Dyson, Freeman J
Entry updated 10 June 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1923-2020) UK-born theoretical physicist and FRS; professor since 1953 and later professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey, and latterly a US citizen. His main work was in quantum field theory, but he is well known in sf for the concept of theDyson Sphere, which he introduced in a short paper forScience in 1960 (vol 131 p1667). In this paper, which was concerned with locating and communicating withExtraterrestrial civilizations (seeSETI), Dyson argued that any such civilization would probably be millions of years old and that Malthusian pressure would have led to its energy requirements being equal to the total output of radiation from itsStar. It would therefore reconstruct its solar system so as to form an artificial system of energy collectors completely enclosing its sun – aDyson Sphere (which see) – though Dyson himself gave credit for his inspiration to an aside in OlafStapledon'sStar Maker (1937) and proposed "Stapledon sphere" as a more appropriate term.
Dyson's theorizing many times went beyond his own speciality to cover topics as diverse as the Greenhouse Effect (seeClimate Change);Genetic Engineering; the use of theSolar Wind for space-sailing; the argument that the "promise of our destiny" required emigration to other planets to preserve the race after the Bomb fell; galacticColonization; and the possibility of subjectiveImmortality ("eternalIntelligence"). His set of autobiographical sketches,Disturbing the Universe (coll1979), tells entertaining tales of cognitive adventure; its intellectual audacity made it an acknowledged influence on BruceSterling'sSchismatrix (1985). His many essays are a treasure trove for sf writers, some of the most interesting being collected inInfinite in All Directions (coll1988).Imagined Worlds (coll1996), based on a series of lectures, opens with a long section on fiction including sf.
It was a student of Dyson's who made headlines in 1976 by designing a workable nuclearWeapon using only published sources. [TSu/DRL]
see also:Entropy;Xenobiology.
Freeman John Dyson
born Crowthorne, Berkshire: 15 December 1923
died Princeton, New Jersey: 28 February 2020
works
- Disturbing the Universe (New York: Harper and Row,1979) [nonfiction: coll: hb/One + One Studio]
- Infinite in All Directions (New York: Harper and Row,1988) [nonfiction: coll: hb/]
- Imagined Worlds (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,1996) [nonfiction: coll: hb/Oliver Wasow]
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