Richard Feynman was one of the brightest physicists ever. His books, although dense and precise, are nevertheless some of the most accessible. He stood on the field at Trinity and looked at the first atomic explosion without dark glasses because (he said) he knew the simple bright light couldn’t hurt him. He was a tireless debunker of nonsense, a very funny man, and he blamed bongos.
But the thing that made him special…he was never afraid to look and he never used tinted glasses to do it.
Via pharyngula.
There is more where that came from: "No Ordinary Genius", a two part BBC documentary in the "Horizon" series. It's on YouTube in 10 segments starting here.
Feynman's video presentation was beautiful, humble and insightful. Terrific stuff.
I've read quite a bit of Feynman: His autobiographical sketches ("Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?"), his books on Quantum Electrodynamics ("Q.E.D.") and personal philosophy ("The Meaning of it All"), and even the critical biography "Genius" by James Gleick.
I had not previously seen him on video.