"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" - unam.

families all the time, so that if a boy is a good student, it's as good as, if not better than,
being a good football player.
It was the same afternoon that I was reminded how true it is. I was invited to one
of the rabbinical students' home, and he introduced me to his mother, who had just come
back from Washington, D.C. She clapped her hands together, in ecstasy, and said, "Oh!
My day is complete. Today I met a general, and a professor!"
I realized that there are not many people who think it's just as important, and just
as nice, to meet a professor as to meet a general. So I guess there's something in what
they said.
Judging Books by Their Covers
After the war, physicists were often asked to go to Washington and give advice to
various sections of the government, especially the military. What happened, I suppose, is
that since the scientists had made these bombs that were so important, the military felt we
were useful for something.
Once I was asked to serve on a committee which was to evaluate various weapons
for the army, and I wrote a letter back which explained that I was only a theoretical
physicist, and I didn't know anything about weapons for the army.
The army responded that they had found in their experience that theoretical
physicists were very useful to them in making decisions, so would I please reconsider?
I wrote back again and said I didn't really know anything, and doubted I could
help them.
Finally I got a letter from the Secretary of the Army, which proposed a
compromise: I would come to the first meeting, where I could listen and see whether I
could make a contribution or not. Then I could decide whether I should continue.
I said I would, of course. What else could I do?
I went down to Washington and the first thing that I went to was a cocktail party
to meet everybody. There were generals and other important characters from the army,
and everybody talked. It was pleasant enough.
One guy in a uniform came to me and told me that the army was glad that
physicists were advising the military because it had a lot of problems. One of the
problems was that tanks use up their fuel very quickly and thus can't go very far. So the
question was how to refuel them as they're going along. Now this guy had the idea that,
since the physicists can get energy out of uranium, could I work out a way in which we
could use silicon dioxide ­­ sand, dirt ­­ as a fuel? If that were possible, then all this tank
would have to do would be to have a little scoop underneath, and as it goes along, it
would pick up the dirt and use it for fuel! He thought that was a great idea, and that all I
had to do was to work out the details. That was the kind of problem I thought we would
be talking about in the meeting the next day.
I went to the meeting and noticed that some guy who had introduced me to all the
people at the cocktail party was sitting next to me. He was apparently some flunky
assigned to be at my side at all times. On my other side was some super general I had
heard of before.
At the first session of the meeting they talked about some technical matters, and I