Scientist Richard Feynman's love letter to his wife is incredibly moving as it is heartbreaking

Scientist Richard Feynman, best known for his Nobel Prize-winning work in quantum electrodynamics, was a loving husband who sadly lost his wife, and high-school sweetheart, to tuberculosis. Arline, his wife, succumbed to the disease in June 1945, at only 25 years old. 16 months later, Feynman wrote a love letter to his dead wife and sealed it in an envelope. The scientist's heartbreaking confession remained far from everyone until he died in 1988. Feynman's letter was shared by Letters of Note.

Feynman knew he could no longer converse with his wife, and that's perhaps why he wrote her a letter to feel closer to her. In his study, researcher Lene Holm Larsen also found a correlation between writing letters and grieving the loss of a special person. She noted that letter-writing to the deceased can be an effective tool to help grieving individuals work through their emotions. Moreover, the study found that writing letters encourages continuing bonds. This means, instead of cutting ties with someone after their demise, people still feel connected to them through their letters.

"I adore you, sweetheart," he began his letter, confessing his love for Arline, his dead wife. Feynman mentioned how she loved it whenever he expressed his love for her. "But I don’t only write it because you like it — I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you," the scientist continued. It had been almost two years since Feynman had last written to his wife, and in his letter, he apologized for it. "I know you’ll excuse me because you understand how I am, stubborn and realistic, and I thought there was no sense in writing," Feynman wrote. He mentioned how he'd been struggling to comprehend his love for her, especially after her demise. While he realized his wife would never return to him, he still wanted to take care of her and wanted her to do the same for him.

Feynman spoke of the little things he had learned together with his wife. He confessed that he felt lonely without her and that she was the "idea-woman" of all their adventures. When Arline fell sick, she was always worried about not being able to fulfill her husband's needs. However, Feynman, in his letter, explained how his love for his wife was way beyond any expectations. "Just as I told you then, there was no real need because I loved you in so many ways so much. And now it is clearly even more true — you can give me nothing now, yet I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else — but I want you to stand there," he wrote. The scientist was deeply in love with his wife and didn't want to give the space she had in his life to anyone else.

"I’ll bet you are surprised that I don’t even have a girlfriend (except you, sweetheart) after two years. But you can’t help it, darling, nor can I," Feynman said. He confessed that he had been meeting several girls because he was scared of being alone. However, in about 2-3 meetings, he would realize that Arline was irreplaceable in his life. "P.S. Please excuse my not mailing this, but I don’t know your new address," he concluded his letter.

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