Freeman Dyson, quantum physicist who imagined alien megastructures, has died at 96

Feb 29, 2020 12:02 AM

lagom

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Jan 2009

107262

Dyson imagined a universe in which alien civilizations harness the energy of the stars.

Legendary physicist and big thinker Freeman Dyson died today at age 96 in New Jersey after a fall earlier this week, according to reports from Maine Public Radio and The New York Times.

Dyson, born in England in 1923, moved to the United States in 1947 and spent most of his life as a professor or professor emeritus at the Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study. Dyson first became widely known for important work in the late 1940s on the interactions between light and matter, then went on to have a remarkably wide-ranging career. He published papers on the future of the universe, worked on ideas for a nuclear-explosion-powered spacecraft that was never built, developed new ideas in mathematics and philosophy, and imagined how humans of the far future — as well as alien civilizations — might live and operate in space.

"Dyson generated revolutionary scientific insights, including calculations bridging the quantum and human worlds. His contributions stem from his work in numerous areas, including nuclear engineering, solid state physics, ferromagnetism, astrophysics, biology and applied mathematics," the Institute for Advanced Study wrote in an obituary for Dyson.

https://www.livescience.com/freeman-dyson-dead-at-96.html

RIP humanity thought it seen a dyson sphere just few years ago that turns out to be asteroid debris orbiting a star https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2015/10/maybe-its-a-dyson-sphere/411121/

degFeb 29, 2020 12:10 AM

Feb 29, 2020 12:37 AM

traed

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Mar 2008

53336

Oh yeah the Dyson sphere. Took me a second to get who he was. RIP.

⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣸⠋⠀⠀⠀⡄⠀⠀⡔⠀⢀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⡘⡰⠁⠘⡀⠀⠀⢠⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠁⠀⣀⠀⠀⡇⠀⡜⠈⠁⠀⢸⡈⢇⠀⠀⢣⠑⠢⢄⣇⠀⠀⠸⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⢀⣠⠴⢑⡨⠊⡀⠤⠚⢉⣴⣾⣿⡿⣾⣿⡇⠀⠹⣻⠛⠉⠉⢀⠠⠺⠀⠀⡀⢄⣴⣾⣧⣞⠀⡜⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠐⠒⣉⠠⠄⡂⠅⠊⠁⠀⠀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣻⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⢠⣷⣮⡍⡠⠔⢉⡇⡠⠋⠁⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

Feb 29, 2020 8:07 AM

removed-user

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Jul 2018

561872

sounds like cool material for a sci-fi story

Mar 1, 2020 6:30 AM

Slawadia

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Jul 2015

5421

Korishi said:
sounds like cool material for a sci-fi story

dyson spheres/swarms have already been done to death in sci -fi imo

Mar 1, 2020 6:42 AM

removed-user

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Jul 2018

561872

@Salvatia can you name a popular example? maybe I haven't made the association yet with movies I've seen

Mar 1, 2020 2:56 PM

Slawadia

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Jul 2015

5421

Korishi said:
@Salvatia can you name a popular example? maybe I haven't made the association yet with movies I've seen

mostly in a bunch of novels and games tbh, not film

for shows:
star trek
futurama

for games:
warhammer 40k
star wars: old republic
mass effect
final fantasy 8
sonic the hedgehog
stellaris

also marvel comics and a few anime

Mar 1, 2020 3:17 PM

removed-user

Offline

Jul 2018

561872

@Salvatia oh sweet. I just checked and there's a wikipedia page with Dyson sphere in fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_spheres_in_popular_culture
apparently it's depicted in an anime called Valvrave the Liberator as well as in Avengers: Infinity War. haven't seen either.

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Freeman Dyson, quantum physicist who imagined alien megastructures, has died at 96

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