I Love My Wife, My Wife Is Dead

The internet rediscovered Richard Feynman’s 1946 love letter to his late wife Arline, who died of tuberculosis at 25, and the collective swoon was instant. One romantic summed up the mood with a cosmic sigh: “the vastness is bearable only through love,” while readers lingered on lines like “I love my wife. My wife is dead,” and that haunting P.S. about not knowing her “new address.” But just as the tears started, the knives came out. A top comment slammed the brakes: he “cheated on this woman with every warm body,” claimed one user, sparking a fiery debate over whether we can cherish a tender letter while questioning the man behind it. Another called the physicist’s aura “"bro physics" bs,” while a snarky chorus piled on with idol-worship-is-over energy. Others tried nuance: “brilliant in physics, not physical relationships,” quipped one commenter, dropping a bizarre anecdote about a pool-table dream and a later marriage—cue fact-checkers rolling in. History heads chimed in too: one wondered how many such letters were written in August 1945, a sobering nod to wartime loss. Still, the memes flew: “Schrödinger’s spouse,” “quantum love, classical behavior,” and jokes about that devastating P.S. For many, the letter still hits—just not without a messy, modern audit of Feynman himself.