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Freeman Dyson

Born in the United Kingdom, Freeman John Dyson (1923-) is an American mathematician and physicist. He has made important contributions in the fields of nuclear engineering, quantum mechanics, and solid-state physics, but is also known for his predictions about the future (not always correct, but in his own words, "it is better to be wrong than to be vague"), and his ideas about space exploration, space colonization (including a favorite idea of science fiction authors, the "Dyson sphere"), and the search for extra terrestrial life.

Dyson was team leader of Project Orion and a leading advocate. When the project ended, he wrote an empassioned plea for the project to continue in the journal Science: "this is the first time in modern history that a major expansion of human technology has been suppressed for political reasons."

Here are some books by Freeman Dyson:

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Origins of Life (CANTO)
By Freeman Dyson

Cambridge University Press
Paperback (110 pages)

Origins of Life (CANTO)
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How did life on Earth originate? Did replication or metabolism come first in the history of life? In the second edition of the acclaimed Origins of Life, distinguished scientist and science writer Freeman Dyson examines these questions and discusses the two main theories that try to explain how naturally occurring chemicals could organize themselves into living creatures. The majority view is that life began with replicating molecules, the precursors of modern genes. The minority belief is that random populations of molecules evolved metabolic activities before exact replication existed and that natural selection drove the evolution of cells toward greater complexity for a long time without the benefit of genes. Dyson analyzes both of these theories with reference to recent important discoveries by geologists and chemists, aiming to stimulate new experiments that could help decide which theory is correct. This second edition covers the impact revolutionary discoveries such as the existence of ribozymes, enzymes made of RNA; the likelihood that many of the most ancient creatures are thermophilic, living in hot environments; and evidence of life in the most ancient of all terrestrial rocks in Greenland have had on our ideas about how life began. It is a clearly written, fascinating book that will appeal to anyone interested in the origins of life.
The Scientist as Rebel (New York Review Books)
By Freeman J. Dyson

New York Review Books
Released: 2008-09-09
Paperback (400 pages)

The Scientist as Rebel (New York Review Books)
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  • ISBN13: 9781590172940
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From Galileo to today’s amateur astronomers, scientists have been rebels, writes Freeman J. Dyson. Like artists and poets, they are free spirits who resist the restrictions their cultures impose on them. In their pursuit of nature’s truths, they are guided as much by imagination as by reason, and their greatest theories have the uniqueness and beauty of great works of art.Dyson argues that the best way to understand science is by understanding those who practice it. He tells stories of scientists at work, ranging from Isaac Newton’s absorption in physics, alchemy, theology, and politics, to Ernest Rutherford’s discovery of the structure of the atom, to Albert Einstein’s stubborn hostility to the idea of black holes. His descriptions of brilliant physicists like Edward Teller and Richard Feynman are enlivened by his own reminiscences of them. He looks with a skeptical eye at fashionable scientific fads and fantasies, and speculates on the future of climate prediction, genetic engineering, the colonization of space, and the possibility that paranormal phenomena may exist yet not be scientifically verifiable.Dyson also looks beyond particular scientific questions to reflect on broader philosophical issues, such as the limits of reductionism, the morality of strategic bombing and nuclear weapons, the preservation of the environment, and the relationship between science and religion. These essays, by a distinguished physicist who is also a prolific writer, offer informed insights into the history of science and fresh perspectives on contentious current debates about science, ethics, and faith.
A Many-Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe (Page-Barbour Lectures)
By Freeman J. Dyson

University of Virginia Press
Paperback (162 pages)

A Many-Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe (Page-Barbour Lectures)
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"A Many-Colored Glass" does not attempt to bring together all of the celebrated physicist's thoughts on science and technology into a unified theory. The emphasis is, instead, on the myriad ways in which the universe presents itself to us - and how, as observers and participants in its processes, we respond to it. Taken from Freeman Dyson's recent public lectures - delivered to audiences with no specialized knowledge in hard sciences - the book begins with a consideration of the practical and political questions surrounding biotechnology. As he seeks how best to explain the place of life in the universe, Dyson then moves from the ethical to the purely scientific. The book concludes with an attempt to understand the implications of biology for philosophy and religion.
Disturbing The Universe (Sloan Foundation Science Serie)
By Freeman J. Dyson

Basic Books
Released: 2001-05-08
Paperback (304 pages)

