Disturbing the Universe

by Dyson, Freeman

• ISBN13: 9780465016778
• ISBN10: 0465016774
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1981-04-15
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

Spanning the years from World War II, when he was a civilian statistician in the operations research section of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, through his studies with Hans Bethe at Cornell University, his early friendship with Richard Feynman, and his postgraduate work with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Freeman Dyson has composed an autobiography unlike any other. Dyson evocatively conveys the thrill of a deep engagement with the world-be it as scientist, citizen, student, or parent. Detailing a unique career not limited to his groundbreaking work in physics, Dyson discusses his interest in minimizing loss of life in war, in disarmament, and even in thought experiments on the expansion of our frontiers into the galaxies.

Author Biography

Freeman Dyson is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is the author of seven books and the recipient of numerous awards including a National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Series	p. ix
Author's Preface	p. xi
The Magic City	p. 3
The Redemption of Faust	p. 11
The Children's Crusade	p. 19
The Blood of a Poet	p. 33
A Scientific Apprenticeship	p. 47
A Ride to Albuquerque	p. 58
The Ascent of F6	p. 69
Prelude in E-Flat Minor	p. 84
Little Red Schoolhouse	p. 94
Saturn by 1970	p. 107
Pilgrims, Saints and Spacemen	p. 118
Peacemaking	p. 127
The Ethics of Defense	p. 142
The Murder of Dover Sharp	p. 155
The Island of Doctor Moreau	p. 167
Areopagitica	p. 179
A Distant Mirror	p. 187
Thought Experiments	p. 194
Extraterrestrials	p. 205
Clades and Clones	p. 218
The Greening of the Galaxy	p. 225
Back to Earth	p. 239
The Argument from Design	p. 245
Dreams of Earth and Sky	p. 254
Bibliographical Notes	p. 263
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