All Possible Paths: Richard Feynman’s Curious LifeAll Possible Paths: Richard Feynman’s Curious Life

The Great Explainer


The Great Explainer
Richard Feynman giving a lecture, 1963, Courtesy of Caltech Archives

Years after his death, people remain fascinated with Richard Feynman. He was a brilliant communicator of science, and his captivating lectures still resonate with audiences today. He was known as the ‘Great Explainer’, due to his natural ability to convey complex ideas to both scientists and the public in a fun and enthusiastic way.

For Feynman, science was an adventure and he was admired for his passion in helping others imagine the structure and beauty of nature. He believed that in order to fully understand something, one should try to teach it to someone else. Consequently, teaching was amongst Feynman’s greatest achievements, and many of his students have gone on to become award-winning scientists.

Feynman’s infectious passion for thinking and learning is brilliantly conveyed in the second section of the exhibition, through some of his most important lectures.

Highlights 
Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures
Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures | 1979, Digital Video, Courtesy of University of Auckland, New Zealand

Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures

As part of the 1979 Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures, four of Richard Feynman’s lectures were recorded at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. These filmed documents of Feynman’s lectures are now part of an archival collection. The lectures provide a fascinating insight into the subject of Quantum Electrodynamics presented with Feynman’s idiosyncratic style and infectious enthusiasm.

These lecture videos were digitally restored by the Park Road Post Company, a post-production film studio in New Zealand, and are being shown in a public exhibition for the first time.