UNIT
5:ENLIGHTENING MINDS
v THE
MAKING OF A SCIENTIST
(MEMOIR) BY RICHARD FEYNMAN
v Always
keep your eyes and ears open, notice
everything around you, try to find answers to all your doubts!
v 'The important thing is not to stop
questioning...', 'Never lose a holy curiosity.'
Albert Einstein
v INTRO
OF THE MEMOIR
v A
beautiful story of a father and son!
v 'The
Making of a Scientist' is a memoir by
Richard Feynman about his interactions with his father and how it helped him to become a scientist.
v GIST
OF THE MEMOIR
I.
1. By setting up the tiles in a
particular pattern, Feynman's father wished to show him different kinds of
interesting patterns which formed a part of elementary mathematics.
II.
2. After reading the details about the
dinosaur, his father translated the details into reality by placing the dinosaur in their front yard and explained its height in proportion to the building.
3. He learned from his father to
translate everything he read and figure
out what it really meant.
III.
4. On weekends, his father used to take
him for walks in the woods and told him interesting things about the woods.
5. Knowing the name of something is simply having a peripheral knowledge of
something whereas knowing something ensures a deeper knowledge of something.
IV.
6. Feynman's father asked him to guess
the reason for birds pecking at their feathers . His guess proved to be wrong.
V.
7. It is true that in every source of
food there is some form of life that makes use of it.
8. The principle about the existence of life
in every source of food impressed Feynman. He liked it because it was the right
principle of science.
9. Feynman never asked his father
about his knowledge of science because
he assumed that those were things that
every father knew.
VI.
10. When Feynman raised a doubt regarding the change in the duration of the
ball in its to and fro motion, his
father explained it by connecting it to the general principle of 'inertia' -
‘that things which are moving tend to keep on moving, and things which are standing still tend to stand still.’
VII.
11. Feynman was a person who had a wonderful childhood. His child-like
inquisitiveness, which he carried into his
later life, to know more about the
wonderful scientific principles which
made even ordinary things work, is revealed here.
VIII.
12. His father taught him to notice
things, and to understand the principles of science behind it using interesting
examples and discussions. This motivated him to take up science and its study as his future career.
v NEW WORDS
PART I
•
Memoir –a short account of personal
memories, autobiography
•
Inquisitive –too interested in other
people’s affair
•
Highchair –chair used to feed kids
•
Vertically-go straight up
•
Dominoes
- a game with small tiles
•
Push - press against
•
Set up -start, build
•
Complicated - hard to understand, complex
•
Patterns -ornamental arrangement
•
Elementary - basic,
simple
• PART II
•
Encyclopaedia Britannica - books containing information in great
detail.
•
Lap
-flat surface of the upper part of the legs
•
Dinosaurstyrannosaurus rex - a
huge dinosaurs
•
Feet -a measure of length
•
Translate - say or write in simple or
different language
•
Magnitude -size
•
Frightened - feared
•
Consequences - result
•
figure out - solve
PART III
•
wood
- a large group of trees
•
Brown throated
•
Thrush
- a singing bird
•
Spencer’ Warbler - a small insect eating bird singing bird
•
Absolutely -completely
•
Count - include
•
PART
IV
•
•
Peck -strike with its beak
•
Feathers
•
Mess up - make in to a difficult situation
•
Straighten - make straight
•
Fly
- move through air
quickly
•
Ground - plane land
•
Give up -stop ,
•
PART
V
•
•
Lice - a small wing less insect
•
Bother -trouble, worry
•
Flakes -small light pieces
•
Protein -food essential to living things
•
Louse -singular of lice
•
Wax
-smooth
substance made by bees
•
PART
VI
•
•
Mites -tiny animals similar to spider
•
Digest - absorb food
•
Emit - give out
•
Rear - back part
•
Bacteria
- tiny animal which causes illness
•
Source
- starting point
•
PART
VI
•
Remarkable - unusual
•
Assume-
•
Principles -
PART VII
•
Notice -see, observe,
•
Express wagon - goods vehicle
•
Railing - fence,
support
•
Pop
- sound of a light explosion
•
Roll - moving round and round
•
Tend
- likely to do
•
keep on
-continue
•
inertia
- condition of laziness
•
PART
VIII
•
•
discussions - talk over the details
•
motivate - encourage
•
rest – something that remains
•
interested - showing more favour
•
taught
- past tense of teach
•
wonders
- splendor , very good.
