausethat means their work is now useful:if the
assto him in the beginning, helikesme very much.I may be detonatordidn'twork, the bombwouldn'twork.
wrong, but if he feelsthe way I feeltoward him,it'sgood. I figuredthe samething had goneon at NASA in the early
days:if the spacesuitdidn'twork, they couldn'tgo to the moon.
Mr. Rogers,beinga lawyer, had a difficultjob to run a So everybody'sinterested in everybody else'sproblems.
commission investigatingwhat was essentially a technical ques- But then,when the moonprojectwas over,NASA had all
With Dr.Keel'shelp,I think the technical
question.
part of it was thesepeopletogether: there'sa bigorganization in Houstonand
handledwell.But it struck me that therewere several fishinesses a bigorganization in Huntsville, notto mentionat Kennedy,in
associated with the big cheeses at NASA. Florida.You don'twant to fire peopleand sendthem out in the
Every timewe talkedto higherlevelmanagers, they kept streetwhen you'redonewith a big project,so the problemis,
saying they didn'tknow anything about the problemsbelow what to do?
them.We'regettingthiskind of thingagainin the Iran-Contra You have to convince Congress that there existsa projectthat
hearings, but at that time,thiskindof situation was new to me: only NASA can do. In orderto do so, it is leastit
necessary\342\200\224at
eitherthe guys at the topdidn'tknow, in which casethey should was apparentlynecessary in this exaggerate:
case\342\200\224to to exag-
have known, or they did know, in which casethey'relying to us. how economical
exaggerate
the shuttlewouldbe, to exaggerate how
When we learnedthat Mr. Mulloyhad pressureon often it couldfly, to exaggeratehow safe it would be, to
Thiokolto launch,we heard time after time that put
the next levelup exaggeratethe big scientificfacts that would be discovered.
at NASA knew nothingaboutit. You'dthink Mr. Mulloy would \"The shuttlecan make so-and-so many flightsand it'll cost
have notifieda higher-upduring this big discussion, saying such-and-such; we went to the moon,so we cando it!\"
somethinglike,\"There's a question asto whetherwe should fly Meanwhile,I would guess,the engineers at the bottomare
158 saying, \"No, no! We can't make that many flights. If we had to
 160 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? AFTERTHOUGHTS 161
make that many flights,it would mean such-and-such!\" And, Therewere allkindsof questions we didn'tinvestigate. One
\"No, we can'tdo it for that amount of money, becausethat was this mystery of Mr. Beggs,the former directorof NASA
wouldmean we'd have to dothus-and-so!\" who was removedfrom hisjobpendingan investigation that had
Well, the guys who are trying to get Congress to okay their nothing to do with the shuttle;
h e was replacedby Graham
d
projects on't want to hear suchtalk. It's betterif they don't shortly before
the accident. it
Nevertheless, turned outthat, every
hear,so they canbe more \"honest\"\342\200\224they don'twant to be in day, Beggscameto hisoldoffice.Peoplecamein to seehim,
the positionof lying to Congress! So pretty soonthe attitudes althoughhe never talkedto Graham.What was he doing?Was
to
begin change: information fromthe bottom which is disagreeable\342\200\224 there someactivity stillbeingdirected by Beggs?
\"We'rehaving a problemwith the seals;we shouldfix it before From timeto timeI wouldtry to get Mr. Rogersinterested in
we fly suppressed by big cheeses
again\"\342\200\224is and middlemanag- investigating suchfishinesses. I said, \"We have lawyers on the
who say, \"Ifyou tellme aboutthe sealsproblems,
managers
we'llhave commission, we have company managers, we have very fine
to groundthe shuttleand fix it.\"Or, \"No,no, keepon flying, peoplewith a largerangeof experiences. We have peoplewho
becauseotherwise, it'll look bad,\"or \"Don'ttellme;I don't knowhow to get an answer outof a guy when hedoesn'twant to
want to hear aboutit.\" I don'tknow how to dothat.If a guy tellsme the
say something,
Maybe they don'tsay explicitly \"Don'ttell me,\"but they probabilityo f failure is 1 in 105,I know he'sftillof I
discourage communication, which amounts to the samething. don'tknow what'snatural in a bureaucratic
crap\342\200\224but

system.We oughta
It'snota question of what has beenwritten down,or who should get someof the big shotstogetherand ask them questions: just
tellwhat to whom; it'sa questionof whether, when you do tell likewe askedthe second-level managers l ike Mr. Mulloy, we
somebody aboutsomeproblem, they'redelighted to hearaboutit shouldask the first level.\"
and they say \"Tellme more\"and \"Have you tried such-and- He would say \"Yes,well,I think so.\"
such?\"or they say \"Well,see what you can do about it\" Mr.Rogerstoldme laterthat he wrote a letterto eachof the
is a completely
\342\200\224which differentatmosphere. If you try onceor big shots,but they repliedthat they didn'thave anything they
twice to communicate and get pushedback,pretty soonyou wanted to say to us.
decide,\"Tohellwith it.\"
Sothat'smy theory:becauseof the exaggeration at the top There was also the questionof pressurefrom the White
beinginconsistent with the reality at the bottom,communication House-
got slowedup and ultimately jammed.That'show it's possible It was the President's ideato put a teacherin space,as a
that the higher-ups didn'tknow. symbol o f the nation's commitment to education. He had pro-
the idea a year before,i n his Stateof the Union address.
The other possibility is that the higher-upsdid know, and proposed
Now, oneyear later,the Stateof the Unionspeechwas coming
they just saidthey didn'tknow. up again.It would be perfectto have the teacherin space,
I lookedup a formerdirectorof don'tremember
NASA\342\200\224I
talking to the President and the Congress. All the circumstantial
hisname is the headof somecompany in California.
now\342\200\224who
evidencewas very strong.
I thoughtI'd go and talk to him when I was ononeof my breaks I talkedto a number of peopleaboutit, and heard various
at home,and say, \"Theyallsay they haven'theard.Doesthat but I finally concluded that therewas no pressurefrom
make any sense?How doessomeonego about investigating opinions,
them?\" the White House.
Henever returned my calls.Perhapshe didn'twant to talk to Firstof all, the man who pressured Thiokolto changeits
the commissioner M r.
position, Mulloy, was a second-level manager. Ahead of
investigating higher-ups; maybe he had had time,nobodycouldpredictwhat might get in the way of a
enoughof NASA, and didn'twant to get involved.And because launch.If you imagineMulloywas told\"Makesure the shuttle
I was busy with so many otherthings,I didn'tpushit. fliestomorrow,becausethe President wants it,\"you'd have to
 162 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? AFTERTHOUGHTS 163
imaginethat everybodyelseat hislevelhad tobe there In otherfields,suchas business, it'sdifferent.Forexample,
are a lot of peopleat hislevel.To tellthat many peoplewould
told\342\200\224and
almostevery advertisement you see is obviouslydesigned,in
make it sureto leakout.Sothat way of putting on pressure was someway or another,to fool the customer: the print that they
very unlikely. don'twant you to readis small; statements t he are written in an
By the time the commission was over, I understoodmuch obscureway. It is obviousto anybody that the productis not
betterthecharacter of operations in Washington and in NASA. I beingpresented in a scientificand balanced way. Therefore,in
learned,by seeinghow they worked,that the peoplein a big the sellingbusiness, there'sa lackof integrity.
system likeNASA know what has to be done\342\200\224without being My father had the spiritand integrity of a scientist, but he
told. was a salesman. I rememberaskinghim the question \"Howcan
There was alreadya big pressure to keepthe shuttle flying. a man of integrity be a salesman?\"
NASA had a flight schedule they were trying to meet,just to He saidto me, \"Frankly,many salesmen in the business are
show the capabilities of NASA\342\200\224never mind whether the Presi- notstraightforward\342\200\224they think it'sa betterway to sell.But I've
was goingto give a speechthat night or not.So I don't
President triedbeingstraightforward, and I find it hasits advantages.In
believetherewas any directactivity or any specialeffort from fact,I wouldn'tdo it any otherway. If the customer thinks at all,
the White House.There was no needto do it, so I don'tbelieve he'll realizehe has had somebad experiencewith another
it was done. salesman, but hasn'thadthat kindof experience with you.Soin
I couldgiveyou an analogof that.You know thosesignsthat the end,severalcustomers will stay with you for a longtimeand
appearin the backwindows of automobiles\342\200\224those littleyellow appreciate it/*
diamondsthat say BABYON BOARD,and thingslikethat? You My father was not a big,successful, famoussalesman; he
don'thave to tellme there'sa baby on board;I'm gonnadrive was the salesmanager for a medium-sized uniform company. He
carefullyanyway! What am I supposed to do when I seethere's was successful, but not enormously so.
a baby on board:actdifferently?As if I'msuddenlygonnadrive When I seea congressman givinghisopinionon something,
more carefully and not hit the car becausethere'sa baby on I always wonderif it represents hisrealopinion or if it represents
board,when allI'm trying to do is not hit it anyway! an opinion that he's designed in orderto be elected. It seemsto
SoNASA was trying to getthe shuttleup anyway: you don't be a centralproblemfor politicians. So I oftenwonder:what is
have to say there'sa baby on board,or there'sa teacheron the relationof integrity to working in the government?
board,or it's important to get thisoneup for the President. Now, Dr.Keelstartedout by tellingme that he had a degree
in physics.I always assumethat everybody in physicshas
Now that I'vetalkedto somepeopleaboutmy experiences on integrity\342\200\224perhaps I'm naive about I must have asked
that\342\200\224so

