Joan Feynman was a pioneering astrophysicist who discovered the science behind the aurora borealis and aurora australis.
Died: July 22, 2020
Details of death: Died of heart failure at her home in Oxnard, California at the age of 93.
Feynman was the younger sister of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. As her brother’s love for science developed, Feynman caught the bug as well, though her mother discouraged her by telling her, “Women’s brains can’t do science.” Feynman persevered, encouraged by her brother, who taught her science and paid her to be his lab assistant when he was 14 and she was just 5 years old. Feynman’s determination continued as she attended college and received her doctorate in physics from Syracuse University despite meeting sexism from her professors.
Her parents were Lucille Feynman (née Phillips), a homemaker, and Melville Arthur Feynman, a businessman.
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Joan Feynman was married first to Richard Hirshberg. They had a daughter and two sons but divorced. In 1987, she married a fellow astrophysicist, Alexander Ruzmaikin. He survives her along with her children.
Contributor: In the Dust of Stars (47374189)
Died: July 22, 2020
Details of death: Died of heart failure at her home in Oxnard, California at the age of 93.
Feynman was the younger sister of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. As her brother’s love for science developed, Feynman caught the bug as well, though her mother discouraged her by telling her, “Women’s brains can’t do science.” Feynman persevered, encouraged by her brother, who taught her science and paid her to be his lab assistant when he was 14 and she was just 5 years old. Feynman’s determination continued as she attended college and received her doctorate in physics from Syracuse University despite meeting sexism from her professors.
Her parents were Lucille Feynman (née Phillips), a homemaker, and Melville Arthur Feynman, a businessman.
***********************
Joan Feynman was married first to Richard Hirshberg. They had a daughter and two sons but divorced. In 1987, she married a fellow astrophysicist, Alexander Ruzmaikin. He survives her along with her children.
Contributor: In the Dust of Stars (47374189)
Joan Feynman was a pioneering astrophysicist who discovered the science behind the aurora borealis and aurora australis.
Died: July 22, 2020
Details of death: Died of heart failure at her home in Oxnard, California at the age of 93.
Feynman was the younger sister of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. As her brother’s love for science developed, Feynman caught the bug as well, though her mother discouraged her by telling her, “Women’s brains can’t do science.” Feynman persevered, encouraged by her brother, who taught her science and paid her to be his lab assistant when he was 14 and she was just 5 years old. Feynman’s determination continued as she attended college and received her doctorate in physics from Syracuse University despite meeting sexism from her professors.
Her parents were Lucille Feynman (née Phillips), a homemaker, and Melville Arthur Feynman, a businessman.
***********************
Joan Feynman was married first to Richard Hirshberg. They had a daughter and two sons but divorced. In 1987, she married a fellow astrophysicist, Alexander Ruzmaikin. He survives her along with her children.
Contributor: In the Dust of Stars (47374189)
Died: July 22, 2020
Details of death: Died of heart failure at her home in Oxnard, California at the age of 93.
Feynman was the younger sister of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. As her brother’s love for science developed, Feynman caught the bug as well, though her mother discouraged her by telling her, “Women’s brains can’t do science.” Feynman persevered, encouraged by her brother, who taught her science and paid her to be his lab assistant when he was 14 and she was just 5 years old. Feynman’s determination continued as she attended college and received her doctorate in physics from Syracuse University despite meeting sexism from her professors.
Her parents were Lucille Feynman (née Phillips), a homemaker, and Melville Arthur Feynman, a businessman.
***********************
Joan Feynman was married first to Richard Hirshberg. They had a daughter and two sons but divorced. In 1987, she married a fellow astrophysicist, Alexander Ruzmaikin. He survives her along with her children.
Contributor: In the Dust of Stars (47374189)
