Description
Book SynopsisFreeman Dyson has designed nuclear reactors and bomb-powered spacecraft; he has studied the origins of life and the possibilities for the long-term future; he showed quantum mechanics to be consistent with electrodynamics and started cosmological eschatology; he has won international recognition for his work in science and for his work in reconciling science to religion; he has advised generals and congressional committees. An STS (Science, Technology, Society) curriculum or discussion group that engages topics such as nuclear policies, genetic technologies, environmental sustainability, the role of religion in a scientific society, and a hard look towards the future, would count itself privileged to include Professor Dyson as a class participant and mentor. In this book, STS topics are not discussed as objectified abstractions, but through personal stories.The reader is invited to observe Dyson's influence on a generation of young people as they wrestle with issues of science, technology, society, life in general and our place in the universe. The book is filled with personal anecdotes, student questions and responses, honest doubts and passions.
Table of ContentsWalking with Grandfather; Living in the Questions; A Hexagonal Mountain; Martha and Mary; Engines With Souls; Steered From Afar; The Swamp Angel; Rapid Rupture; Arsenals of Folly; To Touch the Face of the Stars; Silence; The Chainsaw and the White Oak; "Why Should I Care?"; Playing God; Bonds of Kinship; Two Windows; Doubt and Faith; Dreams of Earth and Sky; Family First;