the commission, I think I understanda few thingsthat I didn't him a question I oftenthink about:\"Howcan a man of integrity
understandso well earlier.Oneof them has to do with what I getalongin Washington?\"
saidto Dr. Keelthat upsethim somuch.Recently I was talking It's very easy to read that questionanotherway: \"Since
to a man who spenta lotof time in Washington, and I askedhim you'regettingalong in Washington,you can'tbe a man of
a particularquestion which, if he didn'ttake it right,couldbe integrity!\"
considered a grave insult,I wouldliketo explainthe question,
becauseit seemsto me to be a realpossibility of what I saidto betternow has to do with where
Another thing I understand
Dr. Keel. the ideacame from that coldaffects the O-rings.It was General
The only way to have realsuccessin science,the fieldI'm Kutyna who calledme up and said,\"I was working on my
familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without what is the effect of coldon the
carburetor,and I was thinking:
regardto the way you feelit shouldbe.If you have a theory,you O-rings?\"
must try to explainwhat'sgoodand what'sbadaboutit equally. Well,it turns out that one of NASA's own astronauts told
In science,you learna kindof standardintegrity and honesty. somewherein the works of NASA,
him there was information,
164 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

that the O-ringshad noresilience

whateverat low temperatures\342\200\224
and NASA wasn'tsaying anything aboutit.
But GeneralKutyna had the careerof that astronaut to worry
about,so the realquestion the Generalwas thinking aboutwhile
he was working on his carburetorwas, \"How can I get this AppendixF:
information out without jeopardizing
solutionwas to get the professor
workedperfectly.
my astronaut friend?\"His
excitedaboutit, and his plan PersonalObservationson
the Reliabilityof the Shuttle

Introduction
It appearsthat there are enormous diflFerences of opinion asto the
probability o f a failure with lossof vehicle a nd of human life.*
The estimates range from roughly 1 in 100to 1 in 100,000. The
higherfigures come from working engineers, and the very low
figures come from management. What are the causes a nd conse-
consequences of this lack of agreement? Since1 part in 100,000
would imply that onecouldlaunch a shuttle eachday for 300
years expecting to loseonlyone,we couldproperlyask,\"What
is the causeof management's fantastic faith in the machinery?\"
We have alsofoundthat certification criteriausedin flight
readiness reviews oftendevelopa graduallydecreasing strictness.
The argumentthat thesameriskwas flown beforewithout failure
is oftenacceptedas an argument for the safety of accepting it
again. B ecause o f this, obvious weaknesses a re accepted a gain
and again\342\200\224sometimes without a sufficiently seriousattempt to
remedy them,sometimes without a flight delay because of their
continued presence.
Thereare severalsourcesof information: thereare published
including history modifications
criteriafor certification, a of in
the form of waivers and deviations; in addition,the recordsof
the flight readinessreviews for eachflight documentthe argu-
usedto acceptthe risksof the flight.Informationwas
arguments

*Leighton'snote:The version printed as Appendix F in the commission report

does not appear to have been edited, so I took it upon myself to smooth it oat
\320\260

little bit.
165
 166 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
obtainedfrom directtestimonyand reportsof the rangesafety
officer,LouisJ. Ullian,with respectto the history of successof
solidfuel rockets.There was further study by him (aschairman
of the Launch Abort Safety Panel,LASP) in an attempt to
determinethe risksinvolvedin possibleaccidentsleadingto
radioactivecontamination from attempting to fly a plutonium
APPENDIX F 167
isnotvery clearwhat thisphrasemeans.Doesit mean it isclose
to 1 or that it oughtto be closeto 1?They go on to explain,
\"Historically, thisextremely highdegreeof missionsuccesshas
given rise to a differencein philosophybetweenmanned space
flight programsand unmanned programs;i.e., numerical proba-
usage versus engineeringjudgment.\" (These quotations are
from \"SpaceShuttle Data for Planetary MissionRTG Safety
probability

powersupply(called a radioactive thermal generator, or RTG)on

future planetary missions.
The NASA study of the samequestion Analysis,\" pages3-1and 3-2,February 15,1985,NASA, JSC.)
is also available.For the historyof the spaceshuttlemain It is true that if the probabilityof failure was as low as 1 in
engines,interviewswith managementand engineers at Marshall, 100,000 it wouldtake an inordinatenumber of teststodetermine
and informal interviews with engineersat Rocketdyne,were it: you wouldgetnothingbut a stringof perfectflights with no
made.An independent(Caltech)mechanicalengineer who consulted precise figure\342\200\224other
is likely lessthan
than that the probability
forNASA aboutengineswas alsointerviewedinformally.A visit the number of suchflightsin the stringso far. But if the real
to Johnsonwas made to gatherinformation on the reliability of probabilityis not so small,flightswithwould show troubles,near
a reasonable number of
the avionics(computers, sensors, eifectors).
and Finally, there is failures,and possibly actual failures
the report\"A Review of CertificationPracticesPotentially Appli- trials,and standardstatistical methodscouldgive a reasonable
to Man-ratedReusableRocketEngines,\"
Applicable
preparedat the estimate.In fact, previousNASA experience had shown,on
Jet Propulsion Laboratory by N. Mooreet al. in February 1986 occasion,just suchdifficulties, near accidents,and even acci-
for NASA Headquarters, Officeof SpaceFlight.It dealswith the accidents, allgivingwarning that the probabilityof flight failurewas
methodsusedby the FAA and the military to certify theirgas not so very small.
turbineand rocketengines.Theseauthorswere alsointerviewed Another inconsistency in the argument not to determine
informally. reliabilitythrough historical
experience(as the range safety
officerdid)is NASA's appealto history:\"Historically,thishigh
degreeof missionsuccess...\" Finally, if we are to replace
SolidRocket Boosters(SRB) standardnumerical probabilityusagewith engineering judgment,
why do we find such an enormous disparity b etween the manage-
An estimateof the reliability of solid-fuel rocketboosters managementestimateand the judgmentof the engineers? It would
(SRBs)was madeby the range safety officerby studying the appearthat,for whatever it for internal or external
purpose\342\200\224be

experience of allpreviousrocketflights.Out of a totalof nearly consumption\342\200\224the management of NASA exaggerates

the relia-
2900flights,121failedA in 25).Thisincludes,however, what of its productto the pointof fantasy.
and flight readiness
reliability

