Infinity (1996) - full transcript
As a young boy, Richard was fascinated with science and objects in motion. This wonderment was reinforced through the efforts of his father. The only thing that mattered as much as science, and his family, was Arline, whom he met when they were both in school. But fate can often be cruel and Arline is found to be stricken by Tuberculosis. Undaunted, Richard studies the disease as he studies science in hopes of curing her. When her disease is in remission, they marry and he proceeds on to college where his studies and the war lead him to Los Alamos to work on the Manhattan Project. While Richard is intrigued with the solution to the project, he is also concerned with the outcome and saddened with the failing health of Arline.
[SILENCE]
[THEME MUSIC]
[THEME MUSIC]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[KEYS JANGLING]
[KEYS JANGLING]
Can you hear what's happening
in my mind?
No, why do you ask?
You're shaking your keys in the
same pattern
that I'm singing to myself.
Really?
How do you mean?
Ba, ba black sheep, have you
any wool?
That's funny.
Well we just thought of the same
thing at the same time.
Nobody can read anybody's mind.
Maybe fathers can read their
sons minds.
- Nope. - Can mommy--
Read their daughters minds?
No.
You just did.
Really and truly I just
guessed.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
I'm thirsty.
We'll be home soon.
I'm thirsty now.
Listen to that bird.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
Hey.
I fell because I was thirsty.
Richie, how old are you?
Six.
Well, act your age.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
What kind of a bird is that?
A marvelous bird.
But what's its name?
Richie, I could tell you its
name if I knew it in all
the languages in the world.
But then you'd just know what
people
call it in different places.
You wouldn't learn anything
about it.
You've got to look at the bird.
You've got to listen to the
bird.
You gotta try to understand what
it's doing.
You gotta notice everything.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
Hey, Pop.
How come when I pull the wagon,
the ball rolls back,
and when I stop, the ball rolls
forward?
Why is that?
That nobody knows.
But the general principle is
that things that are moving
like to keep moving, and things
that
are still like to stay still.
There's a name for that.
It's called inertia.
But nobody knows why it's true.
Look at it from the side.
See, it's really the back of the
wagon
you're pulling against the ball
and the ball stands still.
[WAGON CREAKING]
From the friction the ball
moves forward a little bit
compared to the ground.
It doesn't move back.
[WAGON CREAKING]
That makes sense?
Watch again.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You understand?
Yeah?
Let's go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Not having
experience with many fathers,
I didn't realize how remarkable
he was.
How did he learn the deep
principles of science
and the love of it, what's
behind it,
and why it's worth doing.
I never really asked him because
I just assumed that those
were things that fathers knew.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The Taube twins on Mounter
Street?
They look like it, but I don't
think they can.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: He made
uniforms for a living.
And he was a vegetarian.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PIANO PLAYING]
- What's going on? - Hey
Hey.
That's Arline.
Arline is here.
Yeah.
Hey Richie, fish face.
Arline is here.
Who is this queen Arline?
You don't know Arline?
From Cedarhurst.
ARLINE: [SINGING] So you so
ugly, you so ugly,
you's some ugly child.
The clothes that you wear are
not in style.
You look like in ape every time
you smile, babe.
Oh how I hate you.
You alligator bait, you.
The homeliest thing I ever saw
or seen.
You're knocked kneed, pigeon
toed, box ankled too.
There's a curse on your family
and it fell on you.
Your teeth are yella.
Who's your fella?
You's some ugly child.
[PIANO PLAYING]
It's a good song.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD: Two times two plus four
times five divided by six plus
seven times eight plus nine
times 10 plus 11,
, 12, [MUTTERING],, 14, 15 16 17
18 plus 19 20 plus--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: She took
art at the Temple Youth Center.
So I became a student
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I didn't know you liked art.
Oh well I do very much.
You do?
Oh sure.
What were you doing jumping in
circles last Wednesday?
Wednesday?
Yeah outside your house on the
stoop you were--
Oh
--jumping.
Oh yeah.
Well I was, I was trying to
figure out you see.
If I count hippopotamuses one
hippopotamus, two hippopotamus,
three hippopotamus and I get to
60,
it always takes me the same
amount of time.
They're seconds.
I don't know what they are, but
they're
the same every time.
They're not actually seconds,
when I time them,
but they're the same every time,
which is the point.
So I thought, well what is it?
Is it my heartbeat?
Am I unconsciously listening to
my pulse or what?
So I tried counting and jumping
around in circles which would
make my heart beat faster.
And it was different, huh?
No, it was the same.
See ya.
I gotta get back to my horse.
I'm making a horse.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOORBELL RINGING]
RADIO VOICE: Ladies and
Gentlemen,
welcome again to Take Or Leave
It in all American California
where everything is going fine.
It's Richie Feynman
MRS. GREENBAUM: Hello, Richie.
RADIO: That's right.
I told you.
Hello Mr. And Mrs. Greenbaum.
MAN'S VOICE: Hello there Richie.
Who's that?
That's my Uncle Peter.
He's a real donkey.
RICHARD: Am I supposed to say
hello?
No.
He isn't even a real uncle.
That's lucky.
He might be part donkey.
I thought maybe you could help
me with my homework.
Well I'll certainly try.
Did you do that?
Yeah last year.
It's good.
Is it the circus?
Yeah.
[CLEARING THROAT]
This is a Mobius strip.
One surface, one side.
Here, try it.
Make a line on it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PENCIL DRAWING]
This is wonderful.
This is a Mobius strip?
Yeah.
ARLINE: I'm gonna show them that
at school.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: In 1939, I
was in my senior year at MIT.
That was the year the war
started in Europe.
For me, it was my senior year.
I took Arline away for a weekend
at Atlantic City.
What're you doing that for?
I want you to look nice.
I want to make a nice appearance
so people think well of us.
What do you care what other
people think?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ARLINE: Are following me?
Are you following me?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah, look at that.
Look at that.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
Oh, I think I should have a
back scratcher.
It has always been my position
that everyone
should have a back scratcher.
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
I bet I could beat you.
Huh?
Oh.
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
Listen, I challenge you.
Huh?
Challenge?
Well, yeah.
Yeah, I'd like to.
I bet I can calculate with my
head
faster than you can with that
abacus.
Suppose you write down two lists
of identical numbers,
and then hand them to us at the
same time.
OK
RICHARD: Wait, wait let me get a
pen.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
ARLINE: That's your dog?
Oh-- [DOG BARK]
--no.
Begin.
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
4,016,732.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
Multiplication.
Is that your dad?
Maybe.
Ready RICHARD: Yeah.
Go. [ABACUS SOUNDS]
TOGETHER: 500,046.
Cube root.
Eh, It's e--
12.
RICHARD: No no no more digits.
More digits.
What, what decimal point?
Mmm.
Decimal places?
Decimal places.
12.0.
12.0.
12.002384?
Uh, we do again.
We do again.
ARLINE: Oh no.
No thank you.
Thank you.
I don't think that we can.
But thank you very much.
No, no.
No pay.
I want to introduce you to my
friend Lee Hua.
Hello.
And this is Man, Xingsan Man.
And Yao.
And of course, my son Weitea.
RICHARD: Happy to meet you.
ARLINE: Happy to meet you.
Thank you.
Not at all.
OK, see you again.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
That was nice.
Wasn't it?
So how'd you do it?
Ah, you don't wanna know how I
did it.
He doesn't know anything about
numbers just beads.
You want a hamburger?
Yes please.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
With an abacus, you don't have
to know
anything about arithmetic.
You just buzz those beads
around.
He doesn't know numbers.
I don't know beads, but I know
arithmetic.
So the harder the problem gets,
the better off I am,
and the worse off he is.
Is this your napkin?
No, it's not.
How is he supposed to
understand approximating?
Half a bead?
Also I got lucky.
The number the guy picked was
1,729.03.
Was it?
Yeah.
I happen to know that a cubic
foot
contains 1,728 cubic inches.
So the answer is just a teeny
bit more than 12.
Well why does 12 come in?
Because there's 12 inches in a
foot.
OK, well I didn't notice that.
So the excess, the difference
between the guy's
number and the number of inches
in a cubic foot is 1.03.
And that's only one part in
nearly 2,000.
And I know that in calculus that
for small fractions,
the cube root's excess is 1/3 of
the number's excess.
So all I had to do was find the
fraction 1/1728, multiply by 4,
divide by 3, and multiply by 12.
So I was able to pull out a
whole bunch
of extra digits that way.
Cubic roots.
I must be his top notch exercise
in abacus land.
You look very sweet in that
coat.
Yeah?
I got it with Muffy Hers is
blue,
and the rickrack is here too.
Oh, there?
She shouldn't.
Tsk tsk.
Oh Muffy.
Anyway it would look different
on Muffy.
Muffy's bust is not as full as
yours.
Well that's where you're wrong.
She wears two bras and too slips
to disguise it.
- You're kidding? - I swear it.
Anyway, if you're gonna compare
Muffy's bust to mine,
it sure as hell not going to
help you.
All right, I'll do it on my
own.
Muffy's bust is bigger than my
bust.
Bet you can't say that three
times fast.
Muffy's bust is bigger than my
bust.
Muffy's bust is bigger than
bust.
Muffy's bust is bigger than my
bust.
Baltic.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah-- look at this dress.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Isn't it a pretty dress?
Oh, look at the skirt.
I'd like to buy it for you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It's so awfully nice.
Yes, it certainly is.
C'mon.
[MUSIC PLAYING] [DOG BARKING]
I suppose if you get a room
from your friend's
brother's cousin, you have to
take what you can get.
Hey, is that what this is?
Not quite.
Almost.
God, wasn't that a pretty
dress?
I'll never forget that dress.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOG BARKING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DRAWER CREAKING]
[TAPPING NOISE]
Richie.
[TAPPING NOISE]
Richie, wake up.
Honey.
[TAPPING NOISE]
Wake up.
[TAPPING NOISE]
Ha.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ARLINE: Well, why should she
like fish?
Why not?
ARLINE: Well, why should she in
particular like kipper?
MRS. FEYNMAN: Arline, darling,
don't encourage Joan.
Why does station announcers
have small hands?
Wee paws for station
identification.
MR. FEYNMAN: So, it's time for
my painting class.
MRS. FEYNMAN: You'll be home by
6:30, OK?
MR. FEYNMAN: We'll be back
before then.
Arline has to be home at 6:00.
I gotta pack.
Write if you get work.
Clutz!
MRS. FEYNMAN: Come on.
You want this one?
It's got a big hole in it.
Ah, it doesn't matter. MRS.
FEYNMAN: Sure it does.
It'll get bigger.
- Hey, what's that? - Present.
Hey, huh, it's gorgeous.
Look at that.
I'm gorgeous.
It's a rain hat.
I think it always rains in
college.
I'm only going to New Jersey.
Honey, you want your moccasins?
Sure.
You ever gonna live with us
again?
Yeah, summers.
Nah you won't.
Nobody else does.
They all go to work.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: So there I
was with my scholarship
to the graduate program at
Princeton.
My father moved me in.
RICHARD: I thought you were
listening.
MR. FEYNMAN: I was listening.
But it's very complicated.
Well, if you didn't understand
what the guy said,
you should ask him to explain it
to you instead of just driving.
Yeah, yeah yeah.
RICHARD: Well?
MR. FEYNMAN: I've been trying to
get you to explain
ever since we left New York.
What are you talking about?
Spontaneous generation?
RICHARD: Pop, just calm down,
will you?
Just calm down or I can't talk
to you.
