And now for something completely different

[Just Jeepin']

(I miss Monty Python.)

My original title for this post was going to be “a very immodest man” but I figured you’d think I was describing myself.

I only casually follow cosmology from a distance, so this is my first exposure to Frank Wilczek, but he’s quite the compelling figure. And very happy to talk about how smart he is, but in a charming way.

That summer I went to my first conference. It was very small, at a place called the Downingtown Inn. But Feynman was there, the Feynman, and he talked about our work. He said, “This is really important.” I was 21.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/frank-wilczek-cracked-open-the-cosmos-20210112/

[beefchips]

@just-jeepin I read that this afternoon. Quite a charming man certainly, which is more than I would say for Feynman who really rubs me the wrong way in his biography etc. One of the things that I liked about Wilczeks story was he acknowledged he was in the right place at the right time, and that he had the encouragement of very good mentors. As a former academic privy to lots of researchers attitudes... this is refreshing.

[Just Jeepin']

@beefchips Feynman is a complex man; his treatment of women was unfortunate, but it was also a different era.

His anecdotes almost always had me rolling, though. Funny guy.