may be called\"early errors\"\342\200\224rockets flown for the first few The historyof the certification reviews
timesin which designerrorsare discovered and fixed.A more will not be repeatedhere (see other parts of the commission
reasonable figure for the mature rockets might be 1 in 50.With report),but the phenomenon of accepting sealsthat had shown
specialcare in selectingparts and in inspection, a figure below1 erosionand blowby in previousflightsis very clear.The Chal-
in 100might be achieved,but 1 in 1000is probablynot Challenger flight is an excellent example: there are severalreferences
attainablewith today'stechnology. (Sincethere are two rockets to previousflights;the acceptance and success of theseflights are
on the shuttle,theserocketfailure ratesmust be doubledto get taken asevidence of safety. Buterosionand blowby are notwhat
shuttlefailure ratesdueto SRBfailure.) the designexpected. They are warnings that something is wrong.
NASA officialsargue that the figureis much lower.They The equipmentis not operatingas expected, and therefore there
point out that \"sincethe shuttleis a manned vehicle,the is a dangerthat it can operatewith even wider deviations i n this
probabilityof mission successis necessarily very closeto 1.0\"It unexpected and notthoroughly understood way. The fact that this
 168 WHAT \320\225\320\256 YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? APPENDIX F 169
dangerdidnotleadto a catastrophe beforeisno guaranteethat it a stream of hotgasimpinged on the O-ringmaterial, and the heat
will not the next time,unlessit is completely understood. When was determined at the pointof stagnation (sofar, with reasonable
playing Russianroulette, the fact that the first shotgotoff safely physical,thermodynamical laws). But to determine h ow much
is of littlecomfortfor the next.The originand consequences of rubbereroded,it was assumed that the erosion varied as the .58
the erosion and blowby were notunderstood. Erosionand blowby powerof heat,the .58beingdetermined by a nearest fit. At any
did not occurequallyon all flights or in alljoints:sometimes rate,adjusting someother numbers, it was determined that the
there was more, sometimes less.Why not sometime,when modelagreedwith the erosion(toa depthof one-third the radius
whatever conditions determined it were right,wouldn'tthere be of the ring).There is nothingso wrong with this analysisas
stillmore,leadingto catastrophe? believingthe answer!Uncertainties appeareverywhere in the
In spite of thesevariationsfrom case to case, officials model.How strongthe gasstream might bewas unpredictable; it
behavedas if they understoodthem,givingapparently logical depended o nholes formed in the putty, Blowby showed that the
argumentstoeach citingthe 'success\" of previous
other\342\200\224often
*
ring might fail,even thoughit was only partially eroded.The
flights.Forexample,in determining if flight 51-Lwas safeto fly empirical formula was known to be uncertain, for the curve did
in the faceof ring erosionin flight 51-C, it was notedthat the not go directlythrough the very data pointsby which it was
erosiondepthwas onlyone-thirdof the radius.It had beennoted determined. Therewas a cloudof points,sometwice aboveand
in an experiment cutting the ring that cuttingit as deepas one sometwice below the fitted curve, so erosionstwice those
radiuswas necessary beforethe ringfailed.Insteadof beingvery predicted were reasonable from that causealone.Similar uncer-
concerned that variationsof poorlyunderstood conditions might uncertainties surrounded the otherconstants in the formula,et cetera,
reasonably createa deepererosionthistime,it was asserted there et cetera.When usinga mathematical model,carefulattention
was \"a safety factorof three.\" must be given to the uncertainties in the model.
Thisis a strangeuseof the engineer'sterm \"safety factor.\"
If a bridgeisbuiltto withstanda certainloadwithout the beams
permanently deforming,cracking,or breaking,it may be de- SpaceShuttleMain Engines (SSME)
designed for the materials usedto actually standup under three
timesthe load.This\"safety factor\"is to allow for uncertain 51-Lthe three spaceshuttle main
During the flight of the
excesses of load,or unknown extra loads,or weaknesses in the enginesa llworkedperfectly,even beginningto shut down in the
material that might have unexpected flaws, et cetera.But if the last momentsas the fuel supplybeganto fail.The question
expected loadcomesonto the new bridgeand a crack appearsin arises,however, as to whether\342\200\224had the enginesfailed,and we
a beam,thisa failureof the design.Therewas no safety factorat were to investigate them in as much detailas we did the solid
all,even though the bridgedidnot actually collapsebecausethe rocketbooster\342\200\224we would find a similarlack of attentionto
crackonly went one-thirdof the way through the beam.The faults and deteriorating safety criteria.In otherwords,were the
O-ringsof the solidrocketboosters were not designed to erode. organization weaknesses that contributed to the accidentconfined
Erosionwas a cluethat somethingwas wrong.Erosionwas not to the solidrocketboostersector,or were they a moregeneral
somethingfrom which safety couldbe inferred. characteristic of NASA? To that end the spaceshuttle main
Therewas no way, without full understanding, that onecould engines and the avionicswere both investigated. No similar
have confidence that conditions the next timemight not produce study of the orbiteror the external tank was made.
erosionthree timesmoreseverethan the time before.Neverthe- The engineis a much morecomplicated structure than the
officialsfooledthemselves into thinking they had such solidrocketbooster,and a great dealmoredetailedengineering
Nevertheless,

in
understanding confidence, spiteof thepeculiarvariations
and goesinto it. Generally,the engineering seemsto be of high
from caseto case.A mathematicalmodelwas made to calculate quality, and apparentlyconsiderable attention ispaidto deficiencies
erosion.This was a modelbasednoton physicalunderstanding and faults foundin engineoperation.
but on empirical it was supposed
curve fitting.Specifically, that The usualway that suchengines are designed (formilitary or
 170 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

civilianaircraft) may be calledthe component

APPENDIX F 171
system,orbottom- The spaceshuttlemain engineis a very remarkablemachine.
up design.First it is necessary to thoroughly understandthe
properties and limitations of the materials to be used(turbine It has a greaterratio of thrust to weight than any previous
blades,for example), and testsare begunin experimental rigsto engine.It isbuiltat the edgeof\342\200\224sometimesoutside
of\342\200\224previous
determine those.With this knowledge,largercomponent parts engineering experience. Therefore, as expected,many different
(suchas bearings)are designedand testedindividually. As kinds of flaws and difficultieshave turned up. Because,
deficiencies and designerrorsare notedthey are corrected and unfortunately, it was built in a top-downmanner, the flaws are
verifiedwith further testing.Sinceonetestsonly partsat a time, difficultto find and to fix.The designaim of an enginelifetime
thesetestsand modifications are not expensive. of 55mission equivalents B7,000secondsof operation, eitherin
one works up to the final designof overly Finally
the entireengine,to the missionsof 500secondseachor on a teststand)has not been
necessary specifications. There is a goodchance,by thistime, obtained.The enginenow requiresvery frequent maintenance
that the enginewill generallysucceed, or that failuresare and replacement of important parts suchas turbopumps,bear-
easilyisolatedand analyzed becausethe failureany modes, limita- sheetmetal housings,et cetera.The high-pressure
bearings, fuel
of materials,
limitations et cetera,are so well understood. There is a turbopumphad to be replacedevery three or four mission
very good chancethat the modifications to get aroundfinal equivalents(althoughthis may have beenfixed,now) and the
difficultiesin the engineare not very hard to make,for mostof high-pressure oxygenturbopump every five or six.This was, at
the serious problemshave already beendiscovered and dealtwith most,10percentof the originaldesignspecifications. But out
in the earlier,lessexpensive stages of the process. main concern here is the determination of reliability.
The spaceshuttlemain enginewas handledin a different In a totalof 250,000 secondsof operation, the main engines
down,we might say. The enginewas designed
manner\342\200\224top and have failed seriously perhaps 16 times.Engineerspay close
put togetherallat oncewith relatively littledetailed preliminary
attentionto thesefailingsand try to remedy them as quickly as
study of the materials and components. But now, when troubles possibleby teststudieson specialrigsexperimentallydesigned
are foundin bearings, turbine blades,coolant pipes,et cetera,it for the flaw in question, by careful inspection of the enginefor
is moreexpensive and difficultto discoverthe causesand make suggestiveclues(likecracks),and by considerable study and
changes.For example,crackshave beenfoundin the turbine analysis.In this way, in spiteof the difficultiesof top-down
bladesof the high-pressure oxygenturbopump.Are they caused design,through hard work many of the problems have apparently
by flaws in the material, the effectof the oxygen atmosphere beensolved.
the properties of the material,the thermal stressesof startup on
or
shutdown,the vibrationand stresses of steady running, or mainly A (and theirstatus)follows:
listof someof the problems
at someresonance at certainspeeds,or somethingelse?How
longcan we run from crack initiation to crackfailure,and how Turbinebladecracksin high-pressure
fuel turbopumps(HPFTP).
doesthisdependon powerlevel?Usingthe completed engineas (May have been solved.)
a testbedto resolvesuchquestions is extremely expensive.One TUrbinebladecracksin high-pressure oxygen fuel turbopumps
doesnot wish to loseentireenginesin orderto find out where (HPOTP). (Not solved.)
and how failure occurs.Yet, an accurate knowledgeof this
information is essentialto acquiringa confidence Augmentedspark igniter(ASI) linerupture.(Probablysolved.)
in the engine
reliabilityin use. Without detailedunderstanding, confidence Purgecheckvalve failure.(Probablysolved.)
cannotbe attained. ASIchambererosion.(Probablysolved.)
further disadvantage
A of the top-downmethodis that if an HPFTPturbine sheetmetal cracking.(Probablysolved.)
understanding of a fault isobtained, a simple as a new
fix\342\200\224such
HPFTPcoolantlinerfailure.(Probablysolved.)
shapefor the turbine be impossible
to implement
without a redesign
housing\342\200\224may
of the entireengine. Main combustion chamberoutletelbowfailure.(Probably
solved.)
172 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? APPENDIX F 173
Main combustion
chamberinletelbowweldoffset.(Probably because two were unusual in lastinglonger. The shorttime might
solved.) be morerepresentative of the real possibilities,
and in the spirit
HPOTPsubsynchronous whirl. (Probablysolved.) of safety
the factorof 2, we should only operateat half the time
of the short-livedsamples.
Flightaccelerationsafety cutoff system (partialfailure in a The slow shift toward a decreasing safety factorcan be seen
redundant system).(Probablysolved.) in many examples. We take that of the HPFTPturbine blades.
Bearingspalling.(Partially solved.) Firstof allthe ideaof testingan entireenginewas abandoned.
A vibrationat 4000hertz making someengines Each enginehas had many importantparts (suchas the turbopumps
inoperable. themselves) replacedat frequent intervals,sothe ruleof2x must
(Not solved.) be shiftedfrom enginesto components. Thus we acceptan
HPFTPfor a given certification time if two samples have each
Many of theseapparently solvedproblems were the early
for twicethat time (and,of course,asa practical
difficultiesof a new design:13of them occurredin the first run successfully
125,000secondsand only 3 in the second125,000 seconds. matter, no longerinsistingthat this time be as long as 10
Naturally, one can never be sure that all the bugs out;for
are The FAA callsa turbine
But what is \"successfully\"?
missions).
some, t he fix may not have addressed the true cause.Thus it is bladecracka failure,in orderto really providea safety factor
not unreasonable to guessthere may be at leastonesurprisein greaterthan 2 in practice. Thereissometime that an enginecan
the next 250,000 seconds,a probabilityof Vsoo perengineper run betweenthe time a crackoriginally starts and the time it has
mission.On a missionthereare threeengines,but it is possible grown largeenough to fracture. (The FAA is contemplating new
that someaccidents wouldbe self-contained and affect only one rulesthat take thisextra safety time intoaccount, but will accept
engine.(The shuttle can abort its mission with only two en- them onlyif it is very carefully analyzedthrough known models
engines.)Therefore, letus say that the unknown surprises do not, within a known range of experience and with materialsthoroughly
in and of themselves, permit us to guess that the probabilityof tested.None of theseconditions appliesto the spaceshuttlemain
missionfailure dueto the spaceshuttlemain enginesis lessthan engines.) HPFTP turbine
Vsoo. To this we must add the chanceof failurefrom known, Crackswere found in many second-stage
but as yet unsolved, problems. Thesewe discussbelow. blades.In onecasethreewere found after 1900seconds,while
(Engineers Rocketdyne,the manufacturer, estimatethe
a t in anotherthey were not foundafter 4200seconds,although
totalprobabilityas Engineers at Marshallestimate it as usually theselongerruns showedcracks.To followthis story
further we must realizethat the stressdependsa greatdealonthe
\320\243\321\216\320\264\321\216\320\276.