Feynman, please.
Oh yes sir.
Top of the stairs to the left.
This photon.
Where does it come from?
I don't know what you're
talking about, Pop.
Well, the atom makes a
transition,
and a photon comes out. - Yeah?
[CLOCK CHIMING]
So was the photon in the atom
waiting to come out?
No, there's no photon
beforehand.
It just appears when the atom
changes its state?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah.
Hmm.
[TAPPING ON BED]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Mathematics is a language.
It's very difficult. It's
subtle.
You couldn't say those things
any other way.
And I can talk to dead people
with it.
I talk to Copernicus every day.
What do you keep doing that with
your hand for?
I got a swelling.
Can you look at it?
I don't see anything.
Oh, see?
Feel.
It's right there.
Oh, yeah.
If you weren't such a pretty
girl,
you wouldn't even have noticed
it.
Yeah?
Well being such a pretty girl,
I'm
gonna go see my uncle doctor.
You call that a smooch?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Then,
sometime later,
the bump began to change.
It got bigger or maybe it was
smaller?
And she got a fever.
She was told she had typhoid
fever.
Right away, I went to the
library to look it up.
I wanted to help her, and the
only way I knew
was to look it up in medical
books.
I'd read there was an absolute
test for typhoid.
The Widal test.
We wore these gowns to guard
against her infecting us.
Doctor, how'd the Widal test
come out?
Negative.
Negative?
How can that be?
Excuse me.
Maybe she doesn't even have
typhoid fever.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: And, of
course, it turned out
she didn't have typhoid fever.
After a while, Arline got better
on her own apparently.
The swelling went down, and the
fever went away.
But after some weeks, the
swelling started again.
And this time she went to
another doctor.
You can put your clothes behind
the curtain.
And gown opens in the front.
What should I take off?
Everything but your shoes.
Everything?
But it's in my neck?
Well, the doctor wants to
examine you.
OK.
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
How are you feeling today?
OK.
You can lie back.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: This guy
feels under her armpits,
and in her groin and so on, and
notices there's
swelling in those places too.
He says the problem is in her
lymphatic glands,
but he doesn't yet know what the
specific disease is.
He will consult with other
doctors.
I took another trip to the
library.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BASEBALL PLAYER: Hey batter,
batter batter.
All right, here you go.
Yeah, go, OK.
Comin' around.
Up here.
Oh!
Ah.
Hey, ball?
Nice throw, DiMaggio.
RICHARD: OK, I got it.
You don't have to see it.
I'll tell you.
The only thing is, you know
those jokes
about medical students getting
every disease
that they read about.
The only thing is I think that
we're in serious trouble,
maybe.
Maybe.
It says, for possibilities, one
TB of the lymphatic glands.
This is very easy to diagnose,
blah blah blah.
But this can't be what you have,
or they would know it.
And then there's all kinds of
other diagnoses,
and they're all serious from
what I can understand.
You want to see it?
One of them is called Hodgkin's
disease.
ARLINE: What's that like?
That's no good.
We wouldn't want that to happen
to us.
It's fatal.
BASEBALL PLAYER: I got it.
I got it.
I got it.
We don't have to take this as
final.
We don't know enough.
I don't know how to read medical
books.
But it doesn't look good.
Richie, is this Hodgkin's
disease, is it catching?
No.
No.
No, no, no.
Excuse me, Miss Greenbaum?
Uh, tell me.
Do you spit up blood?
Have you ever coughed up blood?
No.
Uh, do you cough?
No.
Doctor, will you look at her,
please.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I didn't
know what this guy meant.
NURSE: That miserable doctor.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: They kept
having meetings
that I wasn't supposed to know
about.
I suppose they wanted me calm.
Listen, I'll be right back.
I, I I got to find out
something.
OK.
No, I'm sure he'll be fine.
We'll just check the chart one
more time find release--
Dr. Hellman.
Hello, Richard.
Richard, this is Dr. Shank.
Richard Feynman.
Richard is Arline's fiancé.
So any news?
What do you think?
Well, we think the most likely
possibility
is Hodgkin's disease.
It's a very strange disease,
Richard.
There will be some periods of
improvement.
And there will be some periods
in the hospital.
It's fatal after a few years.
Well I'm sorry to hear that.
I'll tell her what you said.
Richie, sit down.
Richie, we haven't even told her
parents yet.
She's very young.
We don't want to upset her.
We're going to tell her she has
glandular fever.
Oh no, no, no, no, no.
We've already discussed the
possibility
of Hodgkin's disease.
I know that she wants to know.
Richie, calm yourself.
I am calm.
I haven't told her parents yet.
You already said that.
Richie, I'm trying to help.
I would like to cure her, but
the world
isn't always what I would like.
Isn't it, sir?
I'm sorry to hear that.
Richie, you gotta cooperate.
Why?
Richie, stop it.
What are you going to do, spoil
whatever time she has left?
What?
Her last two years, you're
going to spoil that?
You want to pile a lie on top
of this terrible news?
Why?
Ah, you're childish.
You think we don't love Arline?
She's gonna ask me what she's
got.
You want me to lie to her?
Think of her mother.
Richie, stop it.
Just stop it.
She's the most wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful girl.
She taught me how to ride my
bike.
You're the most foolish
stubborn, foolish brother.
[CRYING]
[HOSPITAL SOUNDS]
Hi.
They're telling me that I have
glandular fever.
And I'm not sure whether I
believe them or not.
Richie, do I have glandular
fever,
or do have Hodgkin's disease?
You have glandular fever.
Oh, fine.
So I can go home.
Look, Mom.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRYING]
MRS GREENBAUM: [CRYING] I want
her to go to college.
I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So I heard my mother crying,
and I
thought, well why is my mother
crying so
hard if I have glandular fever?
On the other hand, Richie
wouldn't lie to me.
So I couldn't make it out.
And then I thought, although I
know it seems impossible
because you wouldn't--
do I have glandular fever, or do
I have Hodgkin's?
You have Hodgkin's disease.
God.
They must have put you through
hell.
I thought-- they must have given
you such a terrible time.
You mustn't do that again, ever.
We're not like that.
That's not the way we are.
We're different.
I'll think what to do in a
minute.
Look, I, I even wrote your
letter,
because I figured that you would
find out one day
and give me the heave ho.
You want to see it?
I could look later.
OK, OK I have Hodgkin's disease.
So what do we do now?
If we get married, I lose my
scholarship.
If we don't get married, when
will I see you?
You want to get married?
I know you do.
So I'm in the middle of trying
to get my PhD.
My father will kill me.
He'll kill me.
But I could get a job working at
the Bell Telephone Laboratories
doing research.
Have you heard of them?
Mmm-hmm.
Well, it's a very nice place to
work.
And we could get a little
apartment
in Queens that isn't too far
from the hospital or Bell Labs.
So we can go back and forth.
Well, we'll have to.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: So we got
it
all figured out that afternoon.
But I think I'm so smart, and
I'm not so smart.
[TELEPHONE RINGING]
Hello?
ARLINE: Richie, I got the report
from the biopsey.
Yeah? Is it good or bad?
It's positive.
I have TB.
I'm a jerk.
I'm a jerk.
I'm a monkey.
I thought T.B was the obvious
case, so I thought--
You remember that that little
guy
who came running down the hall--
do you spit up blood?
Well he knew what it probably
was.
I'm a dope.
So I may live as long as seven
years.
I may even get better.
And that's not good news?
Well, now we're going to have
to wait to get married.
You mean you liked our
solution?
Yeah.
Well it was elegant.
But Putzie, this is a much
better circumstance.
And we'll find something just as
elegant.
And not so different.
Huh, and back to me maybe being
catching again.
Well.
Richie, listen.
I might get well.
But I might not.
And if I don't, I don't want to
have lived
and died my whole life long in
this room.
Well I can see that.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Soon after
that, we had to take
her to Deborah hospital.
Arline began to play a game with
the world.
She had a lot of time to think.
She would read magazines, and
send away for this and that.
She was always cooking up
something.
Arline was in her room.
But she was in the world.
We were doing two different
things,
but we tried to keep track of
each other.
Dick.
Morning John.
Morning.
All right, this isn't right,
because it varies inversely
as the square of the distance of
the other electrons,
whereas it shouldn't depend on
any of these variables at all.
It's also dependent inversely on
the mass of the other electron.
And it'll be proportional to the
charge on the other electron.
And it'll be delayed.
The wave returns late.
So all you've described is
reflected light.
Oh, oy.
Oh, no, wait.
Now let's just suppose, it
returns by advanced waves.
Reactions backwards in time.
So it comes back at the right
time.
Here, give me your pencil.
It's going to fit very nicely
that way.
Who's Putzie?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I was
embarrassed
about shaving my name off the
pencils, but I did it anyway.
Mustard?
Yeah, mustard on both.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Then World
War
II started, and it got
everybody's attention
off themselves.
Although not me, not entirely.
My attention is usually somewhat
on myself.
Bill Price was head of the
physics department,
and one of my teachers at
Princeton.
That's all right that you told
me the secret,
because I'm not going to tell
anybody about it.
But I'm not going to do it.
Want a bite?
Don't you read the newspapers?
Doesn't everybody read the
newspapers for God's sake?
Matter of fact, I don't.
But I can't do anything about it
now, you see.
I wouldn't know how to handle
it.
My fiancée is sick.
I don't know what's gonna happen
next.
Can't you get somebody else?
I can't get you someplace else.
Thanks.
Is anybody else trying to
separate uranium?
Do you think the Germans are?
I personally think they are,
yes.
Well, how do you know?
I don't mean to be rude.
I don't know.
I don't think anyone knows for
sure.
It's very much of a fright,
isn't it?
Will I get paid?
I don't want him to marry
anybody who's
sick let alone contagious.
What do you think, I'm cruel?
He's 23.
There's a life to be had.
How is he going to be a
scientist?
He'd be happy as a scientist.
What does he got marry her for?
Why can't he just be her friend?
They used to care if their women
had
strong teeth, for God's sakes.
He's going to get sick.
Richie, you listen.
We are very, very careful
already.
You explain how you catch it,
and we'll figure it out.
You cannot be sure.
Tuberculosis is a great
masquerader.
How will you ever know if you're
safe?
Richie, darling, I don't want
to sound callous.
But when you made that promise
to Arline,
you did not know the situation.
Now did you?
Every-- everyone knows that.
It does not represent a real
promise.
No one expects you to keep it.
Least of all Arlene's parents,
or Arline herself.
It isn't a question of a
promise.
I never even thought of that.
Well you'd better think of it.
At least you better think.
Would it be sensible for a
husband
who learns that his wife has
tuberculosis to leave her?
What are you talking about?
We've been going together for
six years.
You want me to leave her?
Stop it, all ya.
There's no problem, really.
How are you going to convince me
of anything anymore, anyway?
I'm working on a project for the
government.
I'm getting paid.
This way I can take care of her
at last.
OK?
Come on, Pop.
You may kiss the bride.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Should have kissed them and
tipped you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Stop it.
Stop it, you're driving.
Isn't it wonderful?
Are you listening?
What do you even need notes for?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: In the end,
they didn't use the Princeton
project for separating uranium.
They decided we'd all go to Los
Alamos, New Mexico,
where we would make the bomb.
Arline wasn't feeling too well
at the time,
and she was scared she'd be left
behind.
Her parents really didn't want
to see her go,
but we didn't want it to be left
out of the excitement.
So we figured she'd come
afterwards by herself.
I thought you might like this.
It's for the train trip.
