Fantastic to hear these great physicists talk about the events and people who shaped the modern world both in and outside science. A real treasure. Thank you
These Dyson interviews are incredible treasures that afford us a unique insight into the history and some of the conceptual developments of physics. I was privileged enough to take a couple of advanced courses with Schwinger, and Dyson really hit the nail on the head: Schwinger was an immensely generous human being on a one-on-one basis, but he made almost no attempt to make his lectures more comprehensible for the students. Nor did he take fools or mediocrity gladly.
You see if Gell-Man had said exactly the same thing as Dyson is saying here he’d be accused again of colleague-bashing. But Dyson does it with such charm & elegance that everyone walks away feeling happily affirmed.
I think it's quite telling, telling about Freeman Dyson, that he got on so well with Schwinger. Because (shall we say) not everyone managed to do this! But Dyson clearly had a high quality, deep, and positive relationship with him. And, Schwinger seems to have felt this and reciprocated with Dyson, basically because of what a wonderful human being Dyson was.
Well to be fair he quoted Oppenheimer for the crucial/essential part “…most people when they explain something, they’re telling you how to do it, but when Schwinger explains something, he’s telling you that only he can do it,” lol and then he pointed out his baroque style of teaching that makes everything as complicated as possible where the answer magically arrives at the end, and then once he finally grasped it he realized it was basically just quantum field theory in different clothes which of course given Dyson’s speciality in field theory ended up being useful to understand and I suppose reconcile with Feynman’s work on quantum chromodynamics/electrodynamics to reach something approximating modern quantum theory.
These two gentlemen were geniuses in their own right. I remember a book I once read, wherein it mentioned that Dyson wanted to learn differential equations over Christmas break, and the one he wanted was in Russian....so he learned Russian ( in a matter of DAYS). It also mentioned that Schwinger routinely solved complicated equations, with both hands on a chalkboard SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!
Well, no, I am sure Dyson (despite his acknowledged brilliance) did not learn to speak conversational Russian in a few days. From what I know (speaking as a mathematician), scientific Russian has an unusually large number of loanwords which one may deduce from knowledge of Cyrillic characters, and the more formalized mode expression would allow Dyson to extract what he needed, reading between the lines as it were.
John M Definitely a genius...but he didn't learn Russian in a few days...you probably can't even glance and 3000 definitions in a few days and you'd need to inculcate at least 5000 to begin to be competent in a language. What would be easier: learn the basic grammar in a few days and use the dictionary to translate and get the drift...then just ride the rest out on the equations That's my guess! Sorry for plucking numbers out of thin air but you get my drift!
@Dirk du Toit Thanks for the information! Of course this doesn't prove that Dyson was speaking conversational Russian after just a few days of study -- and I'd still consider that an unlikely possibility -- although the existence of savants like Daniel Tammet shows the possibility is there.
His mother studied russian in WW1 and in an interview with "wired" he said that he loved the russian dictionary as a child and languages in general. After WW2 he wanted to move to Russia (was fascinated by the country and it's scientists) but due to their strict immigration policy he ended up in the USA. So he propably spoke russian at the age of 20. He also is a member of the russian academy of sciences. Since he pronounces german words perfectly and his first wife was from Switzerland, I'm sure he also speaks German.
People with brilliant minds have brilliant memories. I have only ever knowingly met one genius who, with minimum effort, gained a double 1st in Electronics and then went back to his day job with BAe. He had no interest in being brilliant - he just was.
Feynman and Schwinger already knew they were doing the same thing, and neither cared much about Dyson's proof of that to the rest of physicists. Schwinger was imperturbable, but he had a droll sense of humor. Years later he wrote: "There were visions at large, being proclaimed in a manner somewhat akin to that of the Apostles, who used Greek logic to bring the Hebrew God to the Gentiles." He was having fun with the fact that he and Feynman were Jewish, and Dyson wasn't.
I thought Dirac had it sewed up. His version of the magnetic moment of the Negative Beta particle I believe lead him to the positive Beta particle. All negative states were occupied.
The sheer brain power of men like Dyson. I wonder if they ever had trouble sleeping at night, because I'm thinking their minds were revved up 100% and always thinking about equations and how to solve the latest great physics problem.
Wikipedia says he was an English-born American, but he seems to me to have a slight German (or similar) accent. Am I the only one who hears that? What accounts for it?
