Thread by @Ben_Reinhardt

Freeman Dyson died today.

A thread because

1. Many people who haven't heard of him who should!

2. He's a gestalt person, so many people only know a few of the pieces - physicist, theoretician, builder, science fiction inspiration, literary critic, institution defier ...

Let's start with the Dyson Sphere. The idea is that an advanced civilization could build a structure that captures every photon of sunlight from a star.

Consider that a solar array the size of Texas could supply all out power today ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sph…

Dyson had an amazing knack for suggesting sci-fi ideas that are both evocative and whimsical. The ideas were amplified by his writing ability, that reminds me of @paulg in its power, directness, and simplicity.

Consider the astrochicken: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrochic…

@paulg His style of talking about future possibilities is playful and suggestive.

Inn contrast to science fiction that reads mostly like fantasy with space lasers or predictions that spell out inevitable trajectories (that rarely happen.)

We need more of this optimistic "what if?"

@paulg I suspect the optimistic what-if style came from the fact that he isn't primarily a science fiction author, he's a mathematician/physicist.

Heinlein (originally an engineer) had a similar style (two points makes a line right?)

@paulg And what a mathematician/physicist!

He mad important contributions to quantum electrodynamics, number theory, game theory, condensed matter physics.

People who are able to push the frontier in multiple disciplines always make me go 🤩

@paulg But he didn't just write papers and books - he also worked on building things.

My personal favorite is Project Orion - an attempt to make spacecraft that propelled themselves by literally pooping atomic bombs behind themselves and detonating them.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_O…

@paulg Propelling a spacecraft with a series of explosions wasn't just theory - they actually created a small (non-nuclear) prototype:

Project Orion was killed because taking off would involve detonating dozens of nukes in the atmosphere. But for space only...🤔

@paulg Oh, and he did all of this (writing seminal papers, advanced R&D projects, Princeton Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies) without a PhD. Because he was that good.

I suspect that today he would have been able to do half of his accomplishments because "he's not qualified."

@paulg *Context Switch!* He was also a prolific book reviewer for the New York Review of books.

nybooks.com/contributors/f…

(One of my inspirations for writing book reviews and threads like this.)

@paulg From everything I can tell as well as my personal experience, he was kind.

I sent him an email once and this was his response.

"If you are smart, you will be David and not Goliath"

@paulg In his speculative work he combined physics and biology in a beautiful way. I have not seen that combination in many places - usually you have a pure biology-based or pure machine-based "tech tree."

Speaking of trees: Dyson trees! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_D…

@paulg If this piques your interest, I recommend reading

A Many-Colored Glass amazon.com/Many-Colored-G… (my review here: benjaminreinhardt.com/some-quotes/)

Infinite in All Directions
amazon.com/Infinite-All-D…

/end