los angeles (jta) | The U.S. Postal Service is issuing commemorative stamps this month honoring a brilliant 20th-century Jewish scientist, physicist Richard Feynman, and a stellar Jewish lyricist, E.Y. “Yip” Harburg.
Feynman, a free-spirited scientist, musician, linguist and bon vivant, shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics.
A native of Far Rockaway, N.Y., Feynman helped develop the atomic bomb during World War II while still in his 20s.
Barry Barish, a colleague and co-worker, said, “After Einstein, Dick Feynman was perhaps the smartest man of the 20th century.”
Harburg is being honored in a separate series of stamps for “writing the lyrics to more than 600 songs distinguished by their intelligence, humanity and inventiveness,” according to the citation.
Born on New York City’s Lower East Side to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Harburg is best known for his lyrics to “Cabin in the Sky,” “Bloomer Girl,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Finian’s Rainbow.” Among his most memorable songs are “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” “April in Paris” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” n