/
Article

Feynman and Partons

FEB 01, 1989
‘I am more sure of the conclusions [of the parton model] than of any single argument which suggested them to me for they have an internal consistency which surprises me and exceeds the consistency of my deductive arguments which hinted at their existence.’
James D. Bjorken

For me, as for so many others, Richard Feynman is a special hero. He became so while I was learning quantum electrodynamics in graduate school at Stanford. The course happened to be organized historically, and for several months it was taught in the 1930s style out of Heitler’s classic text, using old‐fashioned perturbation theory and Dirac matrices α and β (but not γ). After this trial by fire came a seemingly endless, gloomy, turgid mass of field‐quantization formalism. When Feynman diagrams arrived, it was the sun breaking through the clouds, complete with rainbow and pot of gold. Brilliant! Physical and profound! It was instant conversion to discipleship.

This article is only available in PDF format

References

  1. 1. For a general review, see J. I. Friedman, H. W. Kendall, Ann. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 22, 203 (1972).https://doi.org/ARNUA8

  2. 2. R. P. Feynman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 23, 1415 (1969).https://doi.org/PRLTAO

  3. 3. R. P. Feynman, in Proc. III Int. Conf. on High‐Energy Collisions, organized by C. N. Yang et al., Gordon and Breach, New York (1969).

  4. 4. R. P. Feynman, Photon‐Hadron Interactions, Benjamin, Reading, Mass. (1972).

More about the authors

James D. Bjorken, University of Chicago.

Related content
/
Article
Since 2008, more than 100 colleges and universities in the US have stopped offering an undergraduate physics major. What happened?
/
Article
The thermodynamic and quantum mechanical properties of topological insulators provide a path toward scalable energy storage in information-based batteries.
/
Article
At the end of the turbulent 1960s, the postwar funding boom in US physics came to a crashing halt. The lessons learned then may be helpful to today’s physicists.
/
Article
Interviews with 22 successful early-career physical scientists and engineers reveal that networking has been one of the most critical ways to nurture their careers.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1989_02.jpeg

Volume 42, Number 2

Get PT newsletters in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.