Disturbing The Universe (Sloan Foundation Science Serie)
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  • ISBN13: 9780465016778
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The classic intellectual autobiography of a great theoretical physicist Spanning the years from World War II, when he was a civilian statistician in the operations research section of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, through his studies with Hans Bethe at Cornell University, his early friendship with Richard Feynman, and his postgraduate work with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Freeman Dyson has composed an autobiography unlike any other. Dyson evocatively conveys the thrill of a deep engagement with the world-be it as scientist, citizen, student, or parent. Detailing a unique career not limited to his groundbreaking work in physics, Dyson discusses his interest in minimizing loss of life in war, in disarmament, and even in thought experiments on the expansion of our frontiers into the galaxies.
From Eros to Gaia (Penguin science)
By Freeman J. Dyson

Penguin (Non-Classics)
Paperback (384 pages)

From Eros to Gaia (Penguin science)
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This collection of essays and articles range across the author's many interests including theoretical physics, the origins of life, technological development, the bomb and nuclear politics.
Infinite in All Directions: Gifford Lectures Given at Aberdeen, Scotland April--November 1985
By Freeman J. Dyson

Harper Perennial
Released: 2004-08-03
Paperback (352 pages)

Infinite in All Directions: Gifford Lectures Given at Aberdeen, Scotland April--November 1985
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  • ISBN13: 9780060728892
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Infinite in All Directions is an expertly guided tour of our wondrous universe -- and our place within it -- with stops along the way to discoversuperstrings, black holes, "astrochickens," comet showers, and butterflies. A distinguished scientist, lecturer, writer, arms-control expert, and one of the world's most esteemed theoretical physicists, Freeman J. Dyson adroitly guides us through a rich array of topics, from the origins of life and the prospects of immortality to nuclear weapons and the frontiers of space. In this generous rewriting of his esteemed Gifford Lectures, Dyson uses the tools of science and religion as two distinct ways in which we can view the cosmos. He believes that "our universe is the most interesting of all possible universes, and our fate as human beings is to make it so."

Exuberantly stimulating, astute, and often imbued with the poetic and whimsical, Infinite in All Directions is a meditation on the meaning of life, the purpose of the universe, and the nature of God. As a celebration of diversity as the chief source of beauty and value in the natural universe, in the governance of human societies, and in our souls, this is popularized science at its best.

Imagined Worlds (Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures)
By Freeman Dyson

Harvard University Press
Paperback (224 pages)

Imagined Worlds (Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures)
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One hundred years after H.G. Wells visited the future in "The Time Machine", Freeman Dyson marshals his uncommon gifts as a scientist and storyteller to take readers once more to that ever-closer, ever receding time to come. 27 halftones.
Selected Papers of Freeman Dyson with Commentary (Collected Works)
By Freeman Dyson

American Mathematical Society
Hardcover (601 pages)

Selected Papers of Freeman Dyson with Commentary (Collected Works)
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This book offers a unique compilation of papers in mathematics and physics from Freeman Dyson's 50 years of activity and research. These are the papers that Dyson considers most worthy of preserving, and many of them are classics. The papers are accompanied by commentary explaining the context from which they originated and the subsequent history of the problems that either were solved or left unsolved. This collection offers a connected narrative of the developments in mathematics and physics in which the author was involved, beginning with his professional life as a student of G. H. Hardy.
The Sun, The Genome, and The Internet: Tools of Scientific Revolution (Nypl/Oup Lectures)
By Freeman J. Dyson

Oxford University Press, USA
Paperback (144 pages)

The Sun, The Genome, and The Internet: Tools of Scientific Revolution (Nypl/Oup Lectures)
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A forecast of the future in genetics, solar technology, and engineering, asserting that these three technologies will create a more even distribution of the world's wealth. Discusses the ethical uses of science with conviction, a challenge to use new technologies to close the gap between the rich and the poor. Softcover. DLC: Mathematical physics.
Advanced Quantum Mechanics
By Freeman Dyson; David Derbes

World Scientific Publishing Company
Hardcover (236 pages)

Advanced Quantum Mechanics
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Renowned physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson is famous for his work in quantum mechanics, nuclear weapons policy and bold visions for the future of humanity. In the 1940s, he was responsible for demonstrating the equivalence of the two formulations of quantum electrodynamics Richard Feynman's diagrammatic path integral formulation and the variational methods developed by Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonoga showing the mathematical consistency of QED. This invaluable volume comprises the legendary, never-before-published, lectures on quantum electrodynamics first given by Dyson at Cornell University in 1951. The late theorist Edwin Thompson Jaynes once remarked "For a generation of physicists they were the happy medium: clearer and motivated than Feynman, and getting to the point faster than Schwinger . Future generations of physicists are bound to read these lectures with pleasure, benefiting from the lucid style that is so characteristic of Dyson's exposition.

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