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I prefer the general form of the principle -- "simple design, intense content" --to the van metaphor. ET
From the April 2005 Scientific American:
-- Edward Tufte
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Response to The Feynman - Tufte Principle
In my dissertation (on the visual culture of the earth sciences) I likened Tufte's work (only
two books, at the time) to Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style." This essay reminds
me why that comparison holds up. All that is needed now is a Tufte "elements" that is as slim (and cheap) as Strunk & White
-- a book that a professor can hand a student (or a colleague!) and not worry about
getting back.
-- Mark Hineline (email)
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Response to The Feynman - Tufte Principle
It appears to me that true evaluation and appreciation of Feynman Diagrams cannot be made without strong knowledge of the "very complex world of quantum electrodynamics". On more accessible level, would not George Polya's diagrams in his 'How to Solve It' deserve to be called Polya Diagrams? Polya showed unknowns of the mathematical problem as dots, on the top of the diagram, and known data also as dots, on the bottom. Logical connections between these elements were shown by lines. The third part of Polya's diagram is a cloud that represents the hidden 'paths' from known data to the unknown. Polya's diagrams (and he made a series showing the unfolding solution process) are interesting in that they show not only mathematical elements (unknowns, and knowns) of the mathematical problem but problem solver's state of knowledge (or--state of ignorance) as well--in the same diagram! (A major innovation for math teaching practice of his time, I guess?)
-- Priit P. (email)
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Feynman diagrams
The Polya book is part of the outstanding Princeton series of books on science and math,
aimed at educated nonexperts. Feynman's contribution to that series is the wonderful
book QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. It contains a number of
Feynman diagrams; apparently Feynman thought that they could be used to good effect in
explanations intended for lay readers.
-- Alex Merz (email)
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Just published, Richard Feynman's letters, Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten
Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman, are a delight. I was saving the book for plane
travel but started peeking and now have read much of the book.
Not your typical academic communications. Brisk, straightforward, funny, emotional, and
often quite gracious.
-- Edward Tufte
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