Scientist As RebelWords

Freeman Dyson may be short in stature--or so he seemed when I met him last year--but his accomplishments are undeniably tall. A former member of England's Royal Air Force, a longtime physics professor at Princeton, and a distinguished scientist with a bent for elegant mathematics, this Brit also has a way with words; he is lovely writer.

In Dyson's newest book, The Scientist as Rebel, the seasoned physicist speaks to the nature of scientists throughout the ages. "From Galileo to today's amateur astronomers, scientists have been rebels," he writes. They are free spirits, like artists and poets, casting off the restrictions their cultures impose. In their hunt for Nature's truths, they are guided as much by imagination as by reason, and their brightest theories have the uniqueness and beauty of great works of art.

Dyson affirms that the best way to understand science is by understanding those who practice it. He tells stories of scientists at work, and looks with a skeptical eye at fashionable scientific trends.

Dyson also reflects on broader philosophical issues--the limits of reductionism, the morality of nuclear bombing, the preservation of the environment...

This charming scientist offers a fresh and eloquent perspective on today's topics of scientific debate, as well as a narrative that highlights the finer linings of some of the greatest minds of all time.

.MGW.