I am currently browsing Schweber's book "QED and the Men Who Made It" and in the chapter on Dyson, it says he spent three weeks in Germany after WWII, and that the "stay allowed Dyson to perfect his German and to familiarize himself further with German literature and culture."
It's got nothing to do with spending three weeks in Germany or learning German.. It's just the old 1930's clipped RP accent once prevalent in the UK, that's been Atlanticised by many decades living and working in the USA.
No, he regarded Schwinger as an equal. Feynman didn't play pranks on his equals. Plus, Schwinger kept his distance. Only Schwinger's wife was close to Schwinger, nobody else could get close. Late in life, Feynman said that many times he wanted to interact with Schwinger, but never could.
I have developed an alternate approach relativistic quantum electrodynamics, out of which gravitational phenomenna fall as an isolated essential singularities - thank God for Green´s functions! (Dyson is always such a gentleman.)
I have to say, some of this makes me wonder who is more obscure, was it really schwinger or is it the way physicists choose to express the most basic linear operators, with bra and ket notation etc.
Where?!? Throughout these interviews he's pretty modest. In a later segment he acknowledges Fermi's genius and says that Fermi made him realise he "wasn't really a physicist"
Freeman Dyson is such a brilliant guy. To even understand what Schwinger and Feynman were doing at the time one needed to be on another level.
Fantastic to hear these great physicists talk about the events and people who shaped the modern world both in and outside science. A real treasure. Thank you
These Dyson interviews are incredible treasures that afford us a unique insight into the history and some of the conceptual developments of physics. I was privileged enough to take a couple of advanced courses with Schwinger, and Dyson really hit the nail on the head: Schwinger was an immensely generous human being on a one-on-one basis, but he made almost no attempt to make his lectures more comprehensible for the students. Nor did he take fools or mediocrity gladly.
You see if Gell-Man had said exactly the same thing as Dyson is saying here he’d be accused again of colleague-bashing. But Dyson does it with such charm & elegance that everyone walks away feeling happily affirmed.
A total gentleman, Mr Dyson.
I think it's quite telling, telling about Freeman Dyson, that he got on so well with Schwinger. Because (shall we say) not everyone managed to do this! But Dyson clearly had a high quality, deep, and positive relationship with him. And, Schwinger seems to have felt this and reciprocated with Dyson, basically because of what a wonderful human being Dyson was.
These snippets are really helpful, thanks.
I love these videos. thanks
He nailed Schwinger’s style perfectly.
A genius but probably not what you want in teaching.
Well to be fair he quoted Oppenheimer for the crucial/essential part “…most people when they explain something, they’re telling you how to do it, but when Schwinger explains something, he’s telling you that only he can do it,” lol and then he pointed out his baroque style of teaching that makes everything as complicated as possible where the answer magically arrives at the end, and then once he finally grasped it he realized it was basically just quantum field theory in different clothes which of course given Dyson’s speciality in field theory ended up being useful to understand and I suppose reconcile with Feynman’s work on quantum chromodynamics/electrodynamics to reach something approximating modern quantum theory.
These two gentlemen were geniuses in their own right. I remember a book I once read, wherein it mentioned that Dyson wanted to learn differential equations over Christmas break, and the one he wanted was in Russian....so he learned Russian ( in a matter of DAYS). It also mentioned that Schwinger routinely solved complicated equations, with both hands on a chalkboard SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!
Well, no, I am sure Dyson (despite his acknowledged brilliance) did not learn to speak conversational Russian in a few days. From what I know (speaking as a mathematician), scientific Russian has an unusually large number of loanwords which one may deduce from knowledge of Cyrillic characters, and the more formalized mode expression would allow Dyson to extract what he needed, reading between the lines as it were.
John M
Definitely a genius...but he didn't learn Russian in a few days...you probably can't even glance and 3000 definitions in a few days and you'd need to inculcate at least 5000 to begin to be competent in a language.
What would be easier: learn the basic grammar in a few days and use the dictionary to translate and get the drift...then just ride the rest out on the equations
That's my guess! Sorry for plucking numbers out of thin air but you get my drift!
@kirwi kirwinson It could've been his freshman year
@Dirk du Toit Thanks for the information! Of course this doesn't prove that Dyson was speaking conversational Russian after just a few days of study -- and I'd still consider that an unlikely possibility -- although the existence of savants like Daniel Tammet shows the possibility is there.
