Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

The Atomic Age dates from the explosion of the first atomic bomb in 1945 to the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Some scholars date the beginning of the period to the discovery of subatomic particles in the 1920s. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! was published in 1985, near the end of the Atomic Age. Feynman’s memoir reflects both, implicitly and explicitly, several central Atomic Ages beliefs about science, culture, and politics.

During the Atomic Age, nuclear physics developed as an important field of science and engineering. Humans were beginning to unravel the mysteries of the building blocks of matter. Feynman points out that, during the 1930s, nobody really knew what a physicist did, but that perception changed over the next decades, corresponding to Feynman’s career and intellectual development. Physicists gained a broad, if ill-defined, reputation as cutting-edge thinkers, who understood the newest and most complex discoveries. The idiom “I’m no rocket scientist” meaning “I’m not that intelligent” came into origin during the Atomic Age and derived its meaning from the reverence for physics.

Atomic energy led to both optimism and dread. Nuclear fission controlled for peaceful purposes seemed to offer an inexhaustible source of energy that could fuel economic prosperity. The marriage of nuclear science and technology was viewed as a major advance in human civilization that would lead to better worldwide living standards. On the other hand, the atomic bomb cast a pessimistic pall over many Americans. The fear of nuclear annihilation caused people to build bomb shelters, schools to teach drills on safety against atomic attack, and the government to spend billions on the military.

Politically, the Atomic Age corresponded to what some historians have labeled “The American Century.” The United States was the first country to develop the atomic bomb, and the only country to use it in combat. To many, this marked the preeminence of the United States as a world political power. However, the Atomic Age also signified an era of competition between nations. In 1954, the Soviet Union became the first country to use a nuclear power plant to bring electricity to the public power grid. The Atomic Age was an era in which nations competed with each other ideologically, and they often expressed their ideology through the use of science and technology. Feynman’s life and career overlap with this epoch of American preeminence and international competition surrounding nuclear technology. His autobiography offers insights into the Atomic Age from one of its central figures.