[chevill]

In addition to all of the craziness going on in the world at the time his wife was hospitalized and dying of tuberculosis while he was working on the Manhattan project.

[munificent]

There's a certain category of people who cope with stress by becoming absorbed in work so that they can shut everything else out. Those people likely do their best work because of the tragedies surrounding them.

[chevill]

There definitely is. I'm not sure if that was the case with Feynman, but he sure did produce some great work during this era.

I used to be like that when I was in my 20s, but as I get older if I get depressed it significantly reduces my productivity.