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Topic: Freeman Dyson, scientist, writer (1923-2020)
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 43349 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-29-2020 09:11 AM
Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and writer, who envisioned the future of space exploration, died on Feb. 28, 2020 in Princeton, New Jersey at the age of 96.From The New York Times: As a young graduate student at Cornell University in 1949, Dr. Dyson wrote a landmark paper — worthy, some colleagues thought, of a Nobel Prize — that deepened the understanding of how light interacts with matter to produce the palpable world. The theory the paper advanced, called quantum electrodynamics, or QED, ranks among the great achievements of modern science.But it was as a writer and technological visionary that he gained public renown. He imagined exploring the solar system with spaceships propelled by nuclear explosions and establishing distant colonies nourished by genetically engineered plants. ... Any advanced civilization, he observed in a paper published in 1960, would ultimately expand to the point where it needed all the energy its solar system could provide. The ultimate solution would be to build a shell around the sun — a Dyson sphere — to capture its output. Earthlings, he speculated in a thought experiment, might conceivably do this by dismantling Jupiter and reassembling the pieces. From the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, his academic home for more than 60 years: In 1958, he took a leave of absence from the Institute and moved to La Jolla, California to join General Atomic's "Project Orion," working with forty scientists to design an atomic spaceship capable of riding a wave of controlled nuclear pulses into deep space. Dyson recalled the fifteen months spent on the short-lived project as "the most exciting and in many ways the happiest of my scientific life." The ambitious project had once set its sights on "Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970." |
Panther494 Member Posts: 416 From: London UK Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 02-29-2020 09:21 AM
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David Carey Member Posts: 797 From: Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 02-29-2020 10:11 AM
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Kevin T. Randall Member Posts: 1119 From: Chesham, Bucks UK Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 02-29-2020 11:10 AM
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GACspaceguy Member Posts: 2501 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 02-29-2020 11:33 AM
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rjb1elec Member Posts: 216 From: Merseyside, England Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 02-29-2020 01:27 PM
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ManInSpace Member Posts: 124 From: Brooklin, Ontario Canada Registered: Feb 2018
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posted 02-29-2020 01:57 PM
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Cozmosis22 Member Posts: 978 From: Texas * Earth Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 02-29-2020 02:17 PM
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randy Member Posts: 2203 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-29-2020 02:46 PM
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SpaceCadet1983 Member Posts: 237 From: United States Registered: May 2012
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posted 02-29-2020 05:01 PM
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star51L Member Posts: 348 From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-29-2020 07:32 PM
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mode1charlie Member Posts: 1176 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 02-29-2020 10:39 PM
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Kite Member Posts: 845 From: Northampton UK Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 03-01-2020 04:20 AM
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fredtrav Member Posts: 1675 From: Birmingham AL Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 03-01-2020 08:28 AM
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DG27 Member Posts: 177 From: USA Registered: Nov 2010
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posted 03-01-2020 08:55 PM
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David C Member Posts: 1028 From: Lausanne Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 03-02-2020 05:04 AM
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dom Member Posts: 859 From: Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 03-02-2020 10:32 AM
A farsighted genius whose ideas will take centuries to fully realise. Ad Astra! |
minipci Member Posts: 370 From: London, UK Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 03-02-2020 11:54 AM
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LM1 Member Posts: 675 From: New York, NY Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-02-2020 06:31 PM
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Glint Member Posts: 1043 From: New Windsor, Maryland USA Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 03-02-2020 09:58 PM
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Gilbert Member Posts: 1334 From: Carrollton, GA USA Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 03-03-2020 09:38 AM
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Spoon Member Posts: 146 From: Cumbria, UK Registered: May 2006
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posted 03-04-2020 12:30 AM
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spaceman Member Posts: 1115 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 03-04-2020 01:31 PM
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spaceman Member Posts: 1115 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 03-04-2020 01:31 PM
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dss65 Member Posts: 1165 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 03-05-2020 09:07 PM
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