Ralph Leighton
Encyclopedia
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, and friend of the late physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
. He recorded Feynman relating stories of his life. Leighton has released some of the recordings as The Feynman Tapes. These interviews became the basis for the books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character is an edited collection of reminiscences by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. The book, released in 1985, covers a variety of instances in Feynman's life...
and What Do You Care What Other People Think?
What Do You Care What Other People Think?
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character is the second of two books consisting of transcribed and edited oral reminiscences from American physicist Richard Feynman. It follows Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!The book presents his life as a series of...
, which were later combined into the hardcover anniversary edition Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character. Leighton is an amateur drummer and founder of the group Friends of Tuva. In 1990 he wrote Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey.
He is credited as associate producer & originator of the concept for the academy-award nominated documentary film Genghis Blues
Genghis Blues
Genghis Blues is a documentary film directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated Asian nation of Tuva due to his interest in Tuvan throat singing....
(2000) which came about through the nexus provided by Friends of Tuva.
With Feynman & Michael A. Gottlieb he is co-author of the supplement to The Feynman Lectures on Physics
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
The Feynman Lectures on Physics is a 1964 physics textbook by Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton and Matthew Sands, based upon the lectures given by Feynman to undergraduate students at the California Institute of Technology in 1961–63. It includes lectures on mathematics, electromagnetism,...
, Feynman's Tips on Physics (2005).
He is the son of the late Caltech physicist Robert B. Leighton, who was also a close personal friend of Feynman. He is married to Phoebe Kwan; they have two children, Nicole and Ian.
External links
- Tuva or Bust! (ISBN 0-393-32069-3) A Review by Bobby Matherne
- Friends of Tuva
- Review of the movie Genghis Blues