Feynman was lucky enough to be a physicist in an era when there was much new, experimentally testable physics. Experimentalists discovered new phenomena.
Theorists could propose theories, which were then confirmed or rejected quickly. Most results were clear, not near the noise threshold. The field progressed rapidly. Physics was finding, and had found, a set of concise rules that the universe consistently obeyed.
Plus, they won the war. Physicists of that era could afford to be smug.
Today, physicists are still banging their head against the wall on dark matter and string theory. Both ideas are not directly testable. Trying to find the foundations is not going well.
Feynman was lucky enough to be a physicist in an era when there was much new, experimentally testable physics. Experimentalists discovered new phenomena. Theorists could propose theories, which were then confirmed or rejected quickly. Most results were clear, not near the noise threshold. The field progressed rapidly. Physics was finding, and had found, a set of concise rules that the universe consistently obeyed. Plus, they won the war. Physicists of that era could afford to be smug.
Today, physicists are still banging their head against the wall on dark matter and string theory. Both ideas are not directly testable. Trying to find the foundations is not going well.