Project Tuva: Feynman Messenger Lectures
My uncle was a government physicist with the National Bureau of Standards. My mother was a upper-class physics major when she married my father. My sister is a geophysist. Me… well, I flunked Physics the first time; I pass with only 2 points to spare the second time. I’ve concluded that I must have been at the end of the line for the Physics gene, and by the time I got to the front of the line, they were all out.
But, I do have a BS in Geology; I’ve loved my studies of Botany, and Biology and Chemistry. I nursed Tommy through 4 1/2 years of a very “technical” illness. So I haven’t given up trying to grapple with topics that try to explain how our physical universe operates and is governed. One of the reasons I haven’t given up is Richard Feynman. I don’t remember how, or when, I first heard of him, but I do know the effect he’s had on me.
I’ve read, or attempted to read, most of everything that he’s published. I’m not sure how much my basic Physics knowledge has improved, but I absolutely have a better understanding of wonder and awe at our physical universe because of Dr. Feynman. 
Bill Gates has obtained the rights to the Messenger Lectures that Dr. Feynmen delivered at Cornell University in the mid ’60s and has made them available to everyone through Project Tuva. (Thank you, Bill!!!) I’ve started watching the videos and am glad to discover that the man I always imagined (while I read his words) is, in fact, quite close to the person he was. Maybe, like Bill has said, if I’d gotten to sit under Dr. Feynman, my experience with Physics might have been quite different. I guess I’ll get a chance to find out now. 
