Table of Contents

Introduction 1
David Kaiser

1 The Secret Club of Heretics and Rebels 21
Amanda Gefter

2 Calculation and Reckoning: Navigating Science, War, and Guilt 47
William Thomas

3 The First Apprentice 71
David Kaiser

4 A Frog among Birds: Dyson as a Mathematical Physicist 105
Robbert Dijkgraaf

5 Single Stage to Saturn: Project Orion, 1957-1965 143
George Dyson

6 Dyson, Warfare, and the Jasons 177
Ann Finkbeiner

7 A Warm Little Pond: Dyson and the Origins of Life 203
Ashutosh Jogalekar

8 The Cosmic Seer 233
Caleb Scharf

9 A Bouquet of Dyson 257
Jeremy Bernstein

Coda: Not the End 271
Esther Dyson

Acknowledgments 279
About the Authors 281
Index 285

About the Author

David Kaiser is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics at MIT. He is the author of several award-winning books on the history of science, including Quantum Legacies- Dispatches from an Uncertain World, and the editor of Becoming MIT- Moments of Decision (MIT Press). His work has been featured in Science, Nature, the New York Times, and the New Yorker.

Reviews

"The book forms a colorful collage to give insight into the life of one of the giants of twentieth-century science."
—Nature Physics

"An appealing collection of tributes."
—Nature

"A thoroughly entertaining and fascinating collection of essays...a genuine read for those interested in the history of science and influential scientists, as Dyson worked with some of the best – and each contributing author paints a vivid picture of an aspect of Dyson’s life."
—Physics World