The image above depicts Richard Feynman taking his class at Caltech. I first came to know about Feynman during my high school days when I read his seminal Feynman Lectures in Physics. I did not understand all of it but the spark and passion in his teaching was clearly visible. My second encounter with Feynman was in the first days of University. It was my first week in college, it was scorching summers in Allahabad and I was getting bored. I headed to the college Library, one of the several places having Air-Conditioning (also yes I am a nerd!). On skimming through the bookshelf in the biography section I came across a copy of Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!. The title seemed quite interesting and I read the first chapter and was hooked. I went ahead to borrow the book but I still did not have a library card yet. I ended up reading the complete book in the library through the night (ah the start of my all nighters in college). Since then I have re-read parts of book multiple times and it still gives me joy and inspiration.
So what does Builder Spirit and Feynman have in common and why I am writing about it. Feynman apart from being a noble prize winning physicist was a tinkerer at heart. He was involved in the Manhattan Project. He was also a part of the investigative commission on the challenger disaster. He has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. In today’s terminology we would call him a true hacker.