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Richard Feynman's FBI Files Released
v3rgEz writes "The FBI files of noted physicist, esteemed author and all-around geek Richard Feynman have been released. Feynman and the FBI had an extended encounter after the Bureau discovered he had been invited to speak at the USSR, which set off a flurry of investigations into his loyalty — even as he pestered the State Department for guidance on whether he should or shouldn't go, guidance they only gave belatedly. Of particular interest to the FBI was his avid devotion to the art of lock picking, his high school membership in a socialism club (for social reasons, he swore), and the fact that he was a godless scientist who loved his bongo drums. Original documents are available. One other element? A seven-page letter detailing a conspiracy theory that Feynman was a sleeper agent for enemies unknown, but probably communist ones."
The summary forgot this was during the height of the Cold War. Stuff like this doesn't happen today. The government wouldn't waste time doing a background check just because you flew to modern-day Democratic Russia.
hahahahahahahahahahahaaha
I kill me.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
surely they're joking
The interesting question is, who wrote that letter? Not an FBI agent; an FBI agent wouldn't write to Hoover directly, outside of channels. That came from some outside source with a political agenda. But the source has been "redacted".
Wouldn't a Theoretical Physicist (not under government contract) make a really crappy "sleeper agent"? When you activate him, what is he going to do, change Relativity?
But not of Communism, as you would expect, nor of Zionism, or Fascism, or even Americanism. He sought to advance the cause of alien entities in adjacent worlds, who, through their pushes upon the path-integral of probability, scheme to manipulate this world. Each Feynman diagram written, each step in the push to the smallest level of reality, adds to their influence. I'm not sure if the quantum encryption on my connection is en---CARRIER LOST
More proof that if you have nothing to hide everything will be fine. Another success for team Freedom!imwatchingyou.
Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.
Envious people cause a lot of trouble; especially when you provide them outlets to express such emotions.
Modern day witch hunts are no better, people exploit the idiocy of the time to their own ends. We've not evolved any, we just like to think we are better than people thousands of years ago.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
While the lockpicking hobby might've scared the FBI just in itself, more problematic to them was that he had used it in a "stole the atom bomb secrets" prank. He really did break into the safe that had the atom bomb secrets! But he didn't leak them. But: not everyone was sure of that.
Here's the story from an interview (from p. 51 in this book):
Fortunately, FBI agents apparently were more reasonable even during the Cold War than they are in the War on Terrorism, because he'd probably be in jail for that prank today.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
You keep this love, thing, child, toy
You keep this love, fist, scar, break
You keep this love
Captcha: Nonzero
Today, the Gove will just put you on the "google Glass" beta test list, as a ubergeenerd you will wear them everywher in hopes of people oogling at you. yet you are feeding a steady feed back to CIA headquarters....
"Anything new on subject 47?"
"no sir, he made it to Moscow, but is spending all his time in the hotel room looking at Russian porn and it seems that he is shaking a lot."
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
In today's age, just think how this stuff can be. Everything you do ever say or do online, every word that you say on a telephone, everything you LOOK at on the internet, a record of the news stories you chose to read, everything you purchase, is recorded forever, and subject to government surveillance. Given enough random data about the most innocent person, insert Cardinal Richelieu quote here.
That was a whole different era; government was different, indeed, human nature was entirely different.
There is NO chance of another generation looking back at all the surveillance of every Muslim community picnic and shake their heads in wonder at our paranoia. All of our investigations are justified and wise.
Did anyone else substitute Feynman for Stallmam?
I think my head is broke.
But really, thinking of Stallman as some hacker sleeper agent locksmith god of the USSR is strangely kickass.
When people talk about government waste this is what they should be talking about; investigating people for no reason other than you don't like their politics. Likewise, when people talk about a big government taking away your freedom, this is what they should be talking about.
... and very few typos or grammatical errors that I can spot. The author was obviously well educated and a good typist (albeit he had a crappy typewriter). Probably the Unibomber.
It must be noted that noted notes, noted by the fbi are usually noted on notepaper using note pen or note machine.
Just the right wing's way of saying- "thanks for saving us from Hitler, you crazy science guys!"
then the US certainly for the best end of that deal.
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
This is one of the problem with the USA right there. I know this document is from the cold war but the same kind of bullshit thinking is still happening in 2012.
The guy showed off his lockpicking skills in Los Alamos at a time when people were getting sentenced to death for spying. He got some balls.
...shows up in the heavily redacted original documents. It would be funny, if the writer wasn't so unintentionally creepy and didn't take himself so seriously. It has the hallmark of an individual totally incapable of self-reflection.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Wonder if it looked like this: http://infiltrated.net/redacted.jpg
Feynman had a bit of an obsession with a small Asian nation called Tannu Tuva. He badly wanted to visit, and at the time Tannu Tuva was part of the USSR. As part of an arrangement with the USSR government, he would be allowed passage to travel there, but in exchange he would have to give some lectures in Moscow, I think.
Nova has a wonderful documentary about this, and it can be watched in its entirety on youtube.
The Last Journey of Genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4_40hAAr0/
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
Technical ability to review scientific data
And then there is:
Experience in formulating and laying out the groundwork for complex patterns of activity that extend well into the future
and
A practical aptitude for dealing with mechanical and electronic devices
The funny part is that this is exactly the kind of things that would send you to a camp if you were in the soviet block at that time. And people on the other side of the iron curtain were writing exactly the same letters but substituting 'communist' for 'imperialist'.
Feynman was known for sleeping with his friend's wives after his first wife died.
I could'nt resist it.
Seriously, that book of his was instrumental in my decision to stay in engineering and not go into management. I went back to University and did a Masters.
On the day that Ray Bradbry died, I salute you Mr Fenyman.
If you're a bongo-playing genius, you are either a famous communist spy physicist or Maynard G. Krebs.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
A sleeper agent who had the time and smarts to develop quantum electrodynamics. What government would put a physicist capable of winning a Noble prize in another country as a sleeper agent? Surely the Russians (who love physics) would rather have him as their noble prize winning physicist than working as a double agent in America. That is just crazy.
Are we sure the director of the FBI at the time wasn't some dress wearing conspiracy nut?
Feynman has always been my favorite Nobel prize winner. This just takes him up a notch.
No sigs in BETA. Beta SUCKS.
I love that he did the right thing and alerted the government to the fact that Russia had requested he visit and asked for their guidance but they knowingly ignored his request just to investigate whether he would go. It's like they were lying in wait, hoping for him to screw up so they could slap him in chains and say, "Made my quota! America is safe from citizens who do the right thing once more!"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It was a Republican law, designed for the election, so FOX and the GOP could label him a terrorist supporter. He carefully dodged that bullet and added a signing statement preventing its use.
The only risk now is that a Republican gets elected and uses the law they created.
Fox would be proud of your disinformation.
He was also a roommate of Claus Fuchs, the atomic spy, during his association with the Manhattan project -- where Feynman liked playing "jokes" on his fellow scientists by picking the locks on their file cabinets and leaving classified documents on their desks. Ha Ha Ha. Some jokes. He loaned Fuchs his car many times. Not an indication of infamous activity, but, considering his perverse personality, who knows? He may have spied just for the "fun" of it.
E Proelio Veritas.
1 Anyone figure out who the female slimer from Butte was?
2 Also got to love the Gov, when Y.A. Tittle is on the investigate list.
What lunacy.