QUESTION
ANSWERS
PART I
1.Why did Feynman’s father insist that the tiles should be set up in a
particular pattern?
a) It was interesting
b) They were
playing dominos
c) He was teaching
the boy patterns as a part of elementary mathematics
2. Why do you
think Feynman's father brought home bathroom tiles of different colours?
a) To play with it.
b) To teach him varieties of
patterns.
c) To set them vertically and
horizontally in complicated ways.
PART II
3. How did the
boy get an idea about the size of the dinosaur?
a) By translating it in to rewality through
life experiences
b) by reading books
c) by looking at the pictures
in the encyclopedia.
4. 'Everything
he read to me he would translate as best as he could into some reality'- How
did he do it?
a) By relating it to real life
experiences.
b) By enacting it.
c) By creating a replica of
it.
5.How did his
father’s habit of translating things in to real life experiences help Feynman
in his later life?
a) he learnt to figure out
what does it mean , what ever things he
read.
b) He translated his books in
to many languages
c)He started reading books
6.What is the
most important lesson Feynman learned from his father?
a) To look around for
interesting things.
b) To translate everything he
reads.
c) To notice things and discuss
them.
25. How did
Feynman's father take little Feynman to the world of reading?
a) started showing pictures from
the encyclopedia
b) gave him a lot of books
c)by teaching him to translate
what they read to reality.
PART III
7.What did
Feynman’s father do on weekends?
a) Take rest
b) Go for shopping
c) go for summer walks with his
son
8.What
effect did their weekends on both of
them?
a) They developed a wonderful
relationship with each other.
b) They visited a lot of places
c) they were tired after the
trip
26."We
shared a special relationship." Who are the 'we' here?
a)Richard Feynman and her sister
b)Richard Feynman and her mother
c)Richard Feynman and her father
9.What is the
difference between ‘knowing the name of something ‘ and ‘knowing something’?
a)See what it’s doing—that’s
what counts.”
b)Knowing Means
learn the names in different languages
c)Knowing names is superficial learning, but knowing something
is deep knowledge.
PART IV
10.How does the
father try to convince Feynman that his guess might be wrong?
a) by asking him to guess the
reason for the bird pecking at their
own feathers.
b)by showing the picture of a
dinosaur
c) by playing with an express
wagon
PART V
11.If there’s a
source of food, there’s some form of life
that finds it”. Justify this statement.
a) Birds may have lice on it and
the the louse’s legs
have mites
b)Birds peck to eat their food.
c)Birds peck at their feathers.
21. What did his
father really trying to do when he told him about the lice and mites on the
birds?
a) to teach a principle of science.
b) to go for bird watching
c) to go for
summer walks
PART VI
12.What
aspect of the father’s story impressed Feynman?
a)What he said was true
b)It was the right principle of
science.
c)They loved watching birds
13.Why was
Feynman impressed by the father’s story?
a) It is true that in every
source of food there is some form of life that makes use of it.
b)It was correct
c) His guess was correct.
14.Why didn’t
Feynman ever ask his father about his knowledge of science?
a)He learnt deep principles of
science
b)His father used to talk to him
about interesting things happening in woods
c)He assumed that those were
things that every father knew.
