When Science Fiction Draws You To Science

If you are like me, perhaps you are more interested in reading and watching science fiction than you are true science. So you might be re-reading Larry Niven's superb Ringworld and hear the name Freeman Dyson; later you might be watching an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation,, and see good ol' Scotty crash-land on a Dyson Sphere named after that same Freeman Dyson. You might think to yourself, self, I need to learn more about this Freeman Dyson.

Here is your chance. Nicholas Davidoff of The New York Times has done the work, all you have to do is read it. It's a wonderful introduction to Freeman Dyson, the octogenarian scientist who was born in England but long ago joined himself to the US, to our great benefit. Unusual for a modern scientist, Dyson has remained open-minded and skeptical, unwilling to sink to the level of lesser intellects who seem to have all the world's answers.

It's a long article, but well worth reading in its entirety.

Here's a pic of this gentle man: