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Freeman Dyson

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Scientist

The Resume

    (December 15, 1923-February 28, 2020)
    Born in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
    Theoretical physicist and mathematician
    Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University (1953-94)
    Demonstrated that two seemingly contradictory approaches to quantum electrodynamics -- Richard Feynman’s diagrams and the operator method of Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichiro Tomonaga – were mathematically equivalent
    Proved mathematically that the stability of bulk matter is a result of the Pauli exclusion principle rather than electromagnetic repulsion of electrons
    Namesake for the Dyson series and Dyson’s transform in mathematics
    Conceived of the Dyson sphere, a hypothetical megastructure completely enclosing a star to harvest most of its energy output

Why he might be annoying:

    As a military advisor during the Vietnam War, he studied the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam, and said he had no difficulty in avoiding the ethical implications of their use.
    He was often accused of being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.
    He said of global warming, ‘It's not clear whether it's good or bad. It's not clear whether it will be a catastrophe or not.’
    He wrote, ‘ESP is real... but cannot be tested with the clumsy tools of science.’
    Asked once if he ever wondered why he was so smart, he replied, ‘The question is: Why is everyone else so stupid?’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, when he was fifteen.
    He considered it a ‘badge of honor’ to have not earned a doctorate, saying that too many PhD students ended up overspecialized.
    He was married to Imme Jung for 61 years.
    He led the team that designed TRIGA, a small, low-power nuclear reactor used in research hospitals to produce medical isotopes to treat various forms of cancer.
    An ‘Atlantic’ magazine profile called him ‘one of those force-of-nature intellects whose brilliance can be fully grasped by only a tiny subset of humanity, that handful of thinkers capable of following his equations.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 20 Votes: 40.0% Annoying