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necrophilia) wrote2024-12-03 12:20 pm
necrophilia) wrote2024-12-03 12:20 pm
Entry tags:
soviets.
In things that won't interest anyone but me, I'm down a Richard Feynman rabbit hole.
Dude was a physicist. Richard Feynman's Lectures on Physics are pretty well known. I have them in audiobook format; he is not an especially eloquent lecturer, despite being a pretty infamous storyteller. My male celebrity crush, Jack Quaid, played him in Oppenheimer. It's an interesting portrayal because, if you believe accounts of him, Feynman was a weirdo and some of those quirks are written into the performance—but if you don't know any of this stuff, he's just Some Weird Weirdo contributing to the Manhattan Project.
About a year ago, I read a book of essays from female astrophysicists who began their careers anywhere between the 1930s and now. (This was also my introduction to the concept of the "two body problem", which colloquially referenced the fact that if two physicists married, one of them couldn't work anymore; and that was usually the woman who gave up their career. I was surprised to learn it was an actual phenomenon in physics as well.) A lot is made of one of the essayists—who was, coincidentally, an editor of the book as well—being quite attractive in her prime. Like, it's mentioned in more than one essay. I guess this was a small circle. But said Pretty Physicist also was a nude model for Feynman's art and supplemented part of her education this way.
And, like, fine? I don't judge people for having hobbies or being secure in their appearance. I'm not going to immediately assume an exploitative narrative if one person is modeling for another.
Then I watched(-slash-listened-to) Angela Colliers' video on Feynman. (Note: This video discusses domestic violence toward the end.) If Jenny Nicholson made videos on physics, this would be the experience, and I mean that as the highest compliment. And I went and read Surely You're A Creep, Mr Feynman, which was background in Angela's video.
(The name references his memoir, Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman, but Feynman infamously didn't write anything. Is it still a memoir if someone else authors it? Someone advise me on this. Also, eugh, that title.)
I've never seen The Big Bang Theory, largely by design, but knowing that Sheldon is a Feynman fan is awkward at best and affirms my disinterest at worst.
The concept of Feynman Bros is new to me, but not unsurprising. I imagine fanboys of Elon Musk are cut from the same cloth, although at least one of them is actually intelligent— but the rockstar-ification of scientists or, idk, apartheid trust fund babies is weird and unnecessary to me. 90% of whom I'm following on Bluesky are astrophysicists, science communicators, or science-oriented businesses (like the dude who makes pillars of creation googley eye puzzles and JWST earrings), but I'm not doing it because they deliberately cultivate a persona of pick-up artist, sexual harasser, bongo player, maverick. In fact, that would probably be a turn off. I'm here for the science, not how someone manages to be Too Cool For School while being a scientist—as if that somehow validates their interests. No one needs a real life Dr. House, after all.
I find the concept of a post-mortem footprint to be really interesting, albeit morbidly so. Feynman died over thirty years ago but he's still being held up as a lens through which we can view physics, science communication, and how #MeToo largely unchanged science as a field for women. But using that notoriety in the field to build a mythology around which DudeBros can be not only be disruptive and sexist but feel validated to be that way... Well, it's unfortunate.
I hope the story about him dumping water over a waitress isn't real. Not because I'm concerned about his legacy as a guy who doesn't pour water on service workers, but because that's just really mean.
Dude was a physicist. Richard Feynman's Lectures on Physics are pretty well known. I have them in audiobook format; he is not an especially eloquent lecturer, despite being a pretty infamous storyteller. My male celebrity crush, Jack Quaid, played him in Oppenheimer. It's an interesting portrayal because, if you believe accounts of him, Feynman was a weirdo and some of those quirks are written into the performance—but if you don't know any of this stuff, he's just Some Weird Weirdo contributing to the Manhattan Project.
About a year ago, I read a book of essays from female astrophysicists who began their careers anywhere between the 1930s and now. (This was also my introduction to the concept of the "two body problem", which colloquially referenced the fact that if two physicists married, one of them couldn't work anymore; and that was usually the woman who gave up their career. I was surprised to learn it was an actual phenomenon in physics as well.) A lot is made of one of the essayists—who was, coincidentally, an editor of the book as well—being quite attractive in her prime. Like, it's mentioned in more than one essay. I guess this was a small circle. But said Pretty Physicist also was a nude model for Feynman's art and supplemented part of her education this way.
And, like, fine? I don't judge people for having hobbies or being secure in their appearance. I'm not going to immediately assume an exploitative narrative if one person is modeling for another.
Then I watched(-slash-listened-to) Angela Colliers' video on Feynman. (Note: This video discusses domestic violence toward the end.) If Jenny Nicholson made videos on physics, this would be the experience, and I mean that as the highest compliment. And I went and read Surely You're A Creep, Mr Feynman, which was background in Angela's video.
(The name references his memoir, Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman, but Feynman infamously didn't write anything. Is it still a memoir if someone else authors it? Someone advise me on this. Also, eugh, that title.)
I've never seen The Big Bang Theory, largely by design, but knowing that Sheldon is a Feynman fan is awkward at best and affirms my disinterest at worst.
The concept of Feynman Bros is new to me, but not unsurprising. I imagine fanboys of Elon Musk are cut from the same cloth, although at least one of them is actually intelligent— but the rockstar-ification of scientists or, idk, apartheid trust fund babies is weird and unnecessary to me. 90% of whom I'm following on Bluesky are astrophysicists, science communicators, or science-oriented businesses (like the dude who makes pillars of creation googley eye puzzles and JWST earrings), but I'm not doing it because they deliberately cultivate a persona of pick-up artist, sexual harasser, bongo player, maverick. In fact, that would probably be a turn off. I'm here for the science, not how someone manages to be Too Cool For School while being a scientist—as if that somehow validates their interests. No one needs a real life Dr. House, after all.
I find the concept of a post-mortem footprint to be really interesting, albeit morbidly so. Feynman died over thirty years ago but he's still being held up as a lens through which we can view physics, science communication, and how #MeToo largely unchanged science as a field for women. But using that notoriety in the field to build a mythology around which DudeBros can be not only be disruptive and sexist but feel validated to be that way... Well, it's unfortunate.
I hope the story about him dumping water over a waitress isn't real. Not because I'm concerned about his legacy as a guy who doesn't pour water on service workers, but because that's just really mean.