FEYNMAN'S TAMBOURINE FROM BRAZIL, SIGNED BY HIM. Feynman spent a sabbatical year in Brazil as a lecturer at the Brazilian Center for Physics Research. He lived in the Miramar Hotel while he was there, and not only taught himself Portuguese, but learned to play in a samba band. "There was a man at the U.S. Embassy who knew I liked samba music. I think I told him that when I had been in Brazil the first time, I had heard a samba band practicing in the street, and I wanted to learn more abut Brazilian music. He said a small group, called a "regional," practiced at his apartment every week, and I could come over and listen to them play.... One guy had a tambourine that they called a pandeiro, and another guy had a small guitar. I kept hearing the beat of a drum somewhere, but there was no drum! Finally I figured out that it was the tambourine, which the guy was playing in a complicated way, twisting his wrist and hitting the skin with his thumb. I found that interesting, and learned to play the pandeiro, more or less." (Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!" p. 235)