His mother studied russian in WW1 and in an interview with "wired" he said that he loved the russian dictionary as a child and languages in general. After WW2 he wanted to move to Russia (was fascinated by the country and it's scientists) but due to their strict immigration policy he ended up in the USA. So he propably spoke russian at the age of 20. He also is a member of the russian academy of sciences.
Since he pronounces german words perfectly and his first wife was from Switzerland, I'm sure he also speaks German.
My wife: Who's he talking about?
Me: Julian Schwinger
My wife: Julian Schwinger?
Me: The one that looks like Vincent Price.
My wife: Oh him!
People with brilliant minds have brilliant memories. I have only ever knowingly met one genius who, with minimum effort, gained a double 1st in Electronics and then went back to his day job with BAe. He had no interest in being brilliant - he just was.
Feynman and Schwinger already knew they were doing the same thing, and neither cared much about Dyson's proof of that to the rest of physicists.
Schwinger was imperturbable, but he had a droll sense of humor. Years later he wrote: "There were visions at large, being proclaimed in a manner somewhat akin to that of the Apostles, who used Greek logic to bring the Hebrew God to the Gentiles." He was having fun with the fact that he and Feynman were Jewish, and Dyson wasn't.
"neither cared much" - is that so?
Poor Freeman Dyson. The interviewer is about to collapse his wave function.
3:15
I thought Dirac had it sewed up. His version of the magnetic moment of the Negative Beta particle I believe lead him to the positive Beta particle. All negative states were occupied.
The sheer brain power of men like Dyson. I wonder if they ever had trouble sleeping at night, because I'm thinking their minds were revved up 100% and always thinking about equations and how to solve the latest great physics problem.
Well Greens Functions are all well and good but I'm here to fix my hoover
hahahaha! brilliant
Wikipedia says he was an English-born American, but he seems to me to have a slight German (or similar) accent. Am I the only one who hears that? What accounts for it?
I am currently browsing Schweber's book "QED and the Men Who Made It" and in the chapter on Dyson, it says he spent three weeks in Germany after WWII, and that the "stay allowed Dyson to perfect his German and to familiarize himself further with German literature and culture."
His first wife was Swiss. Also, up to the 1970s, it was a common belief in the UK that a serious physical scientist needed to understand German.
It's got nothing to do with spending three weeks in Germany or learning German.. It's just the old 1930's clipped RP accent once prevalent in the UK, that's been Atlanticised by many decades living and working in the USA.
It's a Berkshire countryside accent. Freeman Dyson was a native of the English county of Berkshire.
I too thought it sounded German. Wasn’t aware of any of the Berkshire/transatlantic hybrid explanation which makes sense
I wonder did Feynman play any pranks on Schwinger?
No, he regarded Schwinger as an equal. Feynman didn't play pranks on his equals.
Plus, Schwinger kept his distance. Only Schwinger's wife was close to Schwinger, nobody else could get close. Late in life, Feynman said that many times he wanted to interact with Schwinger, but never could.
@@joeaverage2575 he played a prank on Edward Teller at Los Alamos
Very interesting and worthwhile video.
I have developed an alternate approach relativistic quantum electrodynamics, out of which gravitational phenomenna fall as an isolated essential singularities - thank God for Green´s functions! (Dyson is always such a gentleman.)
Does it work?
@@38vocan No, all my breakthroughs fall flat. I´m just not in the class of these men.
@@charlesbromberick4247 Well, at least, I am sure you learned a lot about physics
When he laughs.... He looks like the evil old guy from 'monster house '😊......by the way great video
Savor every word!
Yes!
Do u already read it
I have to say, some of this makes me wonder who is more obscure, was it really schwinger or is it the way physicists choose to express the most basic linear operators, with bra and ket notation etc.
Why does this guy have two surnames?
nah dude, freeman is his first name
Named after his uncle who was killed in WW1
@@GoodSteveningeverybody Then it would be Deadman
@@GoodSteveningeverybody No, he was named after the actor.
I´m theoretical physicist. I suffer studying Dyson theorems
Is he as good as they say?
nnn arbor
Schwing!
He always seems jealous of the great physicists.
Where?!? Throughout these interviews he's pretty modest. In a later segment he acknowledges Fermi's genius and says that Fermi made him realise he "wasn't really a physicist"
Dyson still doesn't have deep understanding of Path Integral approach to Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory.
huh?
You have no understanding of how to keep your mouth shut.