It's going to last three nights
and two days.
Hah, oh Richie, it's so cute.
Oh, Richie.
It's so cute.
[PLAYING PIANO]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: It was
Oppie who chose the west.
Robert Oppenheimer.
He knew the west.
He'd had a summer home there.
He was the head of the whole
shebang.
Oppie paid attention to
everybody's problems.
He arranged for Arline to have a
roomette on a separate train
when she was well enough.
He arranged for the hospital in
Albuquerque too.
He did all that, and he probably
wouldn't have recognized me.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Looks like injun country.
It is.
[INSECTS BUZZING]
Look, you can see it's black
from their smoke
from their fires.
My God.
Arline's got to see this.
Who's Arline?
My wife.
Oh, your wife's with you?
Yeah.
Well, she will be.
She'll be at the hospital in
Alberquerque.
She's not here now.
Well.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAR ENGINE]
Um, sorry.
Uh, um, Ernest.
That's taken.
Sorry.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Come in.
We're gonna get some dinner,
Dick.
Do you wanna come?
Sure.
Do you have a woman in here?
Wha-- what is all this?
Oh, I just want the room to
look taken.
I don't want to share it with
anyone.
Listen, I'll meet you guys in
the dining room, OK?
I think I'll get my mail.
Oh my god.
I'll have her killed.
[TRAIN ENGINE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: But it was
a hard thing for us, you know?
Albuquerque was 100 miles from
Los Alamos.
After a while I settled down so
I
could see it was the most
wonderful
landscape you could imagine.
Like being in the movies not at
them.
I used to hitch a bus down on a
Saturday.
See Arline in the afternoon, and
maybe stay overnight
in a hotel in Albuquerque.
Then on Sunday morning, I would
see Arline again
and go back in the afternoon.
I never knew how I'd find her.
One time she was dressed up as a
shepherdess or something.
She'd sent me a picture of a
stove.
Arline, what is this?
Oh, it's a stove.
Yeah, I can see that.
It's huge.
You think so?
I thought we should have a
stove.
But this is a restaurant stove.
Well maybe a little cooker, or
a charcoal broiler.
Arline, dear, they don't let
you cook in a hospital room.
There's too much smoke.
I wanted to have steaks.
It's the season for it.
I bet everybody's doing it.
We could do it on the lawn.
No, we can't do that.
With the cars driving back and
forth,
and people walking back and
forth on the sidewalk.
We can't go out on the lawn and
cook steaks.
I think it's a lovely place.
You don't have to wear the hat,
I guess.
I got it for you just last week.
Arline.
What do you care what other
people think?
I really don't understand what
you're saying,
and I would like to.
Well you don't know the
language.
No, that's true.
I don't.
Still you ought to be able to
tell
me in a way I'd understand.
All I want is the flavor of it.
Well, that's all you need.
Well then why is it any
different from when
you cook that chop?
You must be changing it
altogether just by heating it.
Well, it's sort of the same.
Only bigger.
When you cook the chop, you're
adding
energy to it, but not enough to
mess with the nucleus.
You're not taking any energy out
of the atoms.
Well it sure looks like you
are.
Yeah, but you're not.
Look, the nucleus of an atom is
where the neutrons
and the protons are.
Different elements have
different numbers
of neutrons and protons.
That's what makes them different
elements.
But the neutrons and protons are
always the same.
OK?
OK.
All right, now, some nuclei
hold together very well.
But some nuclei are unstable.
So the neutrons fall off of
them.
When?
When what?
When do they fall of them?
Well it's completely uncertain
when they'll do it.
But it's completely certain that
in the long run they will do.
It's called Beta decay.
Can I go on?
OK, sorry.
Now look, sometimes they shoot
off an extra neutron.
And if that neutron hits another
unstable nucleus
it'll cause it to split, and
emit more
neutrons, and then more nuclei.
And like that you start a chain
reaction.
But you have to have a very
crowded situation
because otherwise they don't hit
anything.
They just go flying off.
What you want, when it's all
going right,
is for everybody to be hitting
everybody else and not
too many missing targets.
That is nuclide.
Do you ever pretend you're a
neutron, I mean,
to figure out what they do?
You're very smart.
You're probably smart enough to
have a fellow like me.
What's the matter?
There's a lot of gum under this
table.
There's a certain kind of
uranium.
Uranium is an element that has a
very heavy nucleus.
It's very unstable.
And if we can get enough of that
together at once,
which we haven't done yet.
We'll have a bomb.
And we have to stop it from
going off before we want it to.
We don't know how to do that yet
either.
Well has this happened before
what you're doing?
I mean in nature?
No I don't think it has.
I don't think it's ever been
strung together
to make an explosion before.
That's what we're so excited
about.
How you feeling today?
Well, I feel good.
You look good.
Well that's nice to hear.
You always look adorable.
Hello!
My husband is a physicist!
Please don't do that.
Don't wave at the car.
OK, OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[ARLINE COUGHING]
I gotta go.
Yeah, mm you look so handsome.
You got a list?
Yeah, let me think.
Wait.
You look real rested.
Mmm.
I need glycerine, mmm rubber
cement, hot dogs.
How many?
Six.
And you have my laundry.
So OK.
OK.
What's the idea trying to get
the name of the pencils, huh?
Aren't you proud of the fact
that I love you?
What do you care what other
people think?
Afternoon sir. See some ID
please?
You got a light?
Sure.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Two years
went by,
and I kept visiting Arline
weekends
and living at Los Alamos.
Can I take a look at your
briefcase sir, if I could.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Their
security was exaggerated,
and at the same time, it was
absolutely ridiculous.
SOLDIER: Good afternoon, sir,
could I
take a look at some ID please?
Billson?
Got a cousin named Billson.
All right sir, thanks very much.
Let me take a look in your
briefcase if I could.
Torrez, Torrez.
What is that-- it's all right.
What is that Mexican, Torrez?
Mr. Fayman?
Feyman.
You've been through here
before?
Yeah.
Did you come in this way?
No.
So how come you keep going out
if you didn't come in?
Corporal.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: And, of
course, his natural reaction
was to call the lieutenant and
try to put
me in jail for doing this.
I explained to the lieutenant
that there was a hole,
but they were both more
interested
in how suspicious I was than in
the hole in their security.
[WHISTLING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: The IBM
calculators
were supposed to help figure out
exactly what happened
during the bomb's implosion.
So we could figure out exactly
how much
energy was released and so on.
Come in.
All right, OK.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I was in
charge of a bunch of kids who
were picked right out of high
school
because they were good at math.
People do better if they know
what they're doing.
But nobody had told them
anything,
so these guys were kind of slow.
So that's what we're doing.
We're fighting the war?
Yeah.
What did you guys think we were
doing?
I don't know.
I-- like supplies, uniforms.
Making designs on cards.
Examination results.
Yeah you know like ordinance.
Ordinances is guns, you dummy,
not uniforms.
But that's great.
You mean everybody here is
working on the same problem?
That's right.
One way or another.
So how many people are here, I
mean living here?
About 5,000.
Hey I saw Enrico Fermi.
I saw Wigner.
I saw Niels Bohr.
He doesn't live here.
He's just visiting.
So now it's interesting.
It's exciting, right?
It's an event.
Only you gotta pay attention.
Three answers in nine months is
no use to us.
We're not calculating candy
wrappers.
You're not listening.
I am listening.
Listen.
[TAPPING]
[SINGING]- In my arms, in my
arms ain't I never
going to get a girl in my arms.
In my arms, in my arms.
Ain't I never going to get a
bundle of charms?
All right Let's go to work.
Just wanted to show you fellas
there's other ways.
Wake you fellas up.
Shake you fellas alive.
We've gotta design a faster
system.
You mind turning that song off.
I can't think.
Some kids will play with
anything.
They don't have any respect for
their tools.
[LAUGHING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: One time
the bus broke down,
and by the time I got to the
hospital
visiting hours were over.
RICHARD: OK, we're going to do
an experiment.
It says here all about how good
bloodhounds are at smelling.
But how good are we actually?
Those Coke bottles-- you haven't
touched any of those
for a couple of days, right?
That's right.
So I'll go out, you pick one of
the bottles,
handle it for a few minutes, and
then put it back in.
OK.
It's absolutely obvious.
The damn thing is warm and
dampish.
Those books over there-- you
haven't looked
at them in a while, right?
When I go out, take one book off
the shelf and just open it.
That's all.
Then put it back.
It's very different.
The others have a very dry,
uninteresting smell.
Take off your shoes and walk
around the room
and don't tell me where you
went.
ARLINE: How can you be so happy?
What?
Why are you so happy sniffing?
Your eyes light up and all.
Maybe you're not too happy.
Well I'm here with you.
For now.
I'm working with the most
wonderful people in my field.
I'm married to you.
Why aren't you afraid of what
you're doing?
Of what is going on here?
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm just, I'm alone an awful
lot.
[PLAYING PIANO]
I don't feel so good.
I think I stayed up too long
last night waiting for you.
All right.
Too many overnights.
C'mon.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DRUMMING SOUNDS]
You hear that?
Yeah.
What's been going on?
What the hell is that?
You thinking wild Indians?
No, I'm thinking Dick Feynman.
RICHARD: [CHANTING] help us
Rabbi, help us, help us,
help us, help us help us, Rabbi.
Oh, help us Rabbi bum bum bum.
Awumbum bum.
Awumbum bum.
Big chief wumbum bum, big chief.
Richard Feynman.
Help us, help us Rabbi, help us
Rabbi.
Help us.
Big chief
NURSE: Oh dear, again?
I'm sorry.
Here.
I'm trying to find a way to get
you up a bit
without it being too
uncomfortable.
Maybe I can do it in that
chair.
Can you?
Oh dear.
I'd better call the doctor. -
Why?
What is it?
NURSE: 102.7.
Please don't call the doctor,
Kate.
It's been there before.
It's just a night sweat.
Who's on?
It's Dr. Robelarti, isn't it?
Yes.
- Don't call him. - He's the
medical intern.
He doesn't know anything.
I'm not going to listen to
anything he says.
Is Porter on?
No, he's coming in the morning.
Sometimes I feel like if I
could
just die and get it over with.
I'd still be around, but I
wouldn't have all of this
getting sicker and dying.
Maybe we should call your
husband?
No, no.
No he's nervous enough already.
It's good that I got sweat.
I'll feel cooler when it's over.
ARLINE: I was thinking about a
painting.
It's at the Frick.
Have you ever been there?
On 70th and Manhattan.
Your mother used to take me
and-- she used to take
me and Joanie in sometimes.
This painting is maybe two 1/2
by three 1/2.
It's this young woman.
She's got a tortoise comb in her
hair.
And these sausage curls like
plump, plump, plumb like that.
At least change the outline.
And she's got a handkerchief, or
a fan,
and these grey gloves with these
lively lines painted on it
like it was done yesterday.
Listen, I can't take you to the
museum to see the picture.
But I can take you someplace
equally as nice.
Where?
How?
Well I asked Dr. Nebart, and
it's OK if you feel up to it.
And I got a car. - You do?
Yeah?
Now?
Yeah.
If you feel up to it.
I hope I do.
OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRD CALL]
RICHARD: Ever since we came I've
been dying to see this.
ARLINE: You haven't seen it
before?
RICHARD: No.
I was wanting so much to bring
you here.
ARLINE: Are these house
foundations?
RICHARD: Yeah.
The rooms are so small.
How did they get water?
RICHARD: Uh, there's a river
over there.
ARLINE: Oh.
RICHARD: It's this way.
