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Comment by PaulRobinson | Hacker News Reader

Did you just call Richard Feynman a "random celebrity", who isn't authoritative on the subject of science?

Hint: I might need to google the authors of the study, I don't need to google Richard Feynman...

He is celebrity. He is not authoritative about subject of teaching math to kids. He is authoritative about his area of physics. He also is authoritative about writing popular books for physics that demystify physics to adults. But again, not about kids and math.

> don't need to google Richard Feynman...

My friend that is the textbook definition of celebrity status.

"Celebrity" in colloquial use implies someone "famous for being famous", like Kim Kardashian.

To use such word with regard to one of the most talented and innovative physicists of the 20th century debases the entire conversation.

> debases the entire conversation.

If my eyes rolled back any further in my head I could look into the past.

But you've proven your own point: you know him because he's known but because you're actually familiar with his work.

So again: textbook celebrity worship masquerading as intellectualism.

"you know him because he's known but because you're actually familiar with his work"

I cannot parse your statement, either there are some missing words, or some problem with your English.

Anyway, from my previous comment, you couldn't have any idea about how I got to know Feynman and his work. I haven't mentioned it at all.

FYI, I got acquainted with his work in 1996 when I enrolled into the university. I was studying maths, my dormitory roommate was studying theoretical physics, and he had several Feynman's books that were very interesting to me, though I must admit that sometimes the underlying apparatus was really complicated for an 18 y.o. greenhorn. But the principles were clear enough.

Linus Pauling's authority in chemistry doesn't make his cuckoo theories about Vitamin C any less cuckoo. Feynman may have been an important physicist, but that doesn't make him knowledgeable about education!

And, to be honest, there's a reason why there are memes about physicists' competence in other fields, like https://xkcd.com/793/.

Feynman was extremely knowledgeable about pedagogy, and his lectures are considered some of the finest works in the field.

I'm very aware of the "spherical cow" joke about physicists, but this isn't a "random celebrity".

As well as the texts based off his lectures. [1] His ability to teach was completely unreal. Those 'books' dramatically deepened my understanding of physics.

[1] - https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/

Feynman himself said that his Lectures were a failure of pedagogy.

Doesn't matter - hn is 100% certain Feynman was a virtuoso educator.

Probably because a lot of us have read or watched his work and know first hand that it was extremely high quality. It's not like you have to take people's word for it.

But not high quality for teaching children. They arw great supplemental resources that teach intuition. Nothing less, but also nothing more.

The Feynman Lectures on Physics was used as the textbook for Caltech's introductory physics course for nearly two decades, and it is still used in some universities. I learned physics from it and have met many Caltech alumni who used it as their textbook, all of whom felt they learned a great deal more than "intuition" from it. So I am guessing you've never actually tried to learn something from it if you feel that way.

This is not quite accurate. I mean it is, but only in the same sense that a top 5 chessplayer in the world might regularly bemoan, with no irony intended, his inability to play chess well. There's a lot more context to his comments here. [1]

Seriously, if you are at all interested in physics - read the lectures and they will, with 100% certainty, deepen your understanding. Even on the most fundamental topics. For instance my entire worldview around the conversation laws changed thanks to those lectures, which in turn ties directly into the nature of energy.

[1] - https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/info/popular_misconc...

He taught a two-year introductory physics course at Caltech from 1961 to 1964, which gives him some experience with the matter though. He was known as "The Great Explainer", due to his ability to help people understand and more importantly, be inspired by science and the world around them*. His materials from those lectures were converted into "The Feynman Lectures on Physics", a highly regarded physics textbook. so I wouldn't have chosen education as my example.

In support of 793 however, he didn't do well with bureaucracy so I'd not listen to his advice on how to run something that favored rigorous rule following even when the rules don't make sense**.

* https://www.commoncraft.com/honor-richard-feynman-great-expl...

** https://laurakornish.com/2019/04/no-joking-matter-feynman-on...

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