There’s no doubt that Richard Feynman’s brain was about a dozen times as powerful as mine. And the odds are about 6.62 X 10^34 to 1 that Stanford physics professor Leonard Susskind is smarter than I am as well. But a little anecdote that Professor Leo tells in his new book The Black Hole War about Feynman, whom he describes as “brash, irreverent, and full of macho one-upmanship,” has me wondering.
It seems that some of Feynman’s students took him to a “Hollywood” restaurant whose menu featured “The Marilyn Monroe,” “The Frank Sinatra,” etc. In a pre-arranged gag, the kids all ordered “The Richard Feynman,” which Feynman took seriously. Of course, when the Feynmans arrived, the kids filled Dick in on the joke. Feynman told the story to Susskind, who relates the following exchange:
Susskind: “Gee, Dick, I wonder what the difference would be between a Feynman sandwich and a Susskind sandwich?”
Feynman: “Oh, they’d be about the same, except that the Susskind sandwich would have more ham.”
Susskind: “Yeah, but a lot less baloney.”
The topper? According to Susskind, “That was probably the only time that I beat him at that game.”
Which is probably true.
