--On Monday, June 11, 2001 07:22:12 PM +0100 Jonathan Coupe 
<jonathan@meanwhile.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>> > I'd
>> > like some feedback on the notion that "if you can't explain it to a
>> > five-year-old, you don't really understand it"
>
> My feedback: whoever first said this was probably a professional
> politician or a journalist.
>
> Jonathan Coupe

Note that the proper quote from which, I believe, this semi-derives is:

The Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman was once asked by a Caltech colleague to 
explain why spin 1/2 particles obey Fermi Dirac statistics. He responded, 
"I'll prepare a freshman lecture on it." But a few days later he returned 
and said, "You know, I couldn't do it. I couldn't reduce it to the freshman 
level. That means we really don't understand it."

This is quoted in _Six Easy Pieces_, _Six Not So Easy Pieces_, and, I 
believe, _Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman_.  A web search via Google with 
"Feynman" and "lecture" will reveal more.

Joe
--
Joseph R. Kiniry                    http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~kiniry/
California Institute of Technology        ID 78860581      ICQ 4344804
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