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Who is the funniest scientist?

The funniest scientist was Richard Feynman, according to MIT Libraries' 2011 profile of his memoir Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, because he treated serious official settings, from Los Alamos security to his own Nobel Prize, as a game and described his biggest moments in small, plain words.

Updated · Based on MIT Libraries (May 23, 2011), Physics Today (May 11, 2018) and The New York Times (February 17, 1988)

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There is no formal ranking of scientists by funniness, so this is a reputation, not a vote. MIT Libraries calls Feynman a "prankster extraordinaire" whose collection of humorous anecdotes was a surprise bestseller, and Physics Today and The New York Times both wrote about his jokes and pranks. George Gamow, Niels Bohr and Neil deGrasse Tyson are the names that come up next, each for putting something playful inside something formal.

The pick: Richard Feynman

Physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1965

Called a "prankster extraordinaire" by MIT Libraries, and the subject of humor write-ups in Physics Today and his New York Times obituary.

Also in the running

  • George Gamow (Physicist and cosmologist, 1904–1968): APS News describes him as known for his sense of humor, best remembered for a pun he built into a paper's author list.
  • Niels Bohr (Physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1922): Robert P. Crease's Physics World column on humor in physics draws on Abraham Pais's accounts of the jokes Bohr loved to tell.
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson (Astrophysicist and science communicator): Interesting Engineering called him "quite probably, one of the funniest scientists of all time," mostly for his one-line posts.

What made them funny

Feynman's humor was mostly about rules. James Gleick's obituary in The New York Times says his stories from Los Alamos give the impression he spent his time thinking up ways to annoy the military censors and security officers, and that he cracked the combination safes holding the bomb secrets. Physics Today's Melinda Baldwin adds that his love of jokes and verbal sparring made him great company at parties, but also got him into trouble with colleagues, friends and family. The jokes worked because the settings were so serious.

The other names on the list share the same instinct: put something playful inside something formal. Gamow slipped a pun into the author list of a serious physics paper. Bohr argued that the heaviest topics were the ones most worth joking about. Tyson takes a plain, true fact and reads it so literally that it turns into a picture.

Techniques to take into your videos and sets

  1. 1. Sign the scene of the crime

    What they did

    At Los Alamos, Feynman cracked safes full of classified papers and left notes behind, according to The New York Times. One read, in part, "Feynman the safecracker." He did something outrageous, then filed paperwork about it like a clerk.

    Why it works

    The joke isn't the act, it's the paperwork. A calm, official-sounding note attached to something absurd creates a clash of tone, and the signature shows that the person doing it knows exactly how ridiculous it is.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    I ate the last slice of pizza at 2 a.m. and left the empty box in the fridge with a note: "Slice No. 8 has been removed for testing. Management."

    Try it

    Take the small crime in your story and show the note, label or receipt you left behind, written in the most official voice you can manage.

  2. 2. Shrink your biggest moment

    What they did

    Gleick's obituary quotes Feynman describing his Nobel Prize work this way: "I won the prize for shoving a great problem under the carpet." The biggest honor in his field, told as a housekeeping shortcut.

    Why it works

    Understatement about your own success gets a laugh without bragging. Turning a huge achievement into a household chore gives the audience a picture, and it lets them in on the joke instead of standing outside the trophy case.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    I ran my first half marathon. Technically I spent two hours and forty minutes walking very fast toward a free banana.

    Try it

    Take your biggest win and describe it as the smallest physical task that was technically involved. Keep the real number in.

  3. 3. Hide the joke in the format

    What they did

    APS News reports that Gamow added his friend Hans Bethe's name to a 1948 paper, which hadn't really needed him, so the authors would read Alpher, Bethe, Gamow: a pun on alpha, beta, gamma. The paper was set to appear on April 1.

    Why it works

    Formal formats (lists, labels, author lines, forms) promise to be boring. When the structure itself turns out to be the punchline, the audience gets the extra pleasure of spotting it.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    I labeled the three leftover containers in the fridge Monday, Tuesday and Evidence.

    Try it

    Find a list, label or form in your story and make its last item the joke. Two normal entries, then the one that gives the game away.

  4. 4. Joke hardest about the heaviest thing

    What they did

    Abraham Pais quoted Bohr as saying, "Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them," as recounted in Robert P. Crease's Physics World column on humor in physics.

    Why it works

    When something is truly stressful, the audience is already tense. A joke that names the thing everyone is avoiding releases that tension, which is why the laugh is often bigger than the joke.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    My landlord's email about "a few small concerns" was 1,400 words long, which makes it the most anyone has ever written about me, including my mom.

    Try it

    Pick the part of your story you'd least like to talk about and describe one concrete detail of it, like its length, its subject line or its timestamp.

  5. 5. Read a true fact too literally

    What they did

    In a 2013 post quoted by Interesting Engineering, Tyson wrote, "Just an FYI: In a mirror, you can only kiss yourself on the lips." A real fact about reflections, delivered as a public service announcement.

    Why it works

    The audience can check it in their heads, and the moment they do, they picture themselves trying it. A true fact framed as a helpful tip is funnier than an exaggeration, because nobody can argue with it.

    Example (original, written by Shutap)

    If you stand on the bathroom scale on one foot, it still says the same number. I checked six times.

    Try it

    Take one true, slightly useless fact from your situation and announce it like a safety notice. Then add one line showing you tested it.

Before you quote them

Many of the funniest science quotes online, especially ones credited to Einstein, aren't real. Quote Investigator found that the famous line explaining relativity with a hot stove and a nice girl first appeared in a 1929 New York Times article, credited to an unnamed secretary rather than to Einstein directly, so the evidence that he said it is indirect. History.com lists other popular Einstein lines he never said. Feynman lines spread the same way: one widely repeated version of his last words appears online in two different wordings with no source, so we left it out. Many Feynman stories come from his own memoirs, told to Ralph Leighton years later, so treat them as his telling, not a transcript.

Questions people ask

Who is the funniest scientist?
Richard Feynman, the physicist who won the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics. MIT Libraries calls him a "prankster extraordinaire," and Physics Today and James Gleick's 1988 New York Times obituary both wrote about his jokes. There is no formal ranking, so this is his reputation, not a poll result.
What is Richard Feynman's funniest line?
A strong contender is how he described his Nobel-winning work, quoted in Gleick's New York Times obituary: "I won the prize for shoving a great problem under the carpet." At Los Alamos he also left notes in safes he had cracked, one reading in part "Feynman the safecracker."
Which other scientists are known for being funny?
George Gamow, who APS News says added Hans Bethe to a 1948 paper so the authors read Alpher, Bethe, Gamow; Niels Bohr, who said some subjects are so serious one can only joke about them; and Neil deGrasse Tyson, whom Interesting Engineering called one of the funniest scientists.
Did Einstein really say the hot stove line about relativity?
Not directly, as far as the evidence goes. Quote Investigator traced the hot stove explanation to a 1929 New York Times article that credited an unnamed secretary, so the link to Einstein is indirect. History.com lists other popular Einstein lines he never said.
Are Feynman's funny stories true?
Most come from his own memoirs, told to Ralph Leighton years later, so they are his telling rather than a transcript. Physics Today's Melinda Baldwin adds that his love of jokes and verbal sparring also got him into trouble with colleagues, friends and family.

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Sources

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