ARLINE: How long do you think it
took them think to move out
of caves and live in houses?
I-- I think actually it went
the other way.
Did it?
Yeah.
Oh.
Oh, look at the light.
Look at the beautiful light.
They used to freeze to death in
those houses, I think?
This whole cliff faces south.
So then in the winter, when the
sun is low in the sky,
they keep warm.
And then in the summer I guess
they keep cool too.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Somebody had to think of it
though.
Somebody climbed up here, and
they said, what
are you doing living in a hole?
And he said, I don't know.
I like it.
Maybe he liked living in holes.
You could put shelves over
there.
And I could change my clothes
over there.
And over here maybe I could
build an oven.
[LAUGHING]
Or a warming place anyway.
I thought we would feel less
alone here.
This, this isn't real
mayonnaise.
I couldn't get Hellman's.
Hey, that couldn't be the same
smoke from hundreds of years
ago could it?
No.
Although I think it is.
It's never going to stay.
[LAUGHING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[WIND BLOWING]
ARLINE: You could still think
they're all here.
RICHARD: Yeah.
ARLINE: The elders, their
families.
RICHARD: Dancing around in
circles.
[COUGHING]
What were the people like who
live here?
What was their religion?
What did they believe in?
Well, you know that hole back
there the round one?
Yeah.
That's a kiva.
That's their kind of church.
They worship down.
There's another one on top.
That's a hole too.
What do you mean?
I mean they worship down.
Don't you think that's strange?
I don't know.
You don't?
What are you sore at?
Was it really 800 years ago
that they were here?
What does it matter?
Here, you should be up.
Here, it's getting cold.
Here.
My father used to talk about--
that a leaf with a brown line on
it--
that a bug was born where the
line began.
And it spent its whole life
eating its way to the edge.
And then it just flies away.
He had the wrong bug in mind.
He'd say a maggot for a beetle,
for instance.
But he had the principle of the
thing.
Whatever, whoever it was that
flew away,
it just laid an egg on another
leaf and the whole thing
starts over again.
It's terrible isn't it?
Is it?
How do you know?
You're a dope.
You are.
You are and don't kick the wall.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That first night when I came to
your house,
I couldn't find it it was so
dark.
I had to feel for the number.
I think I'm a very lucky woman
to have
Richard Feynman for a friend.
Want some tea?
Yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RADIO VOICE: From headquarters,
supreme commander, Allied
Expeditionary Force: I have the
rare privilege
of speaking for the victorious
army of almost 5
million fighting men.
They and the women who have so
ably assisted them,
constitute the Allied
Expeditionary Force that
has liberated Western Europe.
They have destroyed or captured
enemy armies totaling
more than their own strength.
And swept triumphantly forward
over the hundreds
of miles separating Schubert
from Rubech,
Leipzig, and Munich.
The complete armed of liberty
and freedom
is at last free to turn from the
elimination
of the principal criminal to the
punishment of its equally
despicable satellite.
Japan herself must now realize
her fate is sealed.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: So there
finally came VE day,
which means, for those of you
who are young enough to be
told, Victory in Europe Day.
Actually Tuesday, May 8th 1945.
RICHARD: Whatever victory means.
Breaking into concentration
camps sure means something.
It sure does.
But victory?
Would you call that a lasting
state?
Or even a state at all really?
RICHARD: My god, look at them.
BOY: I can't.
Gotta use the phone.
Just don't use it up.
Ho, ho.
Presbyterian Hospital.
I swear this is the first paper
I've seen since we got here.
RICHARD: Hello, uh Richard
Feynman.
You mean bona fide American
newspaper?
BOY: I do.
Hello doctor.
TELEPHONE VOICE: Uh, Mr.
Feynman?
Yeah, yeah well I figured you
might be trying to get me.
TELEPHONE VOICE: Yes, I am.
RICHARD: What?
He says it's a sad day for this
to happen.
Why?
I beg your pardon?
TELEPHONE VOICE: Mr. Greenbaum
is here.
RICHARD: He is?
Well, when did he get there?
TELEPHONE VOICE: Early this
morning.
Well you told Mr. Greenbaum to
hang on,
and I'll be there as quick as I
can, OK?
I'm on my way.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I'd already
borrowed
a car for just this emergency.
It was Klaus Fuchs' car.
He was the spy in the Rosenberg
case,
and it was the car that he used.
I didn't know that then, but
that's another story.
Where you from?
Aaron Garricador.
That's your name or where
you're from?
Yes, I believe so.
Oh boy.
Aaron what?
Garricador.
Gar--
Garr--
Garr--
Garri--
Gari.
Aaron Gari.
It's gotta be just so, huh?
Aaron Garricador.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: When I
think about that drive now,
it seems to me like a nightmare
diagram
drawn out flat on the desert.
There were no roads leading from
that car.
Where are you going?
Albuquerque.
Get in.
Thanks very much.
I thought there'd be more cars.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Or they
were blind roads.
An infinite number of them that
you couldn't see along
beyond the blink of an eye.
[THUDDING]
[BRAKES SCREECHING]
HITCHHIKER: Oh, c'mon.
Jesus, god.
You going to complain or you're
going to help out?
What do you think I pick up
hitchhikers for?
You late for something?
No.
Oh.
Pardon the intrusion.
My wife is in the hospital in
Albuquerque.
They called me to come.
I'm sorry to hear that.
[CAR ENGINE HUMMING]
[THUDDING]
MAN'S VOICE: Hey, hey hey hey
hey hey.
Don't bring that in here. You
can't see.
RICHARD: It's OK.
It's OK.
We'll just wait.
Don't worry about it.
We'll just wait.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NURSE: Mr. Greenbaum.
Mr. Greenbaum.
I'll come in now.
You go and have your breakfast.
MR. GREENBAUM: [WHISPERING]
Arline.
Arline.
[HEAVY BREATHING]
ARLINE: Yes?
MR. GREENBAUM: She doesn't know
who I am?
NURSE: She's a little vague now.
This is all baloney, huh?
I should just start again.
Should go back to Los Alamos.
I can't keep it all in my mind.
Maybe it doesn't matter.
What?
If I can't go, I can't go.
I'm stuck.
I'm-- I'm just stuck.
This gentleman here, his wife
is dying
in the hospital in Albuquerque.
He has not much time.
That is the situation.
This other tire ain't worth
fixing.
Piece of crap.
Let's find a good one.
You blew your cover.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
She's still with us.
She didn't even know me.
I have to go home now, Richard.
MR. GREENBAUM: I have to go home
now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Was that my father?
ARLINE: Dad?
Richie?
It's Richie.
Here.
I was just wondering.
Those particles that go flying
around.
Can they hit people?
Yes, they can.
Do they hurt?
No.
They can't feel them.
Oh, that's good.
RICHARD: They can make people
sick though.
A lot?
A lot of what?
ARLINE: Particles.
Neutrons.
About 20%.
About 20% of the energy that
goes off is radiation.
We shouldn't talk here.
Can people be radioactive?
RICHARD: What?
Can people-- can people spew
out particles?
What?
This is one thing.
If-- if they make you sick, and
I have to leave--
I was just wondering--
will you be all right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll be all right.
[HEAVY BREATHING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD: Well can you do that?
No, we can't.
It's a law.
Where is the funeral parlor?
Would it be open this late?
No it wouldn't.
Not until 8:30.
Where will you stay?
You ought to sleep, Mr. Feynman.
We can take care of everything
tomorrow morning.
Do you know where the Western
is?
Or the Fairfield?
That's only three blocks.
The Fairfield?
Here.
I'll write down the address
funeral--
Take care of the photograph
albums, will you?
Yeah.
[THEME MUSIC]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: In the
morning, I ordered a coffin.
I took her home to Cedarhurst to
her parents.
And I went home to mine.
WOMAN'S VOICE: Private Jay
Donald Meehan.
Next line.
Three, two, five, six, three,
seven, zero, two.
Headquarters company.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I had tried
every way
in the world to get to Arline.
But I couldn't catch up.
She was leaving faster than I
was going.
WOMAN'S VOICE: Next line.
Care of post master.
New York, New York.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
- Heya, Pop. - Richie.
Hey.
Oh darling.
Darling.
How are ya?
How are you?
Better take my bag up.
Here, let me-- let me-- let me
take it.
Hey look.
Do you mind if I went for a
quick walk?
No.
Of course not.
I don't go into town much, but
there's such jerks out there.
You know what they call their
supermarket?
The super piggly wiggly.
How come you're not there?
Because they didn't need me.
I remember the day you met her.
Remember?
That was when we used to fight
all the time about how
you thought girls were awful.
Remember?
And I used to object, after all,
me being one of them.
And I came home from school, and
I just had a terrible fight
with my best friend Wendy.
Do you remember Wendy?
Of course.
And I came tearing into your
room saying, you're right,
you're right.
Girls are awful.
And you were sitting on your
bed.
You had your arms wrapped around
one knee,
and you were looking up at the
ceiling.
And you said, oh no they're not.
I just met a wonderful girl.
Remember it like yesterday.
The only difference for me and
Arline
was instead of 50 years we had
nine years.
It was only a quantitative
difference.
We had a hell of a good time
together.
You're making me cry.
What's the matter with you?
Use the old beano.
Everybody dies.
It doesn't stop the world at
all.
What do you mean I'm making you
cry?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Yes, I'll repeat that.
New Mexico July 11.
The baby is expected on July
16th.
Yes, I'll give it to him now.
You're welcome.
You know somebody who's having a
baby?
No.
You don't expect me to believe
that, do you?
No, Pop.
No.
You think I'm crazy.
No, no.
Sometimes you're a very nervous
person.
And you're a little nervous now.
[THEME MUSIC]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: How can I
tell you now what we felt then?
We hadn't seen any pictures of
Hiroshima.
MAN'S VOICE: I'm giving odds we
blow
up the state of New Mexico.
Any takers?
MAN'S VOICE: How could I
collect?
Five hippopotamus, four
hippopotamus,
three hippopotamus two
hippopotamus, one.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[EXPLOSION]
Gesundheit.
[THEME MUSIC]
[RUMBLING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Isidor Rabi
said, it did bring home
to one how terrible this thing
was
that treated humans as matter.
[RUMBLING]
Christ.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: It was all
very top secret.
The thousands of people at Los
Alamos
weren't supposed to know
anything about it.
I hate secrets.
Hi.
Hey.
Hi, Henry.
Hello.
RICHARD: [SINGING] I want a dish
of virgin sturgeon.
Virgin sturgeon's a very fine
dish.
Virgin surgeon needs no urging.
That's why virgin is dish, swish
wish wish.
I want a dish of virgin
Sturgeon.
Virgin sturgeon's very fine
fish.
RICHARD AND BOY: [SINGING]
Virgin surgeon needs no urging.
That's why surgeon is my dish,
fish swish swish.
Hey, Henry.
Did you know that there are
twice
as many numbers as numbers?
Oh come on Dick.
There are.
Let me show you.
Name a number.
One million.
Two million.
27.
54.
Now you try.
Six.
12.
Six million.
12 million.
Light beginning to dawn?
So there are three times as
many
numbers as there are numbers.
Prove it.
You know.
Three times anything.
You say five, I say 15.
Or I say 5,000,000,473--
Three times that.
So is a biggest number?
Well how can there be?
So that idea-- the idea that
there's no end
to how big a number can be--
that's called infinity.
Ah rats.
You out of cokes?
Worse.
How do you mean?
Beer.
Huh.
I'll get you some.
