Dreams of Tuva In 1952 Feynman married again to Mary Louise Bell. The marriage was quickly seen to be nothing more than a passing attraction, however, and was dissolved. In the 1960's Feynman met Gweneth Howarth in Britain and found her to be an ideal companion for his adventurous and eccentric personality. In 1962 their son Carl was born, and in 1968 they adopted a daughter Michelle. In the 1970's Richard was diagnosed with cancer. Quick surgery removed the tumor from his abdomen but the damage done to his internal organs was such that he would be in a permanently weakened state for the rest of his lifetime. It was at this point in Richard's life that an old dream reawakened. The lost country of Tannu Tuva had always fascinated him as a child. He had collected the postage stamps from the country and a conversation with a friend at dinner in 1977 established the dream again. Richard began to actively pursue travelling to the country but the Cold War politics of the day rendered the scheme impossible. Tuvan flag 1978-1992: http://www.midcoast.com/~martucci/neva/sovtuva.html Tuvan village of Sizim: http://www.stalvik.com/Engelska/laesiberia.htm    Richard's interest in the country sparked some amount of worldwide attention. A documentary titled Ghengis Blues recounted his attempts to enter the country. The website "Friends of Tuva" was set up after his death and is a forum for later, more successful travellers stories of the famed country. Probably most popular of all is the phrase "Tuva or Bust" that arose in the years following the Tuva attempt. One of Tuva's most peculiar art forms, deep throat singing has especially made an impression on the imagination of western culture. Tuvan throatsinger: http://www.stalvik.com/Engelska/laesiberia.htm Richard had an especially keen interest in the throat singers since he was also an amateur musician, and not a bad one. He had a love of playing the hand drums and considered it such an integral part of his life that he had a picture of him playing the drums on the cover of the first edition of the Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman on bongos: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman