Freeman Dyson has spent most of his life as a
professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton, taking time off to advise the US government and write
books for the general public. He was born in England and worked as
a civilian scientist for the Royal Air Force during World War II.
He came to Cornell University as a graduate student in 1947 and
worked with Hans Bethe and Richard Feynman, producing a
user-friendly way to calculate the behavior of atoms and radiation.
He also worked on nuclear reactors, solid-state physics,
ferromagnetism, astrophysics, and biology, looking for problems
where elegant mathematics could be usefully applied.
Dyson’s books include Disturbing the
Universe (1979), Weapons and
Hope (1984), Infinite in All
Directions (1988), Origins of Life (1986, second
edition 1999), The Sun, the Genome and the
Internet (1999), The Scientist as Rebel (2006,
published by New York Review Books), and A Many-Colored Glass:
Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe (2010). New
York Review Books will publish Dreams of Earth and Sky, a new
collection of Dyson's essays, in April 2015. He is a fellow of
the American Physical Society, a member of the National Academy of
Sciences, and a fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 2000 he
was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.
"Readers should view The Scientist as Rebel as a science project of their own. Dyson asks his audience not for agreement but only for their active engagement with his original and provocative notions. Their questions need not be his questions, and they may dispute his conclusions. But they will be stimulated, challenged, entertained and enlightened about topics as varied as science, politics and the arms race. They will discover unique perspectives on religion, global warming, and even the paranormal...readers will have no difficulty recognizing rebellion of the most valuable kind in this enlightening collection and will eagerly engage with it." --The Philadelphia Inquirer“Dyson offers a lovely collection of essays from his writing for The New York Review of Books. Part 1 and 3 focus on scientists and rebels, while parts 2 and 4 are a reminder that science could be more rebellious and radical than it is. The 29 individual chapters are organized into four categories: contemporary issues, war and peace, history of science, and personal reflections...Recommended.” –Choice "Physicist and futurist Dyson embodies the ideal of the scientist as iconoclast. In this spirited collection, he muses on the ethics of nanotech and genetic engineering, the crucial role of amateurs in science, and the richness of "nature's imagination." Provocative, touching, and always surprising." —Steve Silberman, Wired Magazine"In an eclectic but deeply satisfying collection, Dyson, a prize-winning physicist and prolific author ... expresses his precise thinking in prose of crystal clarity, and readers will be absolutely enthralled by his breadth, his almost uncanny ability to tie diverse topics together and his many provocative statements ... his writings on Einstein, Teller, Newton, Oppenheimer, Norbert Wiener and Feynman will amuse while presenting deep insights into the nature of science and humanity. Virtually every chapter deserves to be savored." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Dyson is a clear and compelling writer, gifts highlighted in this collection of 33 previously published, and frequently updated essays and reviews. Organized into sections on contemporary issues in science, war and peace, history of science and scientists, and personal and philosophical ruminations, these works demonstrate Dyson’s far-ranging interests and skill in writing for educated and curious generalists, qualities that ensure this volume’s wide appeal. Some readers may feel a thrill reading Dyson’s comments on military strategy; others may prefer Dyson’s thoughts on such physics-related people and issues as Isaac Newton, Edward Teller, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Norbert Wiener, and string theory. But whatever a reader’s passion, Dyson’s emphasis on rebels within science rather than upholders of the status quo makes the book especially satisfying."—Steve Weinberg, BooklistPraise for Dyson: “One of the world’s most original minds.”–London Times
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