Want to take a trip with me,
Henry?
Oh, no.
Don't worry about it.
I'll get you some.
What are you looking for?
Keys.
Fuchs usually leaves his keys
here.
It's parked outside my door.
It's very quiet here.
Mmm.
So now we're all sons of
bitches.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[THEME MUSIC]
[THEME MUSIC]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[KEYS JANGLING]
[KEYS JANGLING]
Can you hear what's happening
in my mind?
No, why do you ask?
You're shaking your keys in the
same pattern
that I'm singing to myself.
Really?
How do you mean?
Ba, ba black sheep, have you
any wool?
That's funny.
Well we just thought of the same
thing at the same time.
Nobody can read anybody's mind.
Maybe fathers can read their
sons minds.
- Nope. - Can mommy--
Read their daughters minds?
No.
You just did.
Really and truly I just
guessed.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
I'm thirsty.
We'll be home soon.
I'm thirsty now.
Listen to that bird.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
Hey.
I fell because I was thirsty.
Richie, how old are you?
Six.
Well, act your age.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
What kind of a bird is that?
A marvelous bird.
But what's its name?
Richie, I could tell you its
name if I knew it in all
the languages in the world.
But then you'd just know what
people
call it in different places.
You wouldn't learn anything
about it.
You've got to look at the bird.
You've got to listen to the
bird.
You gotta try to understand what
it's doing.
You gotta notice everything.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
Hey, Pop.
How come when I pull the wagon,
the ball rolls back,
and when I stop, the ball rolls
forward?
Why is that?
That nobody knows.
But the general principle is
that things that are moving
like to keep moving, and things
that
are still like to stay still.
There's a name for that.
It's called inertia.
But nobody knows why it's true.
Look at it from the side.
See, it's really the back of the
wagon
you're pulling against the ball
and the ball stands still.
[WAGON CREAKING]
From the friction the ball
moves forward a little bit
compared to the ground.
It doesn't move back.
[WAGON CREAKING]
That makes sense?
Watch again.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You understand?
Yeah?
Let's go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Not having
experience with many fathers,
I didn't realize how remarkable
he was.
How did he learn the deep
principles of science
and the love of it, what's
behind it,
and why it's worth doing.
I never really asked him because
I just assumed that those
were things that fathers knew.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The Taube twins on Mounter
Street?
They look like it, but I don't
think they can.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: He made
uniforms for a living.
And he was a vegetarian.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PIANO PLAYING]
- What's going on? - Hey
Hey.
That's Arline.
Arline is here.
Yeah.
Hey Richie, fish face.
Arline is here.
Who is this queen Arline?
You don't know Arline?
From Cedarhurst.
ARLINE: [SINGING] So you so
ugly, you so ugly,
you's some ugly child.
The clothes that you wear are
not in style.
You look like in ape every time
you smile, babe.
Oh how I hate you.
You alligator bait, you.
The homeliest thing I ever saw
or seen.
You're knocked kneed, pigeon
toed, box ankled too.
There's a curse on your family
and it fell on you.
Your teeth are yella.
Who's your fella?
You's some ugly child.
[PIANO PLAYING]
It's a good song.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD: Two times two plus four
times five divided by six plus
seven times eight plus nine
times 10 plus 11,
, 12, [MUTTERING],, 14, 15 16 17
18 plus 19 20 plus--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: She took
art at the Temple Youth Center.
So I became a student
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I didn't know you liked art.
Oh well I do very much.
You do?
Oh sure.
What were you doing jumping in
circles last Wednesday?
Wednesday?
Yeah outside your house on the
stoop you were--
Oh
--jumping.
Oh yeah.
Well I was, I was trying to
figure out you see.
If I count hippopotamuses one
hippopotamus, two hippopotamus,
three hippopotamus and I get to
60,
it always takes me the same
amount of time.
They're seconds.
I don't know what they are, but
they're
the same every time.
They're not actually seconds,
when I time them,
but they're the same every time,
which is the point.
So I thought, well what is it?
Is it my heartbeat?
Am I unconsciously listening to
my pulse or what?
So I tried counting and jumping
around in circles which would
make my heart beat faster.
And it was different, huh?
No, it was the same.
See ya.
I gotta get back to my horse.
I'm making a horse.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOORBELL RINGING]
RADIO VOICE: Ladies and
Gentlemen,
welcome again to Take Or Leave
It in all American California
where everything is going fine.
It's Richie Feynman
MRS. GREENBAUM: Hello, Richie.
RADIO: That's right.
I told you.
Hello Mr. And Mrs. Greenbaum.
MAN'S VOICE: Hello there Richie.
Who's that?
That's my Uncle Peter.
He's a real donkey.
RICHARD: Am I supposed to say
hello?
No.
He isn't even a real uncle.
That's lucky.
He might be part donkey.
I thought maybe you could help
me with my homework.
Well I'll certainly try.
Did you do that?
Yeah last year.
It's good.
Is it the circus?
Yeah.
[CLEARING THROAT]
This is a Mobius strip.
One surface, one side.
Here, try it.
Make a line on it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PENCIL DRAWING]
This is wonderful.
This is a Mobius strip?
Yeah.
ARLINE: I'm gonna show them that
at school.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: In 1939, I
was in my senior year at MIT.
That was the year the war
started in Europe.
For me, it was my senior year.
I took Arline away for a weekend
at Atlantic City.
What're you doing that for?
I want you to look nice.
I want to make a nice appearance
so people think well of us.
What do you care what other
people think?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ARLINE: Are following me?
Are you following me?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah, look at that.
Look at that.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
Oh, I think I should have a
back scratcher.
It has always been my position
that everyone
should have a back scratcher.
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
I bet I could beat you.
Huh?
Oh.
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
Listen, I challenge you.
Huh?
Challenge?
Well, yeah.
Yeah, I'd like to.
I bet I can calculate with my
head
faster than you can with that
abacus.
Suppose you write down two lists
of identical numbers,
and then hand them to us at the
same time.
OK
RICHARD: Wait, wait let me get a
pen.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
ARLINE: That's your dog?
Oh-- [DOG BARK]
--no.
Begin.
[ABACUS SOUNDS]
4,016,732.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
Multiplication.
Is that your dad?
Maybe.
Ready RICHARD: Yeah.
Go. [ABACUS SOUNDS]
TOGETHER: 500,046.
Cube root.
Eh, It's e--
12.
RICHARD: No no no more digits.
More digits.
What, what decimal point?
Mmm.
Decimal places?
Decimal places.
12.0.
12.0.
12.002384?
Uh, we do again.
We do again.
ARLINE: Oh no.
No thank you.
Thank you.
I don't think that we can.
But thank you very much.
No, no.
No pay.
I want to introduce you to my
friend Lee Hua.
Hello.
And this is Man, Xingsan Man.
And Yao.
And of course, my son Weitea.
RICHARD: Happy to meet you.
ARLINE: Happy to meet you.
Thank you.
Not at all.
OK, see you again.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
That was nice.
Wasn't it?
So how'd you do it?
Ah, you don't wanna know how I
did it.
He doesn't know anything about
numbers just beads.
You want a hamburger?
Yes please.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
With an abacus, you don't have
to know
anything about arithmetic.
You just buzz those beads
around.
He doesn't know numbers.
I don't know beads, but I know
arithmetic.
So the harder the problem gets,
the better off I am,
and the worse off he is.
Is this your napkin?
No, it's not.
How is he supposed to
understand approximating?
Half a bead?
Also I got lucky.
The number the guy picked was
1,729.03.
Was it?
Yeah.
I happen to know that a cubic
foot
contains 1,728 cubic inches.
So the answer is just a teeny
bit more than 12.
Well why does 12 come in?
Because there's 12 inches in a
foot.
OK, well I didn't notice that.
So the excess, the difference
between the guy's
number and the number of inches
in a cubic foot is 1.03.
And that's only one part in
nearly 2,000.
And I know that in calculus that
for small fractions,
the cube root's excess is 1/3 of
the number's excess.
So all I had to do was find the
fraction 1/1728, multiply by 4,
divide by 3, and multiply by 12.
So I was able to pull out a
whole bunch
of extra digits that way.
Cubic roots.
I must be his top notch exercise
in abacus land.
You look very sweet in that
coat.
Yeah?
I got it with Muffy Hers is
blue,
and the rickrack is here too.
Oh, there?
She shouldn't.
Tsk tsk.
Oh Muffy.
Anyway it would look different
on Muffy.
Muffy's bust is not as full as
yours.
Well that's where you're wrong.
She wears two bras and too slips
to disguise it.
- You're kidding? - I swear it.
Anyway, if you're gonna compare
Muffy's bust to mine,
it sure as hell not going to
help you.
All right, I'll do it on my
own.
Muffy's bust is bigger than my
bust.
Bet you can't say that three
times fast.
Muffy's bust is bigger than my
bust.
Muffy's bust is bigger than
bust.
Muffy's bust is bigger than my
bust.
Baltic.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah-- look at this dress.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Isn't it a pretty dress?
Oh, look at the skirt.
I'd like to buy it for you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It's so awfully nice.
Yes, it certainly is.
C'mon.
[MUSIC PLAYING] [DOG BARKING]
I suppose if you get a room
from your friend's
brother's cousin, you have to
take what you can get.
Hey, is that what this is?
Not quite.
Almost.
God, wasn't that a pretty
dress?
I'll never forget that dress.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOG BARKING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DRAWER CREAKING]
[TAPPING NOISE]
Richie.
[TAPPING NOISE]
Richie, wake up.
Honey.
[TAPPING NOISE]
Wake up.
[TAPPING NOISE]
Ha.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ARLINE: Well, why should she
like fish?
Why not?
ARLINE: Well, why should she in
particular like kipper?
MRS. FEYNMAN: Arline, darling,
don't encourage Joan.
Why does station announcers
have small hands?
Wee paws for station
identification.
MR. FEYNMAN: So, it's time for
my painting class.
MRS. FEYNMAN: You'll be home by
6:30, OK?
MR. FEYNMAN: We'll be back
before then.
Arline has to be home at 6:00.
I gotta pack.
Write if you get work.
Clutz!
MRS. FEYNMAN: Come on.
You want this one?
It's got a big hole in it.
Ah, it doesn't matter. MRS.
FEYNMAN: Sure it does.
It'll get bigger.
- Hey, what's that? - Present.
Hey, huh, it's gorgeous.
Look at that.
I'm gorgeous.
It's a rain hat.
I think it always rains in
college.
I'm only going to New Jersey.
Honey, you want your moccasins?
Sure.
You ever gonna live with us
again?
Yeah, summers.
Nah you won't.
Nobody else does.
They all go to work.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: So there I
was with my scholarship
to the graduate program at
Princeton.
My father moved me in.
RICHARD: I thought you were
listening.
MR. FEYNMAN: I was listening.
But it's very complicated.
Well, if you didn't understand
what the guy said,
you should ask him to explain it
to you instead of just driving.
Yeah, yeah yeah.
RICHARD: Well?
MR. FEYNMAN: I've been trying to
get you to explain
ever since we left New York.
What are you talking about?
Spontaneous generation?
RICHARD: Pop, just calm down,
will you?
Just calm down or I can't talk
to you.
Feynman, please.
Oh yes sir.
Top of the stairs to the left.
This photon.
Where does it come from?
I don't know what you're
talking about, Pop.
Well, the atom makes a
transition,
and a photon comes out. - Yeah?
[CLOCK CHIMING]
So was the photon in the atom
waiting to come out?
No, there's no photon
beforehand.
