Feynman Inspiration – Honors
I don’t like honors. I appreciate it for the work that I did, and for people who appreciate it, and I notice that other physicists use my work. I don’t need anything else. I don’t think there’s any sense to anything else. I don’t see that it makes any point that someone in the Swedish Academy decides that this work is noble enough to receive a prize.
I’ve already got the prize.
The prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery, the observation that other people use it. Those are the real things. The honors are unreal to me. I don’t believe in honors. It bothers me; honors bother me. Honors is epaulettes; honors is uniforms. My poppa brought me up this way. I can’t stand it; it hurts me.
When I was in high school, one of the first honors I got was to be a member of the Arista, which is a group of kids who got good grades. Everybody wanted to be a member of the Arista. And when I got into the Arista, I discovered that what they did in their meetings was to sit around to discuss who else was worthy to join this wonderful group that we are. So we sat around trying to decide who it was who would get to be allowed into this Arista. This kind of thing bothers me psychologically for one or another reason I don’t understand myself. Honors — and from that day to this — always bothered me.
I had trouble when I became a member of the National Academy of Science, and I had ultimately to resign. Because there was another organization, most of whose time was spent in choosing who was illustrious enough to be allowed to join us in our organization. Including such questions as ‘We physicists have to stick together, because there’s a very good chemist that they’re trying to get in, and we haven’t got enough room for so-and-so.’ What’s the matter with chemists? The whole thing was rotten, because the purpose was mostly to decide who could have this honor.
I don’t like honors.
Awards
[A11] 07/2025, Faculty of Engineering Career Advancement Award, 20,600 AUD, Faculty of Engineering, USyd.
[A10] 07/2024, Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad in 2023, 6,000 USD, China Scholarship Council.
国家优秀自费留学生奖学金, 中国国家留学基金委。
[A9] 06/2022, First Prize School Heat of 3-Minute Thesis Competition in 2022, 500 AUD, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, USyd.
[A8] 09/2020, Faculty of Engineering Research Scholarship, 37,207 AUD p. a., Faculty of Engineering, USyd.
[A7] 10/2019, 2018–2019 China National Scholarship for Postgraduate, 20,000 CNY, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, No. SSY201906829.
硕士研究生国家奖学金，中华人民共和国教育部。
[A6] 12/2017, 2016–2017 Academic Scholarship, 20,000 CNY, ZJU.
硕士研究生学业奖学金，浙江大学。
[A5] 11/2017, The 2nd prize of the 2017 Zhejiang University FESTO Scholarship, 2,000 CNY, Institute of Mechanical and Electronic Control Engineering, ZJU.
浙江大学FESTO奖学金，浙江大学机械电子控制工程研究所。
[A4] 11/2016, 2015–2016 China National Scholarship for Undergraduate (Top 1.5%), 8,000 CNY, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, No. 201613772.
国家奖学金，中华人民共和国教育部。
[A3] 04/2016, 2016 Di Shuien–Inner Mongolia Student Scholarship of Hunan University, 1,500 CNY, Di Shuien–Inner Mongolia Scholars of HNU.
滴水恩——湖南大学内蒙学子奖学金，滴水恩——湖南大学内蒙学子奖助基金会
[A2] 11/2015, 2014–2015 National Inspirational Scholarship (Top 4.5%), 5,000 CNY, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.
国家励志奖学金，中华人民共和国教育部。
[A1] 11/2014, 2013–2014 National Inspirational Scholarship (Top 4.5%), 5,000 CNY, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.
国家励志奖学金，中华人民共和国教育部。
Honors
[H11] 01/2022, Golden prize of the National Machinery Industry Design Innovation Competition in 2021, China Machinery Industry Federation.
第二届全国机械工业设计创新大赛金奖，中国机械工业联合会。
[H10] 12/2021, Excellent Master Thesis in 2020 in Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Graduate Education Association. (Top-Two Master Thesis at School of Mechanical Engineering, ZJU)
2020年浙江省优秀硕士学位论文，浙江省研究生教育学会。
[H9] 06/2020, Top-Ten Students at School of Mechanical Engineering in 2020, School of Mechanical Engineering at ZJU.
2020年十佳学生，浙江大学机械工程学院。
[H8] 10/2019, 2018–2019 Award of Honor for Graduate (Top 5%), ZJU.
优秀研究生，浙江大学。
[H7] 10/2019, 2018–2019 Triple A Graduate (Top 10%), ZJU.
三好研究生，浙江大学。
[H6] 06/2018, The 1st prize of the 2016 National College Student Innovation Training Project, Dean Office of HNU.
国家级大学生创新性实验计划项目一等奖，湖南大学教务处。
[H5] 06/2016, The 1st prize of the 2014 National College Student Innovation Training Project, Dean Office of HNU.
国家级大学生创新性实验计划项目一等奖，湖南大学教务处。
[H4] 05/2016, The 2nd prize of the 7th Hunan College Students’ Mechanical Innovation Design Contest, Hunan Provincial Department of Education.
湖南省第七届大学生机械创新设计大赛二等奖，湖南省教育厅。
[H3] 04/2016, The 2nd prize of the 7th National University Student Mechanical Innovation Design Contest Hunan University Finals, Dean Office of HNU.
第七届大学生机械创新设计大赛湖南大学决赛二等奖，湖南大学教务处。
[H2] 12/2015, The 1st prize of Hunan University Mechanical CAD Technology Modeling Contest, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, HNU.
湖南大学机械CAD技术建模竞赛一等奖，湖南大学机械与运载工程学院。
[H1] 09/2014, Excellent volunteer, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, HNU.
优秀志愿者，湖南大学机械与运载工程学院。