"The Making of a Scientist"
by Richard Feynman
Human beings are by nature inquisitive. They often come up with questions about things they see,feel,hear or experience."The Making of a Scientist" is a memoir about how a scientist is born.
Summary
The author explains that he learned from his father the traits that made him a good scientist, as indicated by the title of the piece. Feynman discusses in detail how his father ‘educated’ him and how it motivated him for the rest of his life. What his father gave him were ‘lovely, interesting discussions’ that caught his imagination as a child to such a degree that Feynman always looked forward to those kind of discussions. Feynman's father started by introducing his little son to patterns. It was possible that he was teaching him maths - something even more important than patterns. Thus Feynman started to learn about the world and how interesting it was. For him, to know something is to know why it does something. The message Feynman tries to convey by the example of the dinosaur is that when you read something you must translate it to something else so that you truly understand it. His choice of words like "magnitude" and "consequence" is deliberate and reflect the deep meaning of these words.
Similarly, in the case of a bird when it does something, namely pecks at its feathers. To know the bird would be to know why it pecks, and his father explores Feynman's tentative answer with him before offering his explanation.
To his earlier insight about the need to truly know something, this example adds the further point that the knowledge of the principle in question is the key to its answer. The names of the birds or the relationship between lice and mites--might be incorrect in the details. But to Feynman and his father, what really mattered was the discovery of the principle that some form of life (no matter how small or insignificant) would utilize any available source of food.
Feynman's father also draws a distinction between recalling the name of a bird and genuinely knowing something about the bird. The example is meant to illustrate that while the same bird is called different things in different languages, knowing the names of the bird doesn't tell you anything about the bird--only about what humans have called it. For Feynman, what really matters--the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something--is captured through knowing what a bird does. Another incident narrated by Feynman shows the principle behind inertia--that things which are moving tend to keep on moving, and things which are standing still tend to stand still. This is a point he stresses in his explanation of what it means to know something.
By reading and re-reading the passage closely, combined with classroom discussions about it, learners will be able to identify why and how Feynman started to look at the world through the eyes of a scientist.
by Richard Feynman
Human beings are by nature inquisitive. They often come up with questions about things they see,feel,hear or experience."The Making of a Scientist" is a memoir about how a scientist is born.
Summary
The author explains that he learned from his father the traits that made him a good scientist, as indicated by the title of the piece. Feynman discusses in detail how his father ‘educated’ him and how it motivated him for the rest of his life. What his father gave him were ‘lovely, interesting discussions’ that caught his imagination as a child to such a degree that Feynman always looked forward to those kind of discussions. Feynman's father started by introducing his little son to patterns. It was possible that he was teaching him maths - something even more important than patterns. Thus Feynman started to learn about the world and how interesting it was. For him, to know something is to know why it does something. The message Feynman tries to convey by the example of the dinosaur is that when you read something you must translate it to something else so that you truly understand it. His choice of words like "magnitude" and "consequence" is deliberate and reflect the deep meaning of these words.
Similarly, in the case of a bird when it does something, namely pecks at its feathers. To know the bird would be to know why it pecks, and his father explores Feynman's tentative answer with him before offering his explanation.
To his earlier insight about the need to truly know something, this example adds the further point that the knowledge of the principle in question is the key to its answer. The names of the birds or the relationship between lice and mites--might be incorrect in the details. But to Feynman and his father, what really mattered was the discovery of the principle that some form of life (no matter how small or insignificant) would utilize any available source of food.
Feynman's father also draws a distinction between recalling the name of a bird and genuinely knowing something about the bird. The example is meant to illustrate that while the same bird is called different things in different languages, knowing the names of the bird doesn't tell you anything about the bird--only about what humans have called it. For Feynman, what really matters--the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something--is captured through knowing what a bird does. Another incident narrated by Feynman shows the principle behind inertia--that things which are moving tend to keep on moving, and things which are standing still tend to stand still. This is a point he stresses in his explanation of what it means to know something.
By reading and re-reading the passage closely, combined with classroom discussions about it, learners will be able to identify why and how Feynman started to look at the world through the eyes of a scientist.
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