It just appears when the atom
changes its state?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah.
Hmm.
[TAPPING ON BED]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Mathematics is a language.
It's very difficult. It's
subtle.
You couldn't say those things
any other way.
And I can talk to dead people
with it.
I talk to Copernicus every day.
What do you keep doing that with
your hand for?
I got a swelling.
Can you look at it?
I don't see anything.
Oh, see?
Feel.
It's right there.
Oh, yeah.
If you weren't such a pretty
girl,
you wouldn't even have noticed
it.
Yeah?
Well being such a pretty girl,
I'm
gonna go see my uncle doctor.
You call that a smooch?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Then,
sometime later,
the bump began to change.
It got bigger or maybe it was
smaller?
And she got a fever.
She was told she had typhoid
fever.
Right away, I went to the
library to look it up.
I wanted to help her, and the
only way I knew
was to look it up in medical
books.
I'd read there was an absolute
test for typhoid.
The Widal test.
We wore these gowns to guard
against her infecting us.
Doctor, how'd the Widal test
come out?
Negative.
Negative?
How can that be?
Excuse me.
Maybe she doesn't even have
typhoid fever.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: And, of
course, it turned out
she didn't have typhoid fever.
After a while, Arline got better
on her own apparently.
The swelling went down, and the
fever went away.
But after some weeks, the
swelling started again.
And this time she went to
another doctor.
You can put your clothes behind
the curtain.
And gown opens in the front.
What should I take off?
Everything but your shoes.
Everything?
But it's in my neck?
Well, the doctor wants to
examine you.
OK.
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
How are you feeling today?
OK.
You can lie back.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: This guy
feels under her armpits,
and in her groin and so on, and
notices there's
swelling in those places too.
He says the problem is in her
lymphatic glands,
but he doesn't yet know what the
specific disease is.
He will consult with other
doctors.
I took another trip to the
library.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BASEBALL PLAYER: Hey batter,
batter batter.
All right, here you go.
Yeah, go, OK.
Comin' around.
Up here.
Oh!
Ah.
Hey, ball?
Nice throw, DiMaggio.
RICHARD: OK, I got it.
You don't have to see it.
I'll tell you.
The only thing is, you know
those jokes
about medical students getting
every disease
that they read about.
The only thing is I think that
we're in serious trouble,
maybe.
Maybe.
It says, for possibilities, one
TB of the lymphatic glands.
This is very easy to diagnose,
blah blah blah.
But this can't be what you have,
or they would know it.
And then there's all kinds of
other diagnoses,
and they're all serious from
what I can understand.
You want to see it?
One of them is called Hodgkin's
disease.
ARLINE: What's that like?
That's no good.
We wouldn't want that to happen
to us.
It's fatal.
BASEBALL PLAYER: I got it.
I got it.
I got it.
We don't have to take this as
final.
We don't know enough.
I don't know how to read medical
books.
But it doesn't look good.
Richie, is this Hodgkin's
disease, is it catching?
No.
No.
No, no, no.
Excuse me, Miss Greenbaum?
Uh, tell me.
Do you spit up blood?
Have you ever coughed up blood?
No.
Uh, do you cough?
No.
Doctor, will you look at her,
please.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I didn't
know what this guy meant.
NURSE: That miserable doctor.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: They kept
having meetings
that I wasn't supposed to know
about.
I suppose they wanted me calm.
Listen, I'll be right back.
I, I I got to find out
something.
OK.
No, I'm sure he'll be fine.
We'll just check the chart one
more time find release--
Dr. Hellman.
Hello, Richard.
Richard, this is Dr. Shank.
Richard Feynman.
Richard is Arline's fiancé.
So any news?
What do you think?
Well, we think the most likely
possibility
is Hodgkin's disease.
It's a very strange disease,
Richard.
There will be some periods of
improvement.
And there will be some periods
in the hospital.
It's fatal after a few years.
Well I'm sorry to hear that.
I'll tell her what you said.
Richie, sit down.
Richie, we haven't even told her
parents yet.
She's very young.
We don't want to upset her.
We're going to tell her she has
glandular fever.
Oh no, no, no, no, no.
We've already discussed the
possibility
of Hodgkin's disease.
I know that she wants to know.
Richie, calm yourself.
I am calm.
I haven't told her parents yet.
You already said that.
Richie, I'm trying to help.
I would like to cure her, but
the world
isn't always what I would like.
Isn't it, sir?
I'm sorry to hear that.
Richie, you gotta cooperate.
Why?
Richie, stop it.
What are you going to do, spoil
whatever time she has left?
What?
Her last two years, you're
going to spoil that?
You want to pile a lie on top
of this terrible news?
Why?
Ah, you're childish.
You think we don't love Arline?
She's gonna ask me what she's
got.
You want me to lie to her?
Think of her mother.
Richie, stop it.
Just stop it.
She's the most wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful girl.
She taught me how to ride my
bike.
You're the most foolish
stubborn, foolish brother.
[CRYING]
[HOSPITAL SOUNDS]
Hi.
They're telling me that I have
glandular fever.
And I'm not sure whether I
believe them or not.
Richie, do I have glandular
fever,
or do have Hodgkin's disease?
You have glandular fever.
Oh, fine.
So I can go home.
Look, Mom.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRYING]
MRS GREENBAUM: [CRYING] I want
her to go to college.
I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So I heard my mother crying,
and I
thought, well why is my mother
crying so
hard if I have glandular fever?
On the other hand, Richie
wouldn't lie to me.
So I couldn't make it out.
And then I thought, although I
know it seems impossible
because you wouldn't--
do I have glandular fever, or do
I have Hodgkin's?
You have Hodgkin's disease.
God.
They must have put you through
hell.
I thought-- they must have given
you such a terrible time.
You mustn't do that again, ever.
We're not like that.
That's not the way we are.
We're different.
I'll think what to do in a
minute.
Look, I, I even wrote your
letter,
because I figured that you would
find out one day
and give me the heave ho.
You want to see it?
I could look later.
OK, OK I have Hodgkin's disease.
So what do we do now?
If we get married, I lose my
scholarship.
If we don't get married, when
will I see you?
You want to get married?
I know you do.
So I'm in the middle of trying
to get my PhD.
My father will kill me.
He'll kill me.
But I could get a job working at
the Bell Telephone Laboratories
doing research.
Have you heard of them?
Mmm-hmm.
Well, it's a very nice place to
work.
And we could get a little
apartment
in Queens that isn't too far
from the hospital or Bell Labs.
So we can go back and forth.
Well, we'll have to.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: So we got
it
all figured out that afternoon.
But I think I'm so smart, and
I'm not so smart.
[TELEPHONE RINGING]
Hello?
ARLINE: Richie, I got the report
from the biopsey.
Yeah? Is it good or bad?
It's positive.
I have TB.
I'm a jerk.
I'm a jerk.
I'm a monkey.
I thought T.B was the obvious
case, so I thought--
You remember that that little
guy
who came running down the hall--
do you spit up blood?
Well he knew what it probably
was.
I'm a dope.
So I may live as long as seven
years.
I may even get better.
And that's not good news?
Well, now we're going to have
to wait to get married.
You mean you liked our
solution?
Yeah.
Well it was elegant.
But Putzie, this is a much
better circumstance.
And we'll find something just as
elegant.
And not so different.
Huh, and back to me maybe being
catching again.
Well.
Richie, listen.
I might get well.
But I might not.
And if I don't, I don't want to
have lived
and died my whole life long in
this room.
Well I can see that.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Soon after
that, we had to take
her to Deborah hospital.
Arline began to play a game with
the world.
She had a lot of time to think.
She would read magazines, and
send away for this and that.
She was always cooking up
something.
Arline was in her room.
But she was in the world.
We were doing two different
things,
but we tried to keep track of
each other.
Dick.
Morning John.
Morning.
All right, this isn't right,
because it varies inversely
as the square of the distance of
the other electrons,
whereas it shouldn't depend on
any of these variables at all.
It's also dependent inversely on
the mass of the other electron.
And it'll be proportional to the
charge on the other electron.
And it'll be delayed.
The wave returns late.
So all you've described is
reflected light.
Oh, oy.
Oh, no, wait.
Now let's just suppose, it
returns by advanced waves.
Reactions backwards in time.
So it comes back at the right
time.
Here, give me your pencil.
It's going to fit very nicely
that way.
Who's Putzie?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I was
embarrassed
about shaving my name off the
pencils, but I did it anyway.
Mustard?
Yeah, mustard on both.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Then World
War
II started, and it got
everybody's attention
off themselves.
Although not me, not entirely.
My attention is usually somewhat
on myself.
Bill Price was head of the
physics department,
and one of my teachers at
Princeton.
That's all right that you told
me the secret,
because I'm not going to tell
anybody about it.
But I'm not going to do it.
Want a bite?
Don't you read the newspapers?
Doesn't everybody read the
newspapers for God's sake?
Matter of fact, I don't.
But I can't do anything about it
now, you see.
I wouldn't know how to handle
it.
My fiancée is sick.
I don't know what's gonna happen
next.
Can't you get somebody else?
I can't get you someplace else.
Thanks.
Is anybody else trying to
separate uranium?
Do you think the Germans are?
I personally think they are,
yes.
Well, how do you know?
I don't mean to be rude.
I don't know.
I don't think anyone knows for
sure.
It's very much of a fright,
isn't it?
Will I get paid?
I don't want him to marry
anybody who's
sick let alone contagious.
What do you think, I'm cruel?
He's 23.
There's a life to be had.
How is he going to be a
scientist?
He'd be happy as a scientist.
What does he got marry her for?
Why can't he just be her friend?
They used to care if their women
had
strong teeth, for God's sakes.
He's going to get sick.
Richie, you listen.
We are very, very careful
already.
You explain how you catch it,
and we'll figure it out.
You cannot be sure.
Tuberculosis is a great
masquerader.
How will you ever know if you're
safe?
Richie, darling, I don't want
to sound callous.
But when you made that promise
to Arline,
you did not know the situation.
Now did you?
Every-- everyone knows that.
It does not represent a real
promise.
No one expects you to keep it.
Least of all Arlene's parents,
or Arline herself.
It isn't a question of a
promise.
I never even thought of that.
Well you'd better think of it.
At least you better think.
Would it be sensible for a
husband
who learns that his wife has
tuberculosis to leave her?
What are you talking about?
We've been going together for
six years.
You want me to leave her?
Stop it, all ya.
There's no problem, really.
How are you going to convince me
of anything anymore, anyway?
I'm working on a project for the
government.
I'm getting paid.
This way I can take care of her
at last.
OK?
Come on, Pop.
You may kiss the bride.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Should have kissed them and
tipped you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Stop it.
Stop it, you're driving.
Isn't it wonderful?
Are you listening?
What do you even need notes for?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: In the end,
they didn't use the Princeton
project for separating uranium.
They decided we'd all go to Los
Alamos, New Mexico,
where we would make the bomb.
Arline wasn't feeling too well
at the time,
and she was scared she'd be left
behind.
Her parents really didn't want
to see her go,
but we didn't want it to be left
out of the excitement.
So we figured she'd come
afterwards by herself.
I thought you might like this.
It's for the train trip.
It's going to last three nights
and two days.
Hah, oh Richie, it's so cute.
Oh, Richie.
It's so cute.
[PLAYING PIANO]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: It was
Oppie who chose the west.
Robert Oppenheimer.
He knew the west.
He'd had a summer home there.
He was the head of the whole
shebang.
Oppie paid attention to
everybody's problems.
