A Leaf Handwritten by Nobel Prize Laureate, Physicist Richard Feynman

A Leaf Handwritten by Nobel Prize Laureate, Physicist Richard Feynman
A leaf handwritten by Nobel Prize laureate physicist Richard Feynman – solution of differential equations using the Runge-Kutta methods.
A leaf, showing by means of flow-charts ways to solve differential equations using the Runge-Kutta methods. Possibly, the flow-charts were meant to demonstrate how the solution of differential equations can be reached by means of computer software. The leaf is written mostly in red ink, in neat hand, with several erasures and corrections, and it enables a peek into the work process of a leading physicist of the 20th century.
The physicist Richard Feynman, born in New York, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 and is considered one of the most colorful figures of the scientific world. Feynman was born to a working-class Jewish family in Queens. When he was fifteen, he taught himself trigonometry, advanced algebra, analytic geometry and infinitesimal calculus; as he was not satisfied with the standard mathematical notation, he invented one of his own.
In 1941, when he was working on his doctoral thesis, Feynman was invited to participate in the Manhattan Project and was one of the developers of the atomic bomb. In time, he said about his participation in the project: "I would go along and I would see people building a bridge, or they'd be making a new road, and I thought, they're crazy, they just don't understand, they don't understand. Why are they making new things?" Like Albert Einstein, Feynman gained fame for numerous anecdotes, quotes and amusing stories, and he is one of the most recognized physicists outside the world of science. His sense of humor and rebellious character did not skip the most important event of his life – the ceremony in which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to Quantum Electrodynamics. During the ball held for the Nobel Prize laurates, he offered two of the attending princesses to invent a hand-shaking machine that will save the king the trouble.
Feynman died in 1988 after a long battle with cancer. Alongside his extensive work, Feynman is also remembered for his lectures, widely attended by colleagues and faculty members. His introductory lectures to modern physics were published in a three-volume edition (The Feynman Lectures on Physics), which is used to this day. The numerous anecdotes involving his name were compiled in several books, including Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (1985) and What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988); and others.
[1] leaf, written on both its sides, approx. 21 cm. Good condition.
Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, Auction no. 9886 (History of Science & Technology, Including the Nobel Prize and Papers of Richard P. Feynman), 30.11.2018. Lot no. 90.