Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

After graduating from MIT, Feynman pursues graduate studies at Princeton University. One of his professors convinces Feynman, who is happy at MIT, to study at a different university because he “should find out how the rest of the world is” (71). Leaving the comfort of a school he knows and loves, Feynman arrives at Princeton and finds the Ivy League intimidating: “an imitation Oxford or Cambridge–complete with accents” (72). It tests Feynman because, he feels, he “had no social abilities whatsoever” (72). At a tea given for incoming students, Feynman recalls asking for lemon and cream in his tea. The hostess hears his reply and says, “Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman,” a response that triggers the feelings of self-doubt that Feynman often experiences.

Despite feeling out of place, Feynman finds that Princeton offers many things that attract him intellectually and scientifically. He is impressed with the Princeton equipment because the scientists there seem to be getting better results with it. It occurs to him that this is because the Princetonians have hands-on experience with the lab equipment, just as Feynman had had with his lab as a child. Indeed, some of Feynman’s Princeton experiments go awry with potentially dangerous consequences, just as in his childhood lab, but the experience of doing the experiments is invaluable, as are the intellectual partnerships that he begins to form, like the one with his future dissertation advisor

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