V300, while NASA management,to whom these engineers

report,claimsit is V\\00,000. An independent engineerconsulting
for NASA thought1 or 2 per 100a reasonable estimate.)
The history of the certification principles for these enginesis
confusingand difficultto explain.Initiallythe rule seemsto have
beenthat two sampleenginesmust eachhave had twice the time
operatingwithout failure,as the operatingtime of the engineto
be certified(ruleof 2x).At leastthat is the FAA practice,and
NASA seemsto have adoptedit originally, expecting the certi-
fiedtime tobe 10missions (hence20missions foreachsample).
Obviously,the best enginesto use for comparison would be
thoseof greatesttotal operatingtime (flight plus test), the
so-calledfleet leaders.But what if a third sampleengineand
severalothersfail in a shorttime?Surely we will not be safe
power level.The Challenger flight,as well as previousflights,
was at a levelcalled104percentof ratedpowerduring mostof
the time the engineswere operating. Judgingfrom somematerial
is
data, supposed
it that at 104 percentof rated power,the time
to crackis abouttwice that at 109percent,or full powerlevel
(FPL). Future flights were to be at 109 percentbecauseof
heavier pay loads,and many tests were made at this level.
Therefore, dividingtimeat 104percentby 2, we obtainunits
calledequivalentfull power level (EFPL).(Obviously,some
uncertainty is introduced by that, but it has not beenstudied.)
The earliestcracksmentioned above occurred at 1375seconds
EFPL.
Now the certification rulebecomes\"limitall second-stage
174 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? APPENDIX F 175
bladesto a maximum of 1375secondsEFPL.\"If oneobjects rulesshow a deterioration
certification in regardto someof the
that the safety factorof 2 is lost,it is pointedout that the one problems o f the space shuttlemain enginesthat is closely
turbine ran for 3800seconds EFPLwithout cracks,and halfof analogous to the seen
deterioration in the rulesfor the solid
thisis 1900so we are beingmoreconservative. We have fooled rocketboosters.
ourselves in threeways. First,we have only onesample, and it is
not the fleet leader:the other two samplesof 3800or more
secondsEFPLhad 17crackedbladesbetweenthem.(Thereare Avionics
59 bladesin the engine.)Next, we have abandonedthe 2x rule
and substituted equaltime A375).And finally, the 1375is where By \"avionics\"is meant the computersystem on the orbiter
a crack was discovered. We can say that nocrackhad beenfound as well asits input sensorsand output actuators. At first we will
below1375,but the lasttime we lookedand saw no crackswas restrictourselves to the computersproper,and notbe concerned
1100secondsEFPL.We do not know when the crackformed with the reliabilityof the input informationfrom the sensors of
betweenthesetimes.Forexample, cracksmay have beenformed temperature, pressure,et cetera;nor with whether the computer
at 1150secondsEFPL.(Approximatelytwo-thirdsof the blade outputis faithfully followedby the actuatorsof rocketfirings,
setstestedin excessof 1375secondsEFPLhad cracks.Some mechanical controls,displaysto astronauts, et cetera.
recentexperiments have, indeed,shown cracksas early as 1150 The computing system is very elaborate, having over 250,000
seconds.)It was important to keep the number high,for the linesof code.Among many otherthingsit is responsible for the
shuttle had to fly itsengines very closeto their limitby the time automatic controlof the shuttle's entireascentintoorbit,and for
the flight was over. the descentuntil the shuttleis well into the atmosphere (below
Finally, it isclaimed that the criteria
have notbeenabandoned, Mach 1), onceone buttonis pusheddeciding the landingsite
and that the systemis safe,by givingup the FAA convention desired.It wouldbe possibleto make the entirelandingautomat-
that there shouldbe no cracks,and by considering only a (The landinggear loweringsignalis expresslyleft out of
automatic.

completelyfractured bladea failure.With this definitionno
enginehas yet failed.The ideais that sincethere is sufficient
time for a crackto grow to fracture, we can ensurethat allis safe
by inspecting allbladesfor cracks.If cracksare found,replace
the blades,and if noneare found,we have enoughtime for a
safemission.Thus,it is claimed, the crackproblemis no longer
a flight safety problem, but merely a maintenanceproblem.
This may in fact be true.But how well do we know that
cracksalways grow slowlyenoughso that no fracture can occur
in a mission? Threeengineshave run for longtime periodswith
computercontrol,and must be providedby the pilot,ostensibly
for safety reasons.) Duringorbitalflight the computing system is
usedin the controlof payloads,in the displayof informationto
the astronauts, and in the exchangeof information with the
ground.It is evidentthat the safety of flight requires guaranteed
accuracy of this elaboratesystem of computerhardware and
software.
In brief, hardware reliabilityis ensuredby having four
essentially independent identicalcomputersystems.Where pos-
possible, eachsensor alsohas multiplecopies\342\200\224usually
four\342\200\224and

a few crackedblades(about3000seconds EFPL),with no blade eachcopyfeedsallfourof the computerlines.If the inputsfrom

actually breakingoff. the sensorsdisagree,eithera certainaverage or a majority
A fix for thiscrackingmay have beenfound.By changing selection isusedas the effectiveinput,dependingon the circum-
the bladeshape,shot-peening the surface,and coveringit with Sinceeachcomputer
circumstances. seesallcopiesof the sensors,the
insulation to excludethermal shock,the new bladeshave not inputs are the same,and because the algorithms usedby eachof
crackedso far. the four computers are the same, the results in each computer
A similar storyappearsin the historyof certification of the shouldbe identicalat eachstep. From time to time they are
HPOTP, b ut we shallnot givethe detailshere. compared, but becausethey might operate slightly different
at
In summary,it is evidentthat the flight readiness reviews and speeds,a systemof stoppingand waiting at specified timesis
176 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? APPENDIX F 177
institutedbeforeeachcomparison is made.If oneof thecomput- testingis considered very serious, and its originis studiedvery
disagrees
computers or is toolatein having its answer ready, the three carefully to avoidsuch mistakes i n the future. Suchinexperienced
which do agreeare assumed to becorrectand the errant comput- errorshave beenfound only aboutsixtimesin allthe program-
is taken completely
computer out of the system.If, now, another and programchanging(for new or alteredpayloads)that
computerfails,asjudgedby the agreement of the othertwo,it is programming