PART VII
15.How did
Feynman’s father teach him the principle behind inertia?
a) by explaining with the example of a ball’s to and fro
motion attached to an express wagon
b) by watching the birds
pecking at their own feathers.
c)by taking him to woods
16.What attitude of Feynman is reveled in the
concluding part of the memoir?
a)inquisitive
b) love of nature
c) passion for books
17. How did his
father teach him to notice things?
a) by explaining with the example of a ball’s to and fro
motion attached to an express wagon
b) by watching the birds pecking at their own
feathers.
c)by taking him to woods
18. “The Making
of a Scientist’ is an example of
----------------?
a) story
b)Narrative
c) memoir
19.Who is the
author of . ‘The Making of a Scientist’ ?
a) Richard Feynman
b) Nandita Das
c) Leonardo De Caprio
PART VIII
20.Who motivated
Richard Feynman to become a scientist?
a) mother
b) father
c) sister
22.How did his
father’s motivation help Feynman to select his future career?
a) His father taught him to notice things, and
learn science with interesting examples and discussions.
b) His father used to play
with him
c) His father used to take
him for walks in the woods
23.”It has
motivated me for the rest of my life , and makes me interested in all the
sciences” What does it mean?
a) Interesting discussions and examples with his father
b) monetary benefits
c) class room activities
24. What is the
message conveyed through the memoir ‘The Making of a Scientist’?
a) Being inquisitive is an important factor of science
b) He had a special relationship
with his father
c) He enjoyed his childhood
28.What is
Richard Feynman’s profession?
a) athlete
b) scientist
c)actor
27. Feynman's
father has played a key role in moulding him to a scientist. Sketch the character of Feynman’s father.
a) He loved science and He taught
his son science through interesting discussions and examples
b) He hardly spent any time with his son
c)He used to play with him
29.When is
Galileo Day celebrated?
a) February 28th
b)February 15th
c)November 14th
30.National
Science day in India is celebrated
on ?
a)February 28th
b)February 15th
c)November 14th
v vocabulary
a)Inertia –the property of a body that resists any
change to its uniform motion
b) magnitude- the absolute or relative size extent
or importance of something.
c) momentum- force
d)thrush –a singing bird
v RELATIVE
PRONOUNS
My father would tell me about interesting things.
Interesting things were going on in the woods.
LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES
Activity
1: Write Up
WRITE
UP:
A write-up is a written description or review of something such as a book, character,
film etc. It usually contains the writer’s points of view. Simple language is
used throght out the analysis of the topic.
A write-up is a small unit of
composition. It is a group of sentences
expressing a connected series of
thoughts relating to one topic.
It is the development of a single main thought or idea or
experience. Features of a write-up are
unity, order, variety and brevity and clarity of expression. A write up must have a suitable title or heading,
introduction with a striking idea to
begin with, relevant points in the body and a conclusion.
Prepare a write up about your ambition and the person who
motivated you.
'The
Making of a Scientist' is a memoir by
Richard Feynman about his interactions with his father and how it helped him to become a scientist. A beautiful
story of a father and son! The young
Feynman was greatly influenced by his
father who encouraged him to ask questions to challenge orthodox thinking, and who was always ready to teach Feynman something new. It was his
curiosity about things that led him to the glorious field of science. He owes
his becoming a scientist to his father who taught him that it was more
important to learn what the thing is
‘doing’ than to learn the name of the
thing in all the languages of the world.
The author explains that he learned from
his father the traits that made him a good scientist, as indicated by the title of the
piece. Feynman discusses in detail how his father ‘educated’ him and how it
motivated him for the rest of his life. What his father gave him were ‘lovely,
interesting discussions’ that caught his imagination as a child to such a
degree that Feynman always looked
forward to those kind of discussions. For him, to know something is to know why
it does something.
The message Feynman tries to convey by the
example of the dinosaur is that when you read something you must translate it
to something else so that you truly understand it. His choice of words like
"magnitude" and "consequence" is deliberate and reflect the
deep meaning of these words. He wished to convince Feynman that in every source
of food, there would be some form of life that makes use of it. His father taught him to notice
things, and to understand the principles of science behind it using interesting
examples and discussions. This motivated him to take up science and its study as his future career.
