A panel discussion on the life and works of physicist Richard Feynman (SB 1939) next Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 7pm will open this fall's "authors@mit series." Panelists at the event in Rm 26-100 will include Marvin Minsky, the Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; Michel Baranger, professor of physics; and Brandeis Professor of Physics Silvan Schweber.
The authors@mit event celebrates publication of The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (Helix), a posthumous collection of Professor Feynman's best short works. The evening will culminate with a showing of the BBC film with the same title.
Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, was known for his work on the atomic bomb and his solution to the puzzle of the Challenger disaster. He was also an iconoclastic icon, amateur artist and professional musician (in a Rio de Janeiro samba band).
"This marvelous collection of talks, interviews and essays offers a memorable sample of the wit, brilliance and irreverance of the most celebrated physicist of our time. The more one reads Feynman, the more one falls in love with his refreshingly enthusiastic view of the world," said Professor Alan Guth of physics.
Now in its fourth year, authors@mit is a series sponsored by the MIT Press Bookstore and the MIT Libraries. All series events are free, open to the public and wheelchair-accessible. Books are available for sale at a discount the week of the event. For more information, call x3-5249 or e-mail authors@mit.edu.
The next authors@mit event on September 28 at 5:30pm in the Humanities Libarary is a reading by novelist and Assistant Professor of Writing Helen Elaine Lee from her new book Water Marked .
Future authors@mit speakers and events include Laboratory for Computer Science researcher Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, on his book Weaving the Web (October 5); a panel on multiculturalism and feminism (October 6); a panel celebrating publication of Mapping Boston , published by the MIT Press (October 12); sexuality activist Susie Bright on her new book Full Exposure (October 15); Peter Galison and Emily Thompson on their edited collection The Architecture of Science (October 21); Professor William J. Mitchell, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning and author of City of Bits , on his new book e-topia (November 12); and Media Lab researcher Michael Schrage on Serious Play :How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate (December 2).
Details of the fall schedule are still being finalized. See the MIT Press events web site for updated information.
A version of this article appeared in the September 15, 1999 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 44, Number 5).