has beendone.The principle followedis:ailthisverification is

taken out of the system,and the restof the flight is canceled: not an aspectof program safety; it is a testof that safety in a
descentto the landingsiteis instituted,controlled by the two noncatastrophic verification. Flightsafety is to be judgedsolely
remaining computers. is
It seenthat thisis a redundant system on how well the programsdo in the verifiedtests.A failure here
sincethe failure of only one computerdoes not affect the generates considerable concern.
mission.Finally, as an extra feature of safety, there is a fifth To summarize, then,the computersoftware checkingsystem
independent computer, whosememory is loadedwith only the is of highestquality. Thereappearsto be no processof gradually
programs ascentand descent,and which is capableof
for foolingoneselfwhile degradingstandards, the process socharac-
controlling the descentif there is a failure of morethan two of of the solidrocketboosterand spaceshuttlemain engine
characteristic
the computers of the main lineof four. safety systems. Tobe sure,there have beenrecentsuggestions by
is
There not enoughroomin the memory of the mainline management to curtail suchelaborateand expensivetestsas
computersfor all the programsof ascent,descent,and pay load beingunnecessaryat this late date in shuttle history. Such
programsin flight,so the memory is loadedby the astronauts suggestions must be resisted,for they do not appreciatethe
aboutfour timesfrom tapes. mutual subtleinfluences and sources of errorgeneratedby even
Becauseof the enormous effort requiredto replacethe soft- smallprogramchangesin one part of a programon another.
for such an elaboratesystem and to checkout a new
software
There are perpetualrequestsfor programchangesas new pay-
system,no changein the hardware hasbeenmade sincethe loadsand new demandsand modifications are suggested by the
shuttletransportation systembeganaboutfifteen years ago.The users.Changesare expensivebecausethey requireextensive
actual hardware is example,the memories
obsolete\342\200\224for are of testing.The properway to save money is to curtail the number of
the oldferrite-core type. It is becoming m oredifficult t o find requested changes,not the quality of testingfor each.
manufacturers to supplysuchold-fashioned computers are
t hat Onemight addthat the elaborate system couldbe very much
reliableand of highenoughquality. Moderncomputers are much improvedby modern hardware and programming techniques.
morereliable,and they run much faster.This simplifies circuits Any outsidecompetition would have all the advantages of
and allowsmore to be done.Today'scomputerswould not startingover. Whether modernhardware is a good idea for
requiresomuch loadingfrom tapes,fortheirmemories are much NASA shouldbe carefully considered now.
larger. Finally,returning to the sensors a nd actuatorsof the avionics
The software is checkedvery carefully in a bottom-upfash- system, we find that the attitude toward system failure and
First,eachnew lineof codeis checked;then sectionsof
fashion.
i s not
reliability nearly good as as for the computersystem.For
code(modules) with special functionsare verified.The scopeis a
example, difficulty was found with certain temperaturesensors
increasedstepby stepuntil the new changesare incorporated sometimes failing. eighteen
Yet months later the same sensors
intoa completesystemand checked.This completeoutputis were stillbeingused,stillsometimes failing, ntil a launch had
u
consideredthe final product,newly released.But working tG be scrubbedbecause two of them failedat the same time.
completelyindependently is a verificationgroupthat takes an Even on a succeeding flight this unreliable sensorwas used
adversary attitude to the software development groupand tests again. A nd reaction control systems, t he rocket jets usedfor
the software as if it were a customer of the deliveredproduct. reorienting and control i n flight, still are somewhat unreliable.
There is additional verificationin usingthe new programsin There is considerable redundancy, but also a long history of
simulators, et cetera. An errorduringthisstageof verification failures,noneof which hasyet beenextensive enoughto serious-
 178 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
APPENDIX F 179

of the jetsischecked chanceof beingmet.If in thisway the governmentwould not

ly affecta flight.The action by sensors:if a supportNASA, then sobe it. NASA owesit to the citizens from
jet failsto fire,the computers chooseanotherjet to fire.But they whom it asks supportto be frank, honest,and informative, so
are not designed to fail,and the problemshouldbe solved. that thesecitizens can make the wisestdecisions for the useof
their limitedresources.
Conclusions For successful technology,reality must take precedence over
public for
relations, Nature cannot b e fooled.
If a reasonable launch schedule istobe maintained, engineer-
often cannotbe donefast enoughto keep up with the
of the originallyconservative certification
criteria
engineering

expectations
designedto guarantee a very safe vehicle.In such situations,
safety criteriaare altered with often apparently
subtly\342\200\224and

logicalarguments\342\200\224so that flightscan stillbe certifiedin time.

The shuttlethereforefliesin a relatively unsafe condition, with a
chanceof failure on the orderof a percent.(It is difficult to be
moreaccurate.)
Officialmanagement, on the otherhand,claimsto believethe
probability offailureisa thousandtimesless.Onereasonforthis
may be an attempt to assurethe government of NASA's perfec-
and success
perfection in orderto ensure the supplyoffunds.The other
may be that they sincerely believeit to be true,demonstrating an
almostincredible lackof communication betweenthe managers
and their working engineers.
In any event,thishas had very unfortunateconsequences, the
mostseriousof which is to encourage ordinary citizens fly in
t o
sucha dangerous if it had attainedthe safety of an
machine\342\200\224as

ordinary airliner.The astronauts, liketest pilots,shouldknow

theirrisks,and we honorthem for their courage.Who can doubt
that McAuliffe*was equallya personof greatcourage, who was
closerto an awarenessof the true risksthan NASA management
wouldhave usbelieve?
Letus make recommendations to ensurethat NASA officials
dealin a world of reality,understandingtechnological weaknesses
and imperfections well enoughto be actively trying to eliminate
them.They must livein a world of reality in comparingthe costs
and utility of the shuttleto othermethods of enteringspace.And
they must berealistici n making contracts and in estimating
the
costsand difficultiesof eachproject.Only realisticflight sched-
shouldbe proposed\342\200\224schedules that have a reasonable
schedules

*Note for foreign readers: Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher, was to have been
the first ordinary citizen in symbol of the nation's commitment to
space\342\200\224a

education, and of the shuttle's safety.

 EPILOGUE

Preface

When I was younger,I thoughtsciencewould make goodthings

for everybody. It was obviouslyuseful;it was good.During the
war I workedon the atomicbomb.Thisresultof sciencewas
obviouslya very seriousmatter: it represented the destruction
of
people.
After the war I was very worriedaboutthe bomb.I didn't
know what the future was goingto looklike, and I certainly
wasn'tanywhere near sure that we wouldlastuntil now, There-
onequestion
Therefore there someevil involvedin science?
was\342\200\224is

Put another is the value of the scienceI had

way\342\200\224what
dedicated myself thing I
to\342\200\224the I saw what terrible
loved\342\200\224when

things it coulddo? It was a question I had to answer.

\"TheValue of Science\" is a kindof report,if you will, on
many of the thoughtsthat cameto me when I triedto answer that
question.
RichardFeynman

181
 THE VALUE OF SCIENCE 183
on a trip to Honolulu. In a Buddhisttemplethere,the man in
chargeexplaineda littlebit about the Buddhistreligionfor
tourists,and then endedhis talk by tellingthem he had some-
to say to them that they would never I have
The Value of Science* something forget\342\200\224and
never forgottenit. It was a proverbof the Buddhistreligion:
Toevery mailisgiven the key to the gatesof heaven;
the same key opensthe gates of hell.
What then,is the value of the key to heaven?It is true that if
we lack clearinstructions that enableus to determinewhich is
Fromtime to time peoplesuggestto me that scientists oughtto the gateto heaven and which the gateto hell,the key may be a
givemoreconsideration to socialproblems\342\200\224especially that they dangerousobjectto use.
shouldbe moreresponsible in considering the impactof science But the key obviouslyhasvalue:how can we enter heaven
on society. It seemsto be generallybelieved that if the scientists without it?
would only lookat thesevery difficultsocialproblems and not Instructions wouldbe of no value without the key. Soit is
spendso much time foolingwith lessvital scientific ones,great evidentthat,in spiteof the fact that it couldproduceenormous
successwouldcomeof it. horrorin the world,scienceis of value becauseit can produce
It seemsto me that we do think abouttheseproblems from something.
time to time,but we don'tput a full-timeeffort into them\342\200\224the
Another value of scienceis the fun calledintellectual enjoy-
reasonsbeingthat we know we don'thave any magicformula for which somepeopleget from readingand learningand
enjoyment

solvingsocialproblems,that socialproblemsare very much thinking aboutit, and which othersget from working in it. This
harder than scientific ones,and that we usually don'tget any- is an importantpoint,onewhich is not considered enoughby
anywhere when we do think aboutthem. thosewho tellus it is our socialresponsibility to reflecton the
I believethat a scientistlookingat nonscientific problems is impactof scienceon society.
just as dumb as the next when he talks about a Is this mere personalenjoyment of value to societyas a
nonscientific
guy\342\200\224and
matter, he soundsas naive as anyone untrained in whole?No! But it is alsoa responsibility to consider theaim of
the matter. Sincethe questionof the value of scienceis not a societyitself.Is it to arrange matters so that peoplecanenjoy
scientific subject,thistalk is dedicated to provingmy things?If so, then the enjoymentof scienceis as important as
anything else.
point\342\200\224by
example. But I wouldlikenotto underestimate the value of the world
The first way in which scienceis of value is familiar to
everyone.It is that scientificknowledgeenablesus to do all view which is the resultof scientific effort.We have been
kindsof thingsand to make allkindsof things.Of courseif we ledto imagineallsortsof thingsinfinitely more marvelous than
make goodthings,it is notonlyto the creditof science; it is also the imaginings of poetsand dreamersof the past.It showsthat the
to the creditof the moralchoicewhich ledus to goodwork. imaginationof nature is far, far greaterthan the imagination
Scientific knowledgeis an enablingpowerto do eithergoodor of man. Forinstance, how much moreremarkableit isfor usallto
it doesnot carry instructions on how to use it. Such be of us upside
stuck\342\200\224half a mysteriousattractionto a
down\342\200\224by

spinningballthat hasbeenswingingin spacefor billionsof years

bad\342\200\224but

power has evident though powermay be negat-

the
value\342\200\224even

by what onedoes with it. than to be carriedon the backof an elephant supportedon a
tortoiseswimming in a bottomless sea.
negated

