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About this quote

What does it mean?
Complex ideas that earned awards might not be easily explained to average people. This suggests a trade-off between depth and accessibility.
In plain terms
If I could explain this simply I wouldn't have been awarded for it.
What can you take from it?
Deep insights often resist simple explanation.

Where it applies

  • teaching
  • science communication
  • publishing

Putting it to work

  • work on simplifying complex topics
  • balance depth with clarity

Questions to consider

  • What do I know that I struggle to explain?
  • How important is simplicity in my field?

Another view

Some complex things can be made simple with the right approach.

More from Richard Feynman

  1. All experiments in psychology are not of this [cargo cult] type, however. For example there have been many experiments running rats through all kinds of mazes,…

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  2. I took this stuff I got out of your [O-ring] seal and I put it in ice water, and I discovered that when you put some pressure on it for a while and then undo i…

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  3. There is one feature I notice that is generally missing in 'cargo cult science'... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that …

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