Fun in Physics: How fun became a valid motivation for doing science in the twentieth century, with Richard Feynman and Donna Strickland as examples.

Annelie Drakman

Ph.D. Researcher, History of Ideas
The Department for Culture and Aesthetics
Stockholm University

Abstract

This presentation investigates the emergence of a new way of motivating scientific pursuits from the 1950s onwards – because the scientist enjoys it. Until this point in time, why one pursued science had primarily been motivated either by its practical usefulness or by the engendering of awe and wonder. But after World War II, in the American context, scientists began speaking publicly and emphatically of their own enjoyment of science. Why did it become acceptable to say that one did science for the fun of it?

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