' I learneda way of expressing

*A public addressgiven at the
thiscommonhuman problem
1955autumn meeting of the National Academy
I have thought aboutthesethingsso many timesalonethat I
of Sciences. hopeyou will excuseme if I remind you of thistype of thought
182 that I am suremany of you have had,which no onecouldever
184 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? THE VALUE OF SCIENCE 185
have had in the past becausepeoplethen didn't have the The samethrill,the sameawe and mystery,comesagain and
we have aboutthe world today.
information again when we lookat any question deeplyenough.With more
alone,and start to think.
I standat the seashore,
Forinstance, knowledge comesa deeper,morewonderful mystery,luring one
on to penetratedeeperstill.Never concerned that the answer
There are the rushing waves may provedisappointing, pleasure
with a nd confidence we turn
mountainsof molecules overeachnew stoneto find unimagined strangeness leadingon
each stupidly mindingits own business to morewonderful questionsand mysteries\342\200\224certainly a grand
trillions
apart adventure!
yet formingwhite surf in unison. It is true that few unscientificpeoplehave thisparticulartype
Ages on ages of religiousexperience. Our poetsdo not write aboutit; our
beforeany eyes couldsee artistsdo not try to portray thisremarkable thing.I don'tknow
year after year why. Is no oneinspired by our present pictureof the universe?
thunderously pounding the shoreas now. This value of scienceremainsunsung by singers:you are
Forwhom, for what? reducedto hearing not a songor poem,but an evening lecture
On a deadplanet aboutit. This is not yet a scientific age.
with no lifeto entertain. Perhapsoneof the reasonsfor thissilenceis that you have to
Never at rest know how to readthe music.For instance, the scientific article
torturedby energy may say, \"The radioactivephosphorus content o f the cerebrum
wastedprodigiously
of the rat decreases to one-halfin a periodof two weeks.\"Now
by the sun what doesthat mean?
pouredinto space. It meansthat phosphorusthat is in the brain of a
A mite makes the searoar. alsoin mine,and not the samephosphorus as it was
rat\342\200\224and

Deepin the sea

yours\342\200\224is
two weeksago.It meansthe atomsthat are in the brain are being
all moleculesrepeat replaced: the onesthat were therebeforehave goneaway.
the patternsof oneanother So what is this mind of ours:what are theseatomswith
tillcomplexnew onesare formed. consciousness? Last week'spotatoes! They now can remember
They make otherslikethemselves what was goingon in my mind a year mind which has
and a new dance starts. ago\342\200\224a

longago beenreplaced.
Growingin sizeand complexity To notethat the thing I callmy individuality is only a pattern
living things
massesof atoms or dance,that is what it meanswhen onediscovers how longit
DNA, protein
takesfor the atomsof the brain to be replaced by otheratoms.
The atomscomeinto my brain,dancea dance,and then go
dancinga pattern ever more intricate. are always new atoms,but always doingthe same
out\342\200\224there
Outof the cradle dance,remembering what the dancewas yesterday.
ontodry land When we readaboutthisin the newspaper, it says \"Scientists
here it is say this discoverymay have importance i n the searchfor a cure
standing: for cancer.\"The paperis only interested in the useof the idea,
atoms with consciousness; not the ideaitself.Hardly anyone can understandthe importance
matter with curiosity.
Stands at the sea,
of an idea, it is so remarkable. Exceptthat, possibly,some
wondersat wondering:I
childrencatchon. And when a childcatcheson to an idealike
a universeof atoms that, we have a scientist.It is toolate*for them to getthe spirit
an atom in the universe. *I would now say, \"It is late\342\200\224although not too late\342\200\224for them to get the spirit...\"
136 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
THE VALUE OF SCIENCE 187
when they are in our universities, so we must attempt to explain to the good.Yet there are somepatientlyworkingtoday to create
theseideasto children. great plaguesand poisonsfor usein warfare tomorrow.
I wouldnow liketo turn to a third value that science has.It is Nearly everyone disiikeswar. Our dream today is peace.In
a littleless direct,but not much.The scientisthas a lot of peace,man can developbestthe enormous he seems
possibilities
experience with ignorance and doubtand uncertainty, and this to have.But maybe future men will find that peace,too,can be
experience is of very greatimportance, I think.When a scientist goodand bad.Perhapspeaceful men will drink outof boredom.
doesn'tknow the answer to a problem,he is ignorant.When he Then perhapsdrink will becomethe great problemwhich seems
hasa hunch as to what the resultis, he is uncertain. And when to keep man from gettingall he thinks he shouldout of his
he is pretty darn sureof what theresultis goingto be, heis still abilities.
in somedoubt.We have foundit of paramount importance that
in orderto progress we must recognize our ignoranceand leave Clearly,peaceis a great are sobriety,material
force\342\200\224as

roomfor doubt.Scientific education,honesty,and the idealsof

power, communication,
knowledgeis a bodyof statements of many dreamers. We have moreof theseforcesto control than did
varying degreesof certainty\342\200\224some mostunsure,somenearly the ancients. And maybe we are doinga littlebetterthan mostof
sure,but noneabsolutely certain. them coulddo. But what we oughtto be able to do seems
Now, we scientists are usedto this,and we take it for granted giganticcomparedwith our confused accomplishments.
that it is perfectlyconsistent to be unsure,that it is possibleto Why is this?Why can'twe conquer ourselves?
live and notknow. But I don'tknow whether everyone realizes Becausewe find that even greatforcesand abilitiesdo not
thisis true.Our freedomto doubtwas bornout of a struggle seemto carry with them clearinstructions on how to usethem.
againstauthority in the early days of science.It was a very deep As an example, the greataccumulation of understanding as to
and strongstruggle: permitusto question\342\200\224to notbe
doubt\342\200\224to
how the physicalworld behavesonly convinces one that this
sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this behaviorseemsto have a kind of meaninglessness. The sciences
struggleand thus perhapslosewhat we have gained.Hereinlies do not directlyteachgoodand bad.
a responsibility to society. Throughallagesofourpast,peoplehave triedto fathom the
We are allsad when we think of the wondrouspotentialities meaning of life.They have realizedthat if somedirection or
human beingsseemto have, as contrasted with theirsmall meaning couldbe given to our actions,great human forces
accomplishments. Again and againpeoplehave thought that we wouldbeunleashed. So,very many answers have beengivento
coulddo much better.Thoseof the pastsaw in the nightmare of the question of the meaning of it all.But the answers have been
theirtimesa dream for the future.We, of theirfuture, seethat of all different sorts,and the proponents of one answer have
theirdreams,in certainways surpassed,have in many ways lookedwith horror at the actions o f the believers inanother\342\200\224
remaineddreams.The hopesfor the future today are, in good horror, because f rom a disagreeing point of view all the great
share,thoseof yesterday. potentialities of the race are channeled into a falseand confining
It was oncethought that the possibilities peoplehad were not blind alley. In fact, it is from the history of the enormous
developedbecausemost of the peoplewere ignorant.With monstrosities createdby falsebeliefthat philosophers have
universal education, couldall men be Voltaires? Bad can be realized apparently
the infinite and wondrous of
capacities hu-
taught at leasta s efficientlyasgood.Educationis a strongforce, human beings. T he dream is to find the open channel.
but for eithergoodor evil. What, then,is the meaning of it all?What can we say to
Communications betweennations mustpromote understanding\342\200\224 dispelthe mystery of existence?
so went anotherdream.But the machines of communication can If we take everything into only what the an-
account\342\200\224not
be manipulated. What is communicated can be truth or lie. ancients knew, but all of what we know today that they didn't
Communication is a strongforce,butalsofor eithergoodor evil. I think we must frankly admit that we donot know.
know\342\200\224then
The appliedsciences shouldfreemen of material problems at But, in admitting this, we have probablyfoundthe open
least.Medicine controlsdiseases. And the recordhereseemsall channel.
188 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?

