11 May: Richard Feynman

This date in 1918 was the birthdate of Richard Feynman, American theoretical physicist. 10 facts about him:

1. Richard Feynman was born in New York City, the descendant of Russian and Polish Jews who'd immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century. His family attended synagogue every Friday, but by his youth, Feynman was describing himself as an "avowed atheist".

2. As a child, he set up a laboratory at home, in which he repaired Radios.

3. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his undergraduate thesis proposed a new approach to calculating forces in molecules.

4. He then got a scholarship to Princeton to study for his PhD, which he obtained in 1942. One of the first things he did after obtaining it was get married. His scholarship had come with a condition that he remained single, but he had a girlfriend, his childhood sweetheart, Arline Greenbaum. Sadly, she was seriously ill at the time with TB, a disease for which, at that time, there was no cure. They took the ferry to Staten Island, and were married in the city office. No family nor friends attended and the witnesses were a pair of strangers. After the ceremony he took her to Deborah Hospital, where he visited her on weekends. She died on June 16, 1945. In 1946, he wrote a letter to Arline, expressing his deep love and heartbreak. The letter was sealed and only opened after his death. "Please excuse my not mailing this," the letter read, "but I don't know your new address."

5. During World War II Feynman was recruited to serve as a staff member of the U.S. atomic bomb project at Princeton University and then at the new secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico. At Los Alamos he was the youngest group leader in the theoretical division of the Manhattan Project.

6. Feynman amused himself by there by investigating the combination Locks used by the other physicists. He found that they left the lock combinations on the factory settings, wrote the combinations down, or used easily guessable combinations like dates.

7. He was a keen drummer, and played the bongos. This inspired him to get a computer to click in musical rhythms.

8. In Brazil, Feynman enjoyed samba music, and learned to play the frigideira, a metal percussion instrument based on a frying pan. He even played in orchestras in musicals. Years later, the character Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory also played the bongos in emulation of Feynman, who was one of his idols.

9. He was a member of the commission which investigated the Challenger disaster. His testimony included a demonstration in which he dunked a piece of rubber seal in a glass of ice water to show that it was entirely predictable that it would fail.

10. He died of cancer on February 15, 1988 aged 69. His last words were: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

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