The article "Richard Feynman and the Connection Machine" by W. DanielHillis describes the involvement of theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate RichardFeynman with the development of the first ConnectionMachine and its applications.
"Many a visitor at ThinkingMachinesCorporation was shocked to see that we had a Nobel Laureate soldering circuit boards or painting walls."
See http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/