This is not a new idea;thisis the ideaof the ageof reason.

This is the philosophythat guidedthe men who made the
democracy that we liveunder.The ideathat no onereally knew
how to run a governmentledto the ideathat we should
arrange a
system by which new ideascouldbe developed, triedout, and
tossedout if necessary,with more new ideasbrought in\342\200\224a

trial-and-error system.This methodwas a resultof the fact that

sciencewas already showingitselfto be a successful venture at
the end of the eighteenth century. Even then it was clearto
sociallymindedpeoplethat the openness of possibilitieswas an INDEX
opportunity, and that doubt and discussion w ere essential to
progress i nto the unknown. If we want to solve a problem that
we have never solvedbefore,we must leave the doorto the
unknown ajar. acceleration
safety cutoflf system, Atlas,64
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race.It is flaws in, 172 Atoms for PeaceConference,
not unreasonable that we grapplewith problems. But there are Accident Analysis group, 131 44, 46
tensof thousandsof years in the future.Our responsibility is to accident
investigation, technique augmentedsparkigniter(ASI),
do what we can,learn that we can,improvethe solutions, and for, 89-90 flaws in, 171
passthem on.It is our responsibility to leavethe peopleof the Acheson,David C, 88,91, Augsberry,Dr.(highschool
future a free hand.In the impetuous youth of humanity, we can 131,144,149,150 mathematicsteacher),
make grave errorsthat can stunt ourgrowth for a longtime.This Acropolis,69 18,19
we will do if we say we have the answers now, so young and actuators,computersystems, authority
ignorantas we are.If we suppressalldiscussion, allcriticism, reliability,177 and form,7
proclaiming \"Thisis the answer, my friends; man issaved!\" we adolescent years,9-19 questioning, 16-17
will doomhumanity for a longtimeto the chainsof authority, age of reason, 188 and values,188
confinedto the limitsof our presentimagination. It hasbeen Air and SpaceMuseum, Aviation Week and Space
doneso many timesbefore. National,95,98 Technology, 86
It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the greatprog- Ajzenberg,Fay, 51
which comesfrom a satisfactory philosophyof ignorance, Aldrich,Arnold D., 87 Bacher,Robert(Bob),44
Alvarez, Luis,105
progress

the great progress which is the fruit of freedomof thought,to Baudoin, Kingof Belgium,60
proclaim the value of thisfreedom;to teachhow doubtis notto AmericanAssociationofPhysics bearingspalling,172
be fearedbut welcomedand discussed;and to demandthis Teachers, 50-52 Beggs,JamesF. (administrator
freedomas our duty to allcominggenerations. Apollo accident,147 of NASA), 161
archeology,Greek, Bell
68\342\200\22470 24
TelephoneLaboratories,
Armstrong, Neil, 85, 87, 88, Berkeley,118
90,108,143-144, 148 Besselfunctions,40
assembly crews Bethe,H ans,30-31, 72
management view of, Bethe,Henry, 72, 74n
124-125 Blondel,Andre,105
workers'views of job, blowby, O-ring,94, 102,
125-128 169
167-168,
189
190 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? INDEX 191
Bohr,Niels,60 costs engineering judgment,135n, FederalAviation Administration,
Boisjoly,Roger, 119 of modifyingprocedures, 126 167 seeFAA
o f
bottom-updesign, engines, of replacing software,1 76 estimates of enginefailure Fermi,Enrico,30-31
170 of top-downdesign,170 probability,172 ferrite-corecomputers, 176
of shuttlesoftware, 176 ofupdating shuttle computers, estimates of shuttlefailure Feynman, Arlene,13,
Bragg,William, 61 probability,134-135,
15\342\200\22417,

142 18-35
Brussels(Belgium), 59-63 counting 138 Feynman, Carl,63n,64n,70,
bureaucracy,66 and measuringtime, 36\342\200\22440 Eratosthenes, 70 73,73n
personal reactionsto, 79-80 patternsfor, 38-39 erosion,O-ring,82,83f,94, Feynman,Gweneth,
reportpreparation, 104-105Covert,EugeneE., 88, 112, 96f, 102,167-169 62n,79, 80, 113-114
53\342\200\22458,

Burns,Jerry, 119 118,137 esthetics Feynman,Joan,2n,31-32, 50,

Crete, 1
CableNews Network (CNN), cross 7 and reason,31 150
111 talk, 140 scientificaspectsof, 1 Feynman, Lucille,2, 7-8
CaliforniaInstituteof culture,seealsotradition and scientificinformation, Feynman, Melville, 2-5
seeCaltech
Technology, and 41-42
values, 183-185 Feynman, Michelle, 68,73n
Chinese, executiveorder,definingwork FeynmanLectureson Physics, 50
calligraphy, 31\342\200\22432

Davies,Richard (Dick),79 of presidential Fichtel(foreman,assembly

Caltech,50,79, 80, 112,137, Davis,B: K., 120 commission, 85 crew), 126-128
153,157,166 DeborahHospital,26 externaltank (ET),88 fieldjoint,77, 78f, 82,83f,
certification,172 115
criteria,deteriorating, democracyand doubt,188 modelof, 107f
165-166 Descartes, Rene,^ 16
rulesfor, 175 Design,Development and FAA flight readinessreviews,
initial,172 Productionpanel,131 certificationpractices,172 174-175
Challenger accident,77-188 discrimination certification Fuchs,Klaus,33
trial success, fuel
ChryslerCompany,20 religious,19 172-173 tank, shuttle,78f
clevis,fieldjoint, 108 sexual,26,50-52 criteriafor success,174 Galileo(Jupiterprobe),132
Columbia, 19 and stereotypes, 52 safety rules,137 Gast, Harold,12,17
combustion chamber,flaws in, Disturbing t he Universe Fabriola,Queenof Belgium, Gell-Mann, Murray, 43, 59
171-172 (Dyson),71n 60 Geneva(Switzerland), 43-^47
communication, 186,187 documentation of shuttle family Goldschmidt, Herman, 48-^49
as a bureaucratic tool, 160 performance, 165\342\200\224166 Carl(son),63n,64n,70, Graham,William R. (Bill)
of management with doubt,186 73,73n (actingadministrator,
engineers, 134-35 dreaming,35,36 Chuck(nephew),111, 113 NASA), 79, 81,84-85,
within NASA, 158-J59 Dyson,Freeman,7In father-in-law(Arlene's 87, 90-91,92,95,98,
computersystems(avionics), lettersof, 71-74 father),33 99, 104,105,136n,
175-178 Frances(cousin),111, 113, 143, 161
concepts,and applications, Eddington,Arthur, 50 155 GrandHotel(Warsaw), 64-67
185-186 education and culture, Joan(sister),2n,31-32, 50, gravity conference, 66-67
Cook,Richard C, 99, 104,
41\342\200\22442

enablingpowerof science, 150 Greece, 6 8-71

105,107 182-183 Lucille(mother), 2, 7-8
CornellUniversity,71,73,74, Encyclopaedia Britannica,2, Melville(father),2-5 Hansen,GrantL. (editor),146
75 16 Michelle (daughter),68,73n Heisenberg, Werner, 61
192 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? INDEX 193
Hibbs,Albert R. (Al),79, 81 commission, 149 to Gweneth,113-114 memory,of shuttle computers,
high-frequency 1
vibration, 36, 139,146
reportdistribution, from Athens, 140,176
172 Kennedy, John E (President), from Brussels,
68\342\200\22471

59-63 Nicholas(Nick),
Metropolis,
high-pressure fuel turbopump 128n from Warsaw, 6\320\244-67 29,32
(HPFTP),88 KennedySpaceCenter,77, 90, from Henry Bethe, MissionPlanningand
reliabilityof, 171 115-129, 137 from Warsaw, 7\320\244-75 Operations group,131
flaws in, 171 Kingsbury, James E., 132 Lewis,Sinclair,17 7, 19,20, 73
high-pressureoxygenturbopump Kissinger, Henry, 81 Lifer,CharlesE. (JPL),84 Mobiusstrip,16-17
\320\234\320\223\320\223,

