QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

I have my own scale, one of fun, on which I place theoretical physicists I know either in person or in spirit. Yes, it is true: most theoretical physicists are dull as dishwater and rank near minus infinity on this logarithmic scale. I would place Schrödinger (about whom more later) on top, but Feynman would surely rank close behind. I can’t tell you where I land on my own scale, but I do try to have as much fun as possible, limited by the amount of talent and resources at my disposal.

the world says that light has an equal amplitude to reflect from every part of the mirror, from A to M

middle of the mirror is the important part for reflection—but this correct result came out at the expense of believing that light reflects all over the mirror, and having to add a bunch of little arrows together whose sole purpose was to cancel out

because I told everyone that they weren’t going to understand anything

experiment carefully measuring the relationship between the thickness of a sheet of glass and partial reflection demonstrate a phenomenon called “interference,” As the thickness of the glass increases, partial reflection goes through a repeating cycle of zero to 16%, with no signs of dying out

The theory of quantum electrodynamics describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense

And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is—absurd

With quantum physics, who needs drugs?

Generations learned Feynman diagrams without understanding field theory.

What makes Feynman such an extraordinary physicist is that this “battle for the hearts and minds”