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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Richard took a taxi to the East Indian neighborhood, the taxi driver pointed out a man sitting on the front steps of a concrete block house and stated that the man's son was studying medicine where?

2. After the ceremony at the shrine dedication, Richard was introduced to whom?

3. While Richard and his father were examining the leaf that was picked off a tree he stated that the line is the beginning of a fly with what color eyes?

4. When Richard stood to accept his award from the American Association of Physics Teachers, he told the crowd that instead of talking about teaching he is going to talk about what?

5. When Richard's father showed him a photo of the pope, what did he tell Richard is the difference between the pope and the people that are bowing before him?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Richard was in graduate school at Princeton, there was a psychology paper that came up about controlling the "time sense" in the brain. How did the author of this paper test his theory?

2. What did the librarian say when Richard tried to check out the book, Calculus for the Practical Man, and who did he say the book is for?

3. Why did Richard tell Gweneth and Michelle that he had to write with a paper on his lap when he wrote his letter from the Royal Olympic Hotel in Athens?

4. How did Richard's father make the Tyrannosaurus Rex more understandable and more real to Richard when he was young?

5. In Getting Ahead, how did Richard reply to the taxi driver when asked why his "people" weren't getting anywhere?

6. What other projects did Richard have going on at the time when he was asked to participate in the Challenger investigation?

7. How did Richard learn about algebra?

8. How did Richard's friend from Los Alamos explain to him how she may have mistakenly thought that he knew Herman?

9. What did Richard's friends, Al Hibbs and Dick Davies, tell Richard he should do about being asked to be on the investigation committee of the Challenger accident?

10. Describe what Richard looked like when he was performing one of his "experiments" and he forgot to lock the door and someone walked in on him.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Richard Feynman decided to separate his book into two parts? Did this help you as a reader differentiate between his growing up years and more personal life and his research "life" on the investigation commission for the Challenger accident? Compare and contrast the person Richard was at the beginning of the book to the person he was at the end of Part 2.

Essay Topic 2

Describe who Frances and Chuck were and what influence they had on Richard. Why was it beneficial to Richard to know and be in contact with Frances? Are there any negative results of Richard being related to someone in the press? If so, why? Expound on these answers and use specific information from the book to support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Interpret Richard's bad feelings about Washington D.C. Why do you think Richard was so animate about not being in that city? Do you think his feelings changed by the end of the book or were they worse? Expound on these thoughts by using specific information from the book.

(see the answer keys)

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