Freeman Dyson as remembered by Tim O'Reilly

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/freeman-dyson-as-remembered-by.html

3 Likes

Dyson was a genius physicist and mathematician, but his views on climate change were disturbing at best.

2 Likes

I’m not going to defend Dyson’s views, but urge those who want to know why this great man thought weird things to go to a source. Unquestionably Dyson was worried about sustainable world questions; e.g. check out his discussion of “ice ponds” here.

I was lucky enough to dine with him for several nights at a “festival della matematica” we both spoke at, and he was absolutely delightful. I am grateful he lived as long as he did, and wrote as much as he did.

6 Likes

I read the headline as “remembered by Bill O’Reilly” and thought ‘Hoo, boy.’

1 Like

It’s worth mentioning Kenneth Brower’s “The Starship and the Canoe”, which is about both Freeman (and Project Orion) and George his son (and his kayak building).

I can’t remember if I’d read of Project Orion before that, but it’s certainly in the book, which I got in paperback in Boston in Feb 1980, forty years ago. Oddly, I’ve only seen a used copy of the book once, just a few years ago.

George even intersects with the early days of Greenpeace, so I assume people I used to know knew him.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.