Editing Richard Feynman (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Richard P. Feynman’s Grave.jpg|thumb|Richard P. and Gweneth M. Feynman’s grave]]
In 1978, Feynman sought medical treatment for abdominal pains and was diagnosed with [[liposarcoma]], a rare form of cancer. Surgeons removed a "very large" tumor that had crushed one kidney and his spleen. In 1986 doctors discovered another cancer, [[Waldenström macroglobulinemia]].<ref>John Simmons, Lynda Simmons, The Scientific 100, p. 250.</ref> Further operations were performed in October 1986 and October 1987.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=600–605}}  He was again hospitalized at the [[UCLA Medical Center]] on February 3, 1988. A ruptured [[duodenal ulcer]] caused kidney failure, and he declined to undergo the [[Kidney dialysis|dialysis]] that might have prolonged his life for a few months. Feynman's wife Gweneth, sister Joan, and cousin [[Frances Lewine]] watched over him during the final days of his life until he died on February 15, 1988.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=437}}

When Feynman was nearing death, he asked his friend and colleague [[Danny Hillis]] why Hillis appeared so sad. Hillis replied that he thought Feynman was going to die soon. Hillis quotes Feynman as replying:
{{blockquote| "Yeah," he sighed, "that bugs me sometimes too. But not so much as you think. [...] When you get as old as I am, you start to realize that you've told most of the good stuff you know to other people anyway."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-and-connection-machine/ |title=Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine|first=W. Daniel|last=Hillis|journal=Physics Today|publisher=American Institute of Physics|volume=42|issue=2|year=1989 |via=The Long Now|issn=0031-9228 | doi=10.1063/1.881196 | pages=78–83|bibcode=1989PhT....42b..78H}} Hillis on his conversation with Feynman about his dying.</ref>}}

Near the end of his life, Feynman attempted to visit the [[Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] (ASSR) in the Soviet Union, a dream thwarted by [[Cold War]] bureaucratic issues. The letter from the Soviet government authorizing the trip was not received until the day after he died. His daughter Michelle later made the journey.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=257–258}} Ralph Leighton chronicled the attempt in ''[[Tuva or Bust!]]'', published in 1991.

His burial was at [[Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena|Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum]] in Altadena, California.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |title=History Exhumed Via Computer Chip |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-05-me-then5-story.html |date=June 5, 2005 |first=Cecilia |last=Rasmussen |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> His last words were: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=257–258}}