He arranged for Arline to have a
roomette on a separate train
when she was well enough.
He arranged for the hospital in
Albuquerque too.
He did all that, and he probably
wouldn't have recognized me.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Looks like injun country.
It is.
[INSECTS BUZZING]
Look, you can see it's black
from their smoke
from their fires.
My God.
Arline's got to see this.
Who's Arline?
My wife.
Oh, your wife's with you?
Yeah.
Well, she will be.
She'll be at the hospital in
Alberquerque.
She's not here now.
Well.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAR ENGINE]
Um, sorry.
Uh, um, Ernest.
That's taken.
Sorry.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Come in.
We're gonna get some dinner,
Dick.
Do you wanna come?
Sure.
Do you have a woman in here?
Wha-- what is all this?
Oh, I just want the room to
look taken.
I don't want to share it with
anyone.
Listen, I'll meet you guys in
the dining room, OK?
I think I'll get my mail.
Oh my god.
I'll have her killed.
[TRAIN ENGINE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: But it was
a hard thing for us, you know?
Albuquerque was 100 miles from
Los Alamos.
After a while I settled down so
I
could see it was the most
wonderful
landscape you could imagine.
Like being in the movies not at
them.
I used to hitch a bus down on a
Saturday.
See Arline in the afternoon, and
maybe stay overnight
in a hotel in Albuquerque.
Then on Sunday morning, I would
see Arline again
and go back in the afternoon.
I never knew how I'd find her.
One time she was dressed up as a
shepherdess or something.
She'd sent me a picture of a
stove.
Arline, what is this?
Oh, it's a stove.
Yeah, I can see that.
It's huge.
You think so?
I thought we should have a
stove.
But this is a restaurant stove.
Well maybe a little cooker, or
a charcoal broiler.
Arline, dear, they don't let
you cook in a hospital room.
There's too much smoke.
I wanted to have steaks.
It's the season for it.
I bet everybody's doing it.
We could do it on the lawn.
No, we can't do that.
With the cars driving back and
forth,
and people walking back and
forth on the sidewalk.
We can't go out on the lawn and
cook steaks.
I think it's a lovely place.
You don't have to wear the hat,
I guess.
I got it for you just last week.
Arline.
What do you care what other
people think?
I really don't understand what
you're saying,
and I would like to.
Well you don't know the
language.
No, that's true.
I don't.
Still you ought to be able to
tell
me in a way I'd understand.
All I want is the flavor of it.
Well, that's all you need.
Well then why is it any
different from when
you cook that chop?
You must be changing it
altogether just by heating it.
Well, it's sort of the same.
Only bigger.
When you cook the chop, you're
adding
energy to it, but not enough to
mess with the nucleus.
You're not taking any energy out
of the atoms.
Well it sure looks like you
are.
Yeah, but you're not.
Look, the nucleus of an atom is
where the neutrons
and the protons are.
Different elements have
different numbers
of neutrons and protons.
That's what makes them different
elements.
But the neutrons and protons are
always the same.
OK?
OK.
All right, now, some nuclei
hold together very well.
But some nuclei are unstable.
So the neutrons fall off of
them.
When?
When what?
When do they fall of them?
Well it's completely uncertain
when they'll do it.
But it's completely certain that
in the long run they will do.
It's called Beta decay.
Can I go on?
OK, sorry.
Now look, sometimes they shoot
off an extra neutron.
And if that neutron hits another
unstable nucleus
it'll cause it to split, and
emit more
neutrons, and then more nuclei.
And like that you start a chain
reaction.
But you have to have a very
crowded situation
because otherwise they don't hit
anything.
They just go flying off.
What you want, when it's all
going right,
is for everybody to be hitting
everybody else and not
too many missing targets.
That is nuclide.
Do you ever pretend you're a
neutron, I mean,
to figure out what they do?
You're very smart.
You're probably smart enough to
have a fellow like me.
What's the matter?
There's a lot of gum under this
table.
There's a certain kind of
uranium.
Uranium is an element that has a
very heavy nucleus.
It's very unstable.
And if we can get enough of that
together at once,
which we haven't done yet.
We'll have a bomb.
And we have to stop it from
going off before we want it to.
We don't know how to do that yet
either.
Well has this happened before
what you're doing?
I mean in nature?
No I don't think it has.
I don't think it's ever been
strung together
to make an explosion before.
That's what we're so excited
about.
How you feeling today?
Well, I feel good.
You look good.
Well that's nice to hear.
You always look adorable.
Hello!
My husband is a physicist!
Please don't do that.
Don't wave at the car.
OK, OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[ARLINE COUGHING]
I gotta go.
Yeah, mm you look so handsome.
You got a list?
Yeah, let me think.
Wait.
You look real rested.
Mmm.
I need glycerine, mmm rubber
cement, hot dogs.
How many?
Six.
And you have my laundry.
So OK.
OK.
What's the idea trying to get
the name of the pencils, huh?
Aren't you proud of the fact
that I love you?
What do you care what other
people think?
Afternoon sir. See some ID
please?
You got a light?
Sure.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Two years
went by,
and I kept visiting Arline
weekends
and living at Los Alamos.
Can I take a look at your
briefcase sir, if I could.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Their
security was exaggerated,
and at the same time, it was
absolutely ridiculous.
SOLDIER: Good afternoon, sir,
could I
take a look at some ID please?
Billson?
Got a cousin named Billson.
All right sir, thanks very much.
Let me take a look in your
briefcase if I could.
Torrez, Torrez.
What is that-- it's all right.
What is that Mexican, Torrez?
Mr. Fayman?
Feyman.
You've been through here
before?
Yeah.
Did you come in this way?
No.
So how come you keep going out
if you didn't come in?
Corporal.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: And, of
course, his natural reaction
was to call the lieutenant and
try to put
me in jail for doing this.
I explained to the lieutenant
that there was a hole,
but they were both more
interested
in how suspicious I was than in
the hole in their security.
[WHISTLING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: The IBM
calculators
were supposed to help figure out
exactly what happened
during the bomb's implosion.
So we could figure out exactly
how much
energy was released and so on.
Come in.
All right, OK.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I was in
charge of a bunch of kids who
were picked right out of high
school
because they were good at math.
People do better if they know
what they're doing.
But nobody had told them
anything,
so these guys were kind of slow.
So that's what we're doing.
We're fighting the war?
Yeah.
What did you guys think we were
doing?
I don't know.
I-- like supplies, uniforms.
Making designs on cards.
Examination results.
Yeah you know like ordinance.
Ordinances is guns, you dummy,
not uniforms.
But that's great.
You mean everybody here is
working on the same problem?
That's right.
One way or another.
So how many people are here, I
mean living here?
About 5,000.
Hey I saw Enrico Fermi.
I saw Wigner.
I saw Niels Bohr.
He doesn't live here.
He's just visiting.
So now it's interesting.
It's exciting, right?
It's an event.
Only you gotta pay attention.
Three answers in nine months is
no use to us.
We're not calculating candy
wrappers.
You're not listening.
I am listening.
Listen.
[TAPPING]
[SINGING]- In my arms, in my
arms ain't I never
going to get a girl in my arms.
In my arms, in my arms.
Ain't I never going to get a
bundle of charms?
All right Let's go to work.
Just wanted to show you fellas
there's other ways.
Wake you fellas up.
Shake you fellas alive.
We've gotta design a faster
system.
You mind turning that song off.
I can't think.
Some kids will play with
anything.
They don't have any respect for
their tools.
[LAUGHING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: One time
the bus broke down,
and by the time I got to the
hospital
visiting hours were over.
RICHARD: OK, we're going to do
an experiment.
It says here all about how good
bloodhounds are at smelling.
But how good are we actually?
Those Coke bottles-- you haven't
touched any of those
for a couple of days, right?
That's right.
So I'll go out, you pick one of
the bottles,
handle it for a few minutes, and
then put it back in.
OK.
It's absolutely obvious.
The damn thing is warm and
dampish.
Those books over there-- you
haven't looked
at them in a while, right?
When I go out, take one book off
the shelf and just open it.
That's all.
Then put it back.
It's very different.
The others have a very dry,
uninteresting smell.
Take off your shoes and walk
around the room
and don't tell me where you
went.
ARLINE: How can you be so happy?
What?
Why are you so happy sniffing?
Your eyes light up and all.
Maybe you're not too happy.
Well I'm here with you.
For now.
I'm working with the most
wonderful people in my field.
I'm married to you.
Why aren't you afraid of what
you're doing?
Of what is going on here?
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm just, I'm alone an awful
lot.
[PLAYING PIANO]
I don't feel so good.
I think I stayed up too long
last night waiting for you.
All right.
Too many overnights.
C'mon.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DRUMMING SOUNDS]
You hear that?
Yeah.
What's been going on?
What the hell is that?
You thinking wild Indians?
No, I'm thinking Dick Feynman.
RICHARD: [CHANTING] help us
Rabbi, help us, help us,
help us, help us help us, Rabbi.
Oh, help us Rabbi bum bum bum.
Awumbum bum.
Awumbum bum.
Big chief wumbum bum, big chief.
Richard Feynman.
Help us, help us Rabbi, help us
Rabbi.
Help us.
Big chief
NURSE: Oh dear, again?
I'm sorry.
Here.
I'm trying to find a way to get
you up a bit
without it being too
uncomfortable.
Maybe I can do it in that
chair.
Can you?
Oh dear.
I'd better call the doctor. -
Why?
What is it?
NURSE: 102.7.
Please don't call the doctor,
Kate.
It's been there before.
It's just a night sweat.
Who's on?
It's Dr. Robelarti, isn't it?
Yes.
- Don't call him. - He's the
medical intern.
He doesn't know anything.
I'm not going to listen to
anything he says.
Is Porter on?
No, he's coming in the morning.
Sometimes I feel like if I
could
just die and get it over with.
I'd still be around, but I
wouldn't have all of this
getting sicker and dying.
Maybe we should call your
husband?
No, no.
No he's nervous enough already.
It's good that I got sweat.
I'll feel cooler when it's over.
ARLINE: I was thinking about a
painting.
It's at the Frick.
Have you ever been there?
On 70th and Manhattan.
Your mother used to take me
and-- she used to take
me and Joanie in sometimes.
This painting is maybe two 1/2
by three 1/2.
It's this young woman.
She's got a tortoise comb in her
hair.
And these sausage curls like
plump, plump, plumb like that.
At least change the outline.
And she's got a handkerchief, or
a fan,
and these grey gloves with these
lively lines painted on it
like it was done yesterday.
Listen, I can't take you to the
museum to see the picture.
But I can take you someplace
equally as nice.
Where?
How?
Well I asked Dr. Nebart, and
it's OK if you feel up to it.
And I got a car. - You do?
Yeah?
Now?
Yeah.
If you feel up to it.
I hope I do.
OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BIRD CALL]
RICHARD: Ever since we came I've
been dying to see this.
ARLINE: You haven't seen it
before?
RICHARD: No.
I was wanting so much to bring
you here.
ARLINE: Are these house
foundations?
RICHARD: Yeah.
The rooms are so small.
How did they get water?
RICHARD: Uh, there's a river
over there.
ARLINE: Oh.
RICHARD: It's this way.
ARLINE: How long do you think it
took them think to move out
of caves and live in houses?
I-- I think actually it went
the other way.
Did it?
Yeah.
Oh.
Oh, look at the light.
Look at the beautiful light.
They used to freeze to death in
those houses, I think?
This whole cliff faces south.
So then in the winter, when the
sun is low in the sky,
they keep warm.
