EFTA00636646.pdf

From: Web of Stories <1 To: [email protected]> Subject: Freeman Dyson celebrates his 90th birthday Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:53:29 +0000 View this email in your browser Web of Stories Ltd Science Navigation Group Middlesex House 34-42 Cleveland Street London WIT 4LB United Kingdom EFTA00636646  Freeman Dyson celebrates his 90th birthday this month and what better way to honour his landmark achievements in the fields of science and mathematics than to listen to him tell his life story with Web of Stories. Born in England on 15 December 1923, Freeman He also recounts his decision to turn his back on pure Dyson graduated from Cambridge University in mathematics, embracing physics as an alternative, after he 1945 with a BA in mathematics. In 1947, he failed to solve the Siegel conjecture: "I couldn't solve a problem moved to the USA where he went to work at which would have been really an important contribution to Cornell University and, later, at the Institute for mathematics... So I decided, well, I might as well do physics Advanced Study in Princeton. New Jersey. and which is at least as interesting and more important." Dyson is recognised for demonstrating the He talks about his good fortune in getting to know Richard equivalence of two formulations of quantum Feynman and his ground-breaking work: / became a sort of an electrodynamics: Richard Feynman's diagrams. interested spectator. watching him work out his version of and the operator method developed by Julian quantum electrodynamics... He had these amazing ways of Schwinger and Sin-16r° Tomonaga. He wrote that calculating with diagrams. where you didn't have to have Feynman's diagrams were not just a equations but you simply wrote down the answers, and instead computational tool but a physical theory, and he of solving equations the way other people did, he just wrote developed rules for the diagrams that solved the down the answers by looking at the pictures." problem of renormalization. Dyson presented Feynman's theories in a form that other physicists He also talks about Project Orion. Summing it up as 'You take a could understand enabling them to finally accept huge space ship, large enough to carry a few hundred nuclear Feynman's work. Robert Oppenheimer. who bombs. and you'd throw the bombs out of the back one at a recognised the critical role Dyson had played, time. Each of the bombs would blow up and the debris would hit awarded him a lifetime appointment at the the bottom of the ship and you'd go boom, boom, boom, up into Institute for Advanced Study. the sky." Dyson also worked on the Orion Project, which These, and countless other intriguing recordings from Dyson proposed the possibility of space-flight using and other contributors, can be watched as short films with fully nuclear pulse propulsion. However, the project searchable transcripts. All Web of Stories videos are easy to was abandoned in 1963. He has authored many share with friends and colleagues, and may be embedded into books and has been awarded a number of prizes. personal blogs and websites. including the Templeton Prize for progress in Religion. Find out more: http://www.webofstories.com/play/freeman.dyson/1. In these fascinating recordings, you can watch Dyson tell his life story in his own words. He remembers how, during World War II, he worked in Bomber Command and would work on his mathematics as a welcome distraction to occupy EFTA00636647 his mind. "The theorem I proved was the extension of Mann's theorem to more than two sequences... That was one of the most satisfying things l ever did. It's a really beautiful piece of work.' g alFac g alTwi g al We g; Em ebook tter bsite ail Tube Facebook Twiner Website Email YouTube Copyright © 2013 Web of Stories. All rights reserved. You have received this message because you asked to receive updates from Web of Stories. For further information or enquiries please contact [email protected]. If you do not wish to receive any further messages. please email [email protected] with 'Unsubscribe' in the subject line. To ensure you receive news and updates from Web of Stories, please add [email protected] to your safetist. Web of Stories Ltd I Science Navigation Group I Registered in England and Wales with Company Number 4689627. Middlesex House, 3442 Cleveland Street I London, WIT 4LB I United Kingdom Our mailing address Is: Web of Stories Middlesex House 34.42 Cleveland Street London, Greater London WIT 4LB United Kingdom Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Email Marketing "aPowered by MailChimp EFTA00636648