How I got to work with Feynman on the covariant quark model

TL;DR

This paper provides a personal historical account of the author's collaboration with Richard Feynman during the development of the quark and parton models leading up to the formulation of QCD, highlighting the scientific process and key insights.

Contribution

It offers an insider perspective on the evolution of the covariant quark model and the transition from parton models to QCD, emphasizing collaborative scientific development.

Findings

Detailed historical account of the development process

Insights into Feynman's role in quark model formulation

Clarification of the transition from partons to QCD

Abstract

In the period 1968 - 1974 I was a graduate student and then a postdoc at Caltech and was involved with the developments of the quark and parton models. Most of this time I worked in close contact with Richard Feynman and thus was present from the parton model was proposed until QCD was formulated. A personal account is presented how the collaboration took place and how the various stages of this development looked like from the inside until QCD was established as a theory for strong interactions with the partons being quarks and gluons.