Richard Feynman

Surely You're Joking; first-principles teaching curator.

Professor of theoretical physics at Caltech until his death in 1988, Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics. He is credited with the Feynman Technique — a learning method built on explaining concepts in plain language to expose gaps in understanding. His memoir 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!' remains a canonical text on curiosity-driven, first-principles thinking.