(HPOTP),88 Kiwi,Feymnan dog,63,63n, liquidhydrogen (LH),88 model

in, 171,172
flaws 64, 67 liquidoxygen(LOX),88 computer,performance
Ernest
Hollings, SC),
(Senator, knowledge Lockheed, instructions
for analysisof O-ring,95
128-129 kindsof, 3 shuttleengines,137 of O-ringerosion,169
HotelAmigo,59 observingmultiplemental Lorenz,Konrad,74, 75 Moore,JesseW.,87
HotelCity, 43-^7 activities,39-40 LosAlamos,28 Moore,Dr.Nicholas(JPL),166
Hotz,Robert 86, 88,
\320\222., Kutyna, GeneralDonaldJ.,85, problemsolvingat, 159 MortonThiokolCompany,77,
144,149,151
123-124, 87, 88,89,90,98-99, Louvain University, 61 93,94, 101-102,
HughesAircraft Company,79 106,108,112-113, Lovingood,JudsonA. 118-119, 130,
131,132-133, 143, (manager),87, 158-159, 161
Illiapoulos, Professor, 68,69 151, 1 163-164
55, 133-135, 135n Boisjoly,Roger,119
Independent SolidRocketMotor Lund,Robert,118,119,130 Burns,Jerry, 119
DesignOversight Lamberth (manager,rocket Kapp,Jack, 119
Committee, 147 assembly), 124-125, Lund, Robert, 118,119,130
infinity, 75 127,139 McAuliffe, Christa,123,178, McDonald,Allan J.,
intellectual value of science, LaunchAbortSafetyPanel 178n 101-102, 104,108
183 (LASP),166 McDonald,Allan J., 101-102, Mason,GeraldD., 118
Iran-Contra hearings,158 LawrenceHighSchool (Nassau 104,108 Thompson, Arnie, 119
Iseokitsu (Japan),54-56 County),19 MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, Mountain-forming day
leaktest,95n 153,155 (Oberlin), 32
Japan,53-58 port,99, 102f management Mulloy,Lawrence 102,
Jet PropulsionLaboratory, see learning estimates of shuttle 107-108,110,130,
\320\222.,

JPL aboutesthetics,31 178

reliability, 158-159, 161-162
JohnsonSpaceCenter,139,166 internal processes, 40 view of assembly crews,
jointrotation,93f, 94, 96f patternsin, 2 124-126 NASA, 77, 92-95,98, 118,
JPL,81-82,8In,84,88,130, and teaching,74-75 Manhattan Project,25 166
137,166 Lee,Meemong,130 MarshallSpaceCenter,137, Aldrich,Arnold D., 87
Jupiterprobe,132 Leff, David,12,17 166 rules,initial,
certification
Lehrer,James,157 engineering briefing,138 172-173
Kapp,Jack, 119 LeMaitre,AbbeGeorge estimates of enginefailure, Cook,Richard C, 99,104,
Keel,Alton G., Jr. (Al), Eduoard,61 132,172 105,107
117-118, 121,146, letters Mason,GeraldD., 118 Davis, 120
151-152, 158,162-163 Dyson'saboutFeynman, \320\232.,
\320\222.

MassachusettsInstituteof estimatesof enginefailure,

recommendations
of 71-74 Technology, seeMIT 132,172
 INDEX 195
194 WHAT DO YOUCARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK?
QED:The StrangeTheoryof Rogers,William P.,81,85-86,
NASA (Confd.) originof speculation
about, LightandMatter 88,89-90,91-92,104,
Fichtel(foreman,assembly 163-164 (Feynman), 7In 108,110,111-112,
crew),126-128 performancemodel,95 113,117,118,
Kingsbury,JamesE., 132 radioactivethermal generator 128-129,
119-120,
Lamberth (manager, rocket (RTG),166 130,131,143,153,
assembly),124-125, Palaceof Cultureand Science reactioncontrolsystems, 155,157,158,161
127,139 (Warsaw), 67 reliabilityof, 177-178 recommendations of
Lovingood, JudsonA. Parker SealCompany,94 recommendations commission, 148\342\200\224152

(manager), 87, Parthenon,69 presidential commission, Royal OlympicHotel(Athens),

133-135, 135n patterns,and counting,38-40 147-152 68
Moore,JesseW., 87 peace,187 sealsreport,97f Rummel, RobertW., 88
Mulloy, Lawrence 102, Peierls,Rudolph,72 redundancy in shuttle
110,130, Perrin,J.,60
\320\222.,

107-108, computers, 140-141, safety boards,147

158-159, 161-162 PhysicalSociety,43 175-176 safety factor
Stevenson, Charles G. plutonium, power supply,166 reliability deteriorating, 173
(Charlie),117,119, politicalpressurefor launch, of high-pressure fuel for O-ringfailure,168
130 114,123,143, turbopump,171 scheduling
Weeks,L. Michael,93-95 161-162 management estimates of, and pressure to launch,159
NationalAcademyof Sciences,precision and approximation, 178 and shuttle safety, 178-179
149, 182n 16 Officeof Safety, Reliability, Scientific American, The9 69,
NationalAeronauticsand Space Activitiesgroup,
\320\240\321\202\320\265-launch
and Quality Assurance, 70
Administration, see 131 147 Sears,Roebuckand Co.,
NASA presidentialcommission, of reactioncontrolsystems, 29
New York Times,98,99, 143 77-179 177-178 sensors,shuttlesystems,
New Zealandlectures, 71,71n connections of members, of sensors in shuttle systems, reliabilityof, 177-178
Nixon,R ichard 81
(President), 111-114 177 shuttle
NobelPrize,53n,62n fact findingby, 81-110 of shuttle,165-179 computeroperationof,
NotoPeninsula(Japan),56-58 investigative process, of shuttlecomputer 140-141
hoax,105
N-\320\263\320\260\321\203
115-129 hardware, 176\342\200\224177description of, 77
membersof, 88 religion engineering briefing,JPL,
OberlinCollege,31 recommendations of, Buddhistproverb,183 81^82,84
Officeof Management and 147-152 formal training (Feynman's), engineering briefingfor
Budget,117 report 13-15 Feynman, 92-95
Officeof Safety, Reliability,and formalpresentation
of, religious experience in enginespecifications,
Quality Assurance, 147 154f science,185 171-172
OMB,Officeof Management preparation, 143\342\200\224146
Ride,SallyK.,85,85bn,88, failure,probability of, 132
and Budget,117 working groupsof, 131 91,95,98,112,118, flame from, 100f~101
Oppenheimer,J. Robert,28, Princeton,20,24, 25,36 131,139,144 launch information,115,117
60 at
subjective,
probability, Rocketdyne,137,166 reliabilityof, 165-179
8
O-ring, 2, 9
93-94, 3f NASA, 166-167 estimates of enginefailure, responsibility for engines,
ice-waterdemonstration, purgecheckvalve, flaws in, 172 137
109f 171
196 WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERPEOPLETHINK? INDEX 197
Shuttle(Cont'd.) Tartaglia,Niccolo,69 and utility, Buddhistproverb, Wheeler, JohnA., 67, 73
for
reworkingcomponents temperature 183 Wheeler,Janet (Mrs.John A.),
reuse,121-122 effecton O-rings,98-99 verification,of shuttle computer 67
smokefrom, 103f,115, at launch pad,117 software,176-177 Wheelon, Albert D., 88
116f,1 17 analysisof, 120-121 Voltaire,186 whistle,in shuttleengine,
ShuttleTransportationSystem and O-ringincidents,97f 136^-137
Safety Advisory Panel, Thinking Machines Company, Walker, Arthur B.C.,Jr., 88, Wigner, Eugene,28
147 73n,80 118 Women'sGarmentWorkers
simulator,
computerchecking Thompson, Arnie,119 Walker, Bernie,36 Union,26
on, 139-140 technicolor,
thought process,
in Warren, Earl (ChiefJustice), Wood,Robert Williams, 105
socialresponsibility 40 128n Woodward,William (Bill),27
and ignorance, 188 Time,64 Warren Commission Report, wordsmithing, presidential
and scientific exploration, time sense,36-40 128 commission report,144
182 Titan rocket,investigation of Warsaw (Poland), 64
software failure, 8 9 Washington Post,111 Yukawa, Hideki,53,53n
bottom-updesign,176-177 Togi(Japan),56-58 Weeks,L. Michael,93-95
for shuttlecomputers, top-downdesign,see also 137
Weibull distribution, Zinc CromatePutty, 82,83f,
141-143, 175-176 bottom-updesign Weisskopf,Victor,72 95n
verification of shuttle, of shuttlemain engine,
176-177 17\320\236-172
solid-fuel rocketboosters of spaceshuttles,136
(SRBs),78f, 88, tradition
166-169 Greek,69
Solomon, Jerry, 130 Indian, 42
Soundand Symbolin Chinese, Japanese,56-57
31 TreasureIsland,17
space shuttle main engines Trinidad, 41-42
(SSMEs),88, 169^-175 Tukey, John,39-40
SpaceShuttleProgram,Air
Force,112 Ullian,LouisJ.,132,166
Stapler,Robert,12 UnitedNations (Geneva),43
stereotypes, 2n, 52 University of California at
Stevenson, CharlesG. see
Berkeley,
(Charlie),117,119, University of Kanazawa, 56 Berkeley
130
subsynchronous whirl, 135, University of Tokyo,53
172
success,predicting, values
167\342\200\224168

Sutter, JosephE, 88, 118,131 and authority, 118

and culture, 41\342\200\22442

Tamm, Igor,44 in science,181

tang, field joint, 108,108n and uncertainty, 186