Similarly,
in the case of a bird when it does something, namely pecks at its feathers. To
know the bird would be to know why it pecks, and his father explores Feynman's
tentative answer with him before offering his explanation. To his earlier
insight about the need to truly know something, this example adds the further
point that the knowledge of the
principle in question is the key to its answer. The names of the birds or the relationship between lice and
mites—might be incorrect in the details.
But to Feynman and his father, what
really mattered was the discovery of the principle that some form of life (no matter how small or
insignificant) would utilize any available source of food.Feynman's father also
draws a distinction between recalling
the name of a bird and genuinely knowing
something about the bird. The example is
meant to illustrate that while the same
bird is called different things in different languages, knowing the names of the bird doesn't tell you anything about the bird--only about what humans have called it. For Feynman, what really matters--the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something--is captured through knowing what a bird does.
Another
incident narrated by Feynman shows the
principle behind inertia—that things which are moving tend to keep on moving,
and things which are standing still tend
to stand still. This is a point he
stresses in his explanation of what it means to know something. By
reading and re-reading the passage
closely, combined with classroom discussions about it, learners will be
able to identify why and how Feynman
started to look at the world through the eyes of a scientist.
Activity -2 An Excerpt from an Interview with
Richard Feynman
INTERVIEW
HINTS:
Prepare the
questions in advance
Book appointment
in advance.
Introduce
yourself clearly.
Be polite and
formal.
Be brief and to
the point.
Take notes,
photographs or audio/ video with the
prior consent.
AN
EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD FEYNMAN
Reporter : Mr. Feynman,
could you tell us about the person who was the inspiration behind your success in life?
Mr.
Feynman : My father.
From my childhood he taught me to notice things, He was the inspiration behind
my success in life.
Reporter : Can you remember
the ways your father followed to make you a scientists?
Mr. Feynman
: I
learnt from his father to translate everything he read and figure out what it
really meant. . We developed a special relationship with each other. My father
taught me to notice things, and to understand the principles of science behind
it using interesting examples and discussions. He actually motivated me to take up science and its study as my future career.
Reporter :In your opinion
what qualities should be developed by a scientist?
Mr.
Feynman : I feel a
scientist should always be looking around to find something wonderful. He
should be inquisitive. He should ask questions and keenly observe everything
around him.
Reporter : As a world
famous physcicist, what is your message to the student community?
Mr. Feynman: Being inquisitive is an important factor of science.
Learn to look at the world through the
eyes of a scientist and notice things,
and understand the principles of science
behind it.
Reporter : Thank you Sir,
for spending your precious time with us.
Activity -3 Telephonic Conversation
Telephonic
Conversation Hints:
Introduce
yourself clearly.
Be polite and
formal.
Be brief and to
the point.
Thank
him before ending the call
v TELEPHONIC CONVERSATION
v You: Hello, am I speaking to Mr. Ronald?
v Mr. Ronald: Hello, who's
speaking?
v You: This is a call from GHS Velore. I am
Antony, the school leader. Can I speak to Mr. Ronald?
v Mr. Ronald: Yes, speaking.
v You: Good morning, sir. Could you please do
us a favour?
v Mr. Ronald: Well, let me
see, what is it?
v You: We have decided to celebrate Galileo
v Day
in our school. Could you please
inaugurate the function?
v Mr. Ronald: When is it?
v You: It's on Feb 15 at 10 am.
v Mr. Ronald: Let me check
whether I've some other engagements that day. It's Ok. I'll be there.
v You: Thank you, sir.
v Activity -4
PowerPoint Presentation
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION : PowerPoint presentation helps you communicate with the audience effectively.
PPT makes use of highly sophisticated visual presentations combining text, charts,
images, sounds, and movie clips. While
preparing a presentation, you should have a clear picture of the following: 1.Purpose 2. Audience 3.
Structure. The key for a successful
presentation lies in careful and intelligent preparation. Begin your
preparation by fixing the purpose. It
may be to inform, to persuade or to entertain or to interact with the
audience. A careful analysis of the
audience will make your task easier.
The content of the presentation needs
to be weighed well.
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