Freakonomics Radio

In his final years, Richard Feynman's curiosity took him to some surprising places. We hear from his companions on the trips he took — and one he wasn’t able to. (Part three of a three-part series originally published in 2024.) 

 

SOURCES: 

Alan Alda, actor and screenwriter.

Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman.

Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.

Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.

Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman.

Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Feynman.

Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.

Charles Mann, science journalist and author.

John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.

Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.

Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.



 

RESOURCES: 

I Love My Wife..., directed by Ian Tierney (2020).

Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005).

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (1995).

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).

The Quest for Tannu Tuva, by Christopher Sykes (1988)

“What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).

The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).

Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).



 

EXTRAS: 

“The Curious, Brilliant, Vanishing Mr. Feynman,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).



Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)

 

SOURCES:

Seamus Blackley, video game designer and creator of the Xbox.

Carl Feynman, computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman.

Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.

Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.

Charles Mann, science journalist and author.

John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.

Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.

Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.

Alan Zorthian, architect.



 

RESOURCES:

"Love After Life: Nobel-Winning Physicist Richard Feynman’s Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife," by Maria Popova (The Marginalian, 2017).

Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).

"G. Feynman; Landscape Expert, Physicist’s Widow," (Los Angeles Times, 1990).

"Nobel Physicist R. P. Feynman of Caltech Dies," by Lee Dye (Los Angeles Times, 1988).

The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).

Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).

"Richard P. Feynman: Nobel Prize Winner," by Tim Hendrickson, Stuart Galley, and Fred Lamb (Engineering and Science, 1965).

F.B.I. files on Richard Feynman.



 

EXTRAS:

"The Curious Mr. Feynman," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).



Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our lives? (Part one of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)

 

SOURCES:

Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.

Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.

Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.

Charles Mann, science journalist and author.

John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.



 

RESOURCES:

"How Legendary Physicist Richard Feynman Helped Crack the Case on the Challenger Disaster," by Kevin Cook (Literary Hub, 2021).

Challenger: The Final Flight, docuseries (2020).

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005).

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).

“What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).

"Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington," by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (Engineering & Science, 1987).

The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).

"The Pleasure of Finding Things Out," (Horizon S18.E9, 1981).

"Los Alamos From Below," by Richard Feynman (UC Santa Barbara lecture, 1975).



 

EXTRAS:

"Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).



Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Not exactly. But their runaway success with games like Wordle says something bigger about the way we live now. (Part one of a series, “We Are All Gamers Now.”)

 

SOURCES:

Alex Hardiman, chief product officer at The New York Times.

Jonathan Knight, S.V.P. and general manager for New York Times Games.

Eric Zimmerman, game designer, professor of game design at the N.Y.U. Game Center.



 

RESOURCES:

"Wordle Is a Love Story," by Daniel Victor (New York Times, 2022).

The Rules We Break: Lessons in Play, Thinking, and Design, by Eric Zimmerman (2022).

Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them, by Adrienne Raphel (2020).

The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, by Bernard Suits (2005).

Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, by Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman (2003).



Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Great. Then depressed. Then great again. Stephen Dubner gets the full story from David Lang; we also hear from some fans, and the New York Philharmonic’s president. The math and the aftermath of wealth of nations. (Part two of a series.)

 

SOURCES:

David Lang, composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.

Matías Tarnopolsky, president and C.E.O. of the New York Philharmonic.



 

RESOURCES:

"Finally, an Opera About Economics," by Stacey Vanek Smith (Bloomberg, 2026).

"The Little Match Girl Passion," by David Lang (2023).

The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith (1776).



 

EXTRAS:

"David Lang’s the wealth of nations," series by Freakonomics Radio (2026).

"In Search of the Real Adam Smith," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).



Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.