Richard P. Feynman

Facts

Richard P. Feynman

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Richard P. Feynman
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1965

Born: 11 May 1918, New York, NY, USA

Died: 15 February 1988, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA

Prize motivation: “for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles”

Prize share: 1/3

Work

Following the establishment of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, an initial relativistic theory was formulated for the interaction between charged particles and electromagnetic fields. This needed to be reformulated, however. In 1948 in particular, Richard Feynman contributed to creating a new quantum electrodynamics by introducing Feynman diagrams: graphic representations of various interactions between different particles. These diagrams facilitate the calculation of interaction probabilities.

To cite this section
MLA style: Richard P. Feynman – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Tue. 26 Sep 2023. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/feynman/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Coming up

This year’s Nobel Prize announcements will take place 2–9 October. All announcements will be streamed live here on nobelprize.org.

See the full schedule
Announcement dates

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.