This text is a portrayal of one of the greatest scientists of the late 20th-century, which also provides a picture of the significant physics of the period. It combines personal anecdotes, writings and recollections with narrative. Richard Feynman's career included: war-time work on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos; a theory of quantum mechanics for which he won the Nobel prize; and major contributions to the sciences of gravity, nuclear physics and particle theory. In 1986, he was able to show that the Challenger disaster was due to the effect of cold on the booster rocket rubber sealings.