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Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman's Love Letter to Arline

• by Omeed Tehrani

Why did I post this blog?

Richard Feynman was a genius. Someone I look up to. His letter to his wife is so incredibly beautiful that a tribute is the least I can do.

Who Was Richard Feynman?

Richard Phillips Feynman (1918-1988) was one of the most brilliant and beloved physicists of the 20th century. Known for his groundbreaking work in quantum mechanics, particle physics, and his ability to explain complex concepts with remarkable clarity, Feynman left an indelible mark on science and education.

His Accomplishments

Feynman's contributions to physics are extraordinary:

  • Nobel Prize in Physics (1965): Awarded for his fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), which describes how light and matter interact.

  • Manhattan Project: At just 24 years old, Feynman worked on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos during World War II.

  • Feynman Diagrams: He developed a visual method to represent particle interactions that revolutionized theoretical physics and is still used today.

  • Challenger Disaster Investigation: His famous demonstration with an O-ring in ice water helped identify the cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986.

  • Pioneering Nanotechnology: His 1959 lecture "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" is considered the first discussion of nanotechnology.

  • Educator and Author: His lectures and books, including "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" made physics accessible and exciting to millions.

But beyond his scientific genius, Feynman was also deeply human, capable of profound emotion and vulnerability.

The Love Story

Richard and Arline Greenbaum were soul mates. They were a perfect symbiotic pair, each completing the other. They shared the love we all seek. In 1945, Arline died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. They had married while she was already ill, knowing their time together would be limited.

The Letter

Sixteen months after her death, on October 17, 1946, Feynman wrote her a letter that he sealed and never mailed. The letter remained sealed until after his death in 1988. This letter, one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking pieces of writing ever penned, reveals the depth of Feynman's love and the pain of his loss.

October 17, 1946

D'Arline,

I adore you, sweetheart.

I know how much you like to hear that — but I don't only write it because you like it — I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you.

It is such a terribly long time since I last wrote to you — almost two years but I know you'll excuse me because you understand how I am, stubborn and realistic; and I thought there was no sense to writing.

But now I know my darling wife that it is right to do what I have delayed in doing, and that I have done so much in the past. I want to tell you I love you. I want to love you. I always will love you.

I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead — but I still want to comfort and take care of you — and I want you to love me and care for me. I want to have problems to discuss with you — I want to do little projects with you. I never thought until just now that we can do that. What should we do. We started to learn to make clothes together — or learn Chinese — or getting a movie projector. Can't I do something now? No. I am alone without you and you were the "idea-woman" and general instigator of all our wild adventures.

When you were sick you worried because you could not give me something that you wanted to and thought I needed. You needn't have worried. Just as I told you then there was no real need because I loved you in so many ways so much. And now it is clearly even more true — you can give me nothing now yet I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else — but I want you to stand there. You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive.

I know you will assure me that I am foolish and that you want me to have full happiness and don't want to be in my way. I'll bet you are surprised that I don't even have a girlfriend (except you, sweetheart) after two years. But you can't help it, darling, nor can I — I don't understand it, for I have met many girls and very nice ones and I don't want to remain alone — but in two or three meetings they all seem ashes. You only are left to me. You are real.

My darling wife, I do adore you.

I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Rich.

PS Please excuse my not mailing this — but I don't know your new address.