And then in the summer I guess
they keep cool too.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Somebody had to think of it
though.
Somebody climbed up here, and
they said, what
are you doing living in a hole?
And he said, I don't know.
I like it.
Maybe he liked living in holes.
You could put shelves over
there.
And I could change my clothes
over there.
And over here maybe I could
build an oven.
[LAUGHING]
Or a warming place anyway.
I thought we would feel less
alone here.
This, this isn't real
mayonnaise.
I couldn't get Hellman's.
Hey, that couldn't be the same
smoke from hundreds of years
ago could it?
No.
Although I think it is.
It's never going to stay.
[LAUGHING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[WIND BLOWING]
ARLINE: You could still think
they're all here.
RICHARD: Yeah.
ARLINE: The elders, their
families.
RICHARD: Dancing around in
circles.
[COUGHING]
What were the people like who
live here?
What was their religion?
What did they believe in?
Well, you know that hole back
there the round one?
Yeah.
That's a kiva.
That's their kind of church.
They worship down.
There's another one on top.
That's a hole too.
What do you mean?
I mean they worship down.
Don't you think that's strange?
I don't know.
You don't?
What are you sore at?
Was it really 800 years ago
that they were here?
What does it matter?
Here, you should be up.
Here, it's getting cold.
Here.
My father used to talk about--
that a leaf with a brown line on
it--
that a bug was born where the
line began.
And it spent its whole life
eating its way to the edge.
And then it just flies away.
He had the wrong bug in mind.
He'd say a maggot for a beetle,
for instance.
But he had the principle of the
thing.
Whatever, whoever it was that
flew away,
it just laid an egg on another
leaf and the whole thing
starts over again.
It's terrible isn't it?
Is it?
How do you know?
You're a dope.
You are.
You are and don't kick the wall.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That first night when I came to
your house,
I couldn't find it it was so
dark.
I had to feel for the number.
I think I'm a very lucky woman
to have
Richard Feynman for a friend.
Want some tea?
Yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RADIO VOICE: From headquarters,
supreme commander, Allied
Expeditionary Force: I have the
rare privilege
of speaking for the victorious
army of almost 5
million fighting men.
They and the women who have so
ably assisted them,
constitute the Allied
Expeditionary Force that
has liberated Western Europe.
They have destroyed or captured
enemy armies totaling
more than their own strength.
And swept triumphantly forward
over the hundreds
of miles separating Schubert
from Rubech,
Leipzig, and Munich.
The complete armed of liberty
and freedom
is at last free to turn from the
elimination
of the principal criminal to the
punishment of its equally
despicable satellite.
Japan herself must now realize
her fate is sealed.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: So there
finally came VE day,
which means, for those of you
who are young enough to be
told, Victory in Europe Day.
Actually Tuesday, May 8th 1945.
RICHARD: Whatever victory means.
Breaking into concentration
camps sure means something.
It sure does.
But victory?
Would you call that a lasting
state?
Or even a state at all really?
RICHARD: My god, look at them.
BOY: I can't.
Gotta use the phone.
Just don't use it up.
Ho, ho.
Presbyterian Hospital.
I swear this is the first paper
I've seen since we got here.
RICHARD: Hello, uh Richard
Feynman.
You mean bona fide American
newspaper?
BOY: I do.
Hello doctor.
TELEPHONE VOICE: Uh, Mr.
Feynman?
Yeah, yeah well I figured you
might be trying to get me.
TELEPHONE VOICE: Yes, I am.
RICHARD: What?
He says it's a sad day for this
to happen.
Why?
I beg your pardon?
TELEPHONE VOICE: Mr. Greenbaum
is here.
RICHARD: He is?
Well, when did he get there?
TELEPHONE VOICE: Early this
morning.
Well you told Mr. Greenbaum to
hang on,
and I'll be there as quick as I
can, OK?
I'm on my way.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I'd already
borrowed
a car for just this emergency.
It was Klaus Fuchs' car.
He was the spy in the Rosenberg
case,
and it was the car that he used.
I didn't know that then, but
that's another story.
Where you from?
Aaron Garricador.
That's your name or where
you're from?
Yes, I believe so.
Oh boy.
Aaron what?
Garricador.
Gar--
Garr--
Garr--
Garri--
Gari.
Aaron Gari.
It's gotta be just so, huh?
Aaron Garricador.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: When I
think about that drive now,
it seems to me like a nightmare
diagram
drawn out flat on the desert.
There were no roads leading from
that car.
Where are you going?
Albuquerque.
Get in.
Thanks very much.
I thought there'd be more cars.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Or they
were blind roads.
An infinite number of them that
you couldn't see along
beyond the blink of an eye.
[THUDDING]
[BRAKES SCREECHING]
HITCHHIKER: Oh, c'mon.
Jesus, god.
You going to complain or you're
going to help out?
What do you think I pick up
hitchhikers for?
You late for something?
No.
Oh.
Pardon the intrusion.
My wife is in the hospital in
Albuquerque.
They called me to come.
I'm sorry to hear that.
[CAR ENGINE HUMMING]
[THUDDING]
MAN'S VOICE: Hey, hey hey hey
hey hey.
Don't bring that in here. You
can't see.
RICHARD: It's OK.
It's OK.
We'll just wait.
Don't worry about it.
We'll just wait.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NURSE: Mr. Greenbaum.
Mr. Greenbaum.
I'll come in now.
You go and have your breakfast.
MR. GREENBAUM: [WHISPERING]
Arline.
Arline.
[HEAVY BREATHING]
ARLINE: Yes?
MR. GREENBAUM: She doesn't know
who I am?
NURSE: She's a little vague now.
This is all baloney, huh?
I should just start again.
Should go back to Los Alamos.
I can't keep it all in my mind.
Maybe it doesn't matter.
What?
If I can't go, I can't go.
I'm stuck.
I'm-- I'm just stuck.
This gentleman here, his wife
is dying
in the hospital in Albuquerque.
He has not much time.
That is the situation.
This other tire ain't worth
fixing.
Piece of crap.
Let's find a good one.
You blew your cover.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
She's still with us.
She didn't even know me.
I have to go home now, Richard.
MR. GREENBAUM: I have to go home
now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Was that my father?
ARLINE: Dad?
Richie?
It's Richie.
Here.
I was just wondering.
Those particles that go flying
around.
Can they hit people?
Yes, they can.
Do they hurt?
No.
They can't feel them.
Oh, that's good.
RICHARD: They can make people
sick though.
A lot?
A lot of what?
ARLINE: Particles.
Neutrons.
About 20%.
About 20% of the energy that
goes off is radiation.
We shouldn't talk here.
Can people be radioactive?
RICHARD: What?
Can people-- can people spew
out particles?
What?
This is one thing.
If-- if they make you sick, and
I have to leave--
I was just wondering--
will you be all right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll be all right.
[HEAVY BREATHING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD: Well can you do that?
No, we can't.
It's a law.
Where is the funeral parlor?
Would it be open this late?
No it wouldn't.
Not until 8:30.
Where will you stay?
You ought to sleep, Mr. Feynman.
We can take care of everything
tomorrow morning.
Do you know where the Western
is?
Or the Fairfield?
That's only three blocks.
The Fairfield?
Here.
I'll write down the address
funeral--
Take care of the photograph
albums, will you?
Yeah.
[THEME MUSIC]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: In the
morning, I ordered a coffin.
I took her home to Cedarhurst to
her parents.
And I went home to mine.
WOMAN'S VOICE: Private Jay
Donald Meehan.
Next line.
Three, two, five, six, three,
seven, zero, two.
Headquarters company.
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: I had tried
every way
in the world to get to Arline.
But I couldn't catch up.
She was leaving faster than I
was going.
WOMAN'S VOICE: Next line.
Care of post master.
New York, New York.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
- Heya, Pop. - Richie.
Hey.
Oh darling.
Darling.
How are ya?
How are you?
Better take my bag up.
Here, let me-- let me-- let me
take it.
Hey look.
Do you mind if I went for a
quick walk?
No.
Of course not.
I don't go into town much, but
there's such jerks out there.
You know what they call their
supermarket?
The super piggly wiggly.
How come you're not there?
Because they didn't need me.
I remember the day you met her.
Remember?
That was when we used to fight
all the time about how
you thought girls were awful.
Remember?
And I used to object, after all,
me being one of them.
And I came home from school, and
I just had a terrible fight
with my best friend Wendy.
Do you remember Wendy?
Of course.
And I came tearing into your
room saying, you're right,
you're right.
Girls are awful.
And you were sitting on your
bed.
You had your arms wrapped around
one knee,
and you were looking up at the
ceiling.
And you said, oh no they're not.
I just met a wonderful girl.
Remember it like yesterday.
The only difference for me and
Arline
was instead of 50 years we had
nine years.
It was only a quantitative
difference.
We had a hell of a good time
together.
You're making me cry.
What's the matter with you?
Use the old beano.
Everybody dies.
It doesn't stop the world at
all.
What do you mean I'm making you
cry?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Yes, I'll repeat that.
New Mexico July 11.
The baby is expected on July
16th.
Yes, I'll give it to him now.
You're welcome.
You know somebody who's having a
baby?
No.
You don't expect me to believe
that, do you?
No, Pop.
No.
You think I'm crazy.
No, no.
Sometimes you're a very nervous
person.
And you're a little nervous now.
[THEME MUSIC]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: How can I
tell you now what we felt then?
We hadn't seen any pictures of
Hiroshima.
MAN'S VOICE: I'm giving odds we
blow
up the state of New Mexico.
Any takers?
MAN'S VOICE: How could I
collect?
Five hippopotamus, four
hippopotamus,
three hippopotamus two
hippopotamus, one.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[EXPLOSION]
Gesundheit.
[THEME MUSIC]
[RUMBLING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: Isidor Rabi
said, it did bring home
to one how terrible this thing
was
that treated humans as matter.
[RUMBLING]
Christ.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RICHARD [VOICEOVER]: It was all
very top secret.
The thousands of people at Los
Alamos
weren't supposed to know
anything about it.
I hate secrets.
Hi.
Hey.
Hi, Henry.
Hello.
RICHARD: [SINGING] I want a dish
of virgin sturgeon.
Virgin sturgeon's a very fine
dish.
Virgin surgeon needs no urging.
That's why virgin is dish, swish
wish wish.
I want a dish of virgin
Sturgeon.
Virgin sturgeon's very fine
fish.
RICHARD AND BOY: [SINGING]
Virgin surgeon needs no urging.
That's why surgeon is my dish,
fish swish swish.
Hey, Henry.
Did you know that there are
twice
as many numbers as numbers?
Oh come on Dick.
There are.
Let me show you.
Name a number.
One million.
Two million.
27.
54.
Now you try.
Six.
12.
Six million.
12 million.
Light beginning to dawn?
So there are three times as
many
numbers as there are numbers.
Prove it.
You know.
Three times anything.
You say five, I say 15.
Or I say 5,000,000,473--
Three times that.
So is a biggest number?
Well how can there be?
So that idea-- the idea that
there's no end
to how big a number can be--
that's called infinity.
Ah rats.
You out of cokes?
Worse.
How do you mean?
Beer.
Huh.
I'll get you some.
Want to take a trip with me,
Henry?
Oh, no.
Don't worry about it.
I'll get you some.
What are you looking for?
Keys.
Fuchs usually leaves his keys
here.
It's parked outside my door.
It's very quiet here.
Mmm.
So now we're all sons of
bitches.
[MUSIC PLAYING]