How many children did Richard Feynman have? He had two children. He and his third wife, Gweneth Howarth Feynman, had a son, Carl, and adopted a daughter, Michelle.
Carl Feynman was born in 1962. Michelle Feynman was adopted in 1968, and later became involved in preserving and presenting her father’s legacy. The two children were part of Feynman’s family life during his years as a professor at the California Institute of Technology and as a prominent public science communicator.
Feynman married three times. His first wife, Arline Greenbaum, died from tuberculosis in 1945; his second marriage ended in divorce; and he married Gweneth Howarth in 1960. The “two” in the biographical count refers to his children, not his marriages or the number of Nobel laureates in his immediate family.
Feynman’s younger sister, Joan Feynman, was a distinguished astrophysicist, but she was his sibling rather than his child. That family connection can cause confusion when biographies discuss both scientists. The standard biographical record lists Feynman’s children as two: one biological son and one adopted daughter.