Freeman Dyson - Fermi's rejection of our work (94/157)
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2016
- To listen to more of Freeman Dyson’s stories, go to the playlist: • Freeman Dyson (Scientist)
Freeman Dyson (1923-2020), who was born in England, moved to Cornell University after graduating from Cambridge University with a BA in Mathematics. He subsequently became a professor and worked on nuclear reactors, solid state physics, ferromagnetism, astrophysics and biology. He published several books and, among other honours, was awarded the Heineman Prize and the Royal Society's Hughes Medal. [Listener: Sam Schweber; date recorded: 1998]
TRANSCRIPT: So I was in a high state of enthusiasm and I decided I would go to Chicago and show these results to Fermi and tell him how well we were doing. We wanted to have Fermi's blessing on our efforts as he was really the prime mover in this whole subject, and it was a good opportunity for me to get to know Fermi. Anyway, I arranged through Hans Bethe to go to Chicago and tell him about what we were doing. So I arrived at Chicago and knocked on Fermi's door, and he was very polite. I came in, and he said, 'Yes?' and I showed him the graphs on which our experiment, our theoretical numbers were plotted and Fermi's experimental numbers were plotted, and the agreement was on the whole pretty good. And Fermi hardly looked at these graphs, he just put them on the desk, just glanced at them very briefly and he said, 'I am not very impressed with what you've been doing.' And he said, 'When one does a theoretical calculation, you know, there are two ways of doing it. Either you should have a clear physical model in mind, or you should have a rigorous mathematical basis. You have neither.' So that was it - in about two sentences he disposed of the whole subject. Well then I asked him, well what does he think about the numerical agreement, and he said, 'How many parameters did you use for the fitting? How many free parameters are there in your method?' So I counted up. It turned out there were four. And he said, 'You know, Johnny von Neumann always used to say, "With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk." So I don't find the numerical agreement very impressive either.' So I said, 'Thank you very much for you help,' and I said goodbye. There was nothing more to be said. The whole discussion took maybe 10 or 15 minutes. And I came back to Cornell to tell the team the bad news. So that was another watershed in my life, and I think it was profoundly useful what Fermi did. He had this amazing intuition. He could spot what was good and what was bad right away. I mean, we might have worked on these calculations for five years if Fermi hadn't given us the red light and, as it was, Fermi was absolutely right because in the end of course it turned out that the theory on which we based the whole calculation was an illusion. There is really no such thing as a pseudo-scalar theory of pions. In reality 10 years later, or whenever it was, quarks were invented and the whole theory of the strong interactions was totally transformed into a theory of quarks, and it's only when you represent the pion as a compound system of two quarks that you can begin to have a real physical theory. So our whole physical basis was wrong, and so it was perfectly true that any experimental agreement we found was illusory, but it took Fermi to see that and he could see it without knowing about quarks - of course nobody had dreamed of quarks at that time - but he felt in his bones that this theory was no good. And he was right. So he saved us maybe five years of blind work and so I'm extremely grateful to him for that. But it was a tough situation for us, especially because we had some graduate students involved in this project. They depended on it for their PhD thesis, so it was difficult. I mean I simply had to tell the team, 'Look, I'm sorry, but this is not going anywhere, so all we can do is write up what we've done and publish it but it's not going to go any further, and you'd better find some other line of work.' So it was not a very pleasant experience for the graduate students or for me. But in the end, of course, it was for the good of us all. But that's the kind of genius that Fermi had, and I think that showed me very clearly that I wasn't a particle physicist, that I didn't have that kind of instinct. I mean, that my gifts are in mathematics and not basically in physics. So when there's a theory that is well based on physics, as it was in the case of quantum electrodynamics, then I can do marvellously well with using it, but I'm not able to invent a new theory, and what was required for the strong interactions was an invention, and that clearly wasn't my cup of tea. And so from that time on I didn't seriously try to solve the problem of strong interactions...
Read the full transcript at www.webofstories.com/play/free... 
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This, folks, is what's called intellectual integrity.
sealite so true, acceptance of the feedback without taking it personal and learn from it.
Not really. His intelectual integrity makes him short.
I mean... his excuse was, by launching Orion, mathematicly, there will be a chance, of 10 kiĺled in next 20 years.
Ough...maybe it was his higher logic. Trying to say we all have to go extinct.
Someone is talking to himself, I guess. Personal attacks vs criticism. Perhaps what is bothering you, about you, is written in your comment.
@@janezjonsa3165 Can you explain what you mean by launching Orion, a telescope or what? 10 killed in 20 years?
Very well said. And true of both Fermi, originally, and Dyson as he saw the truth in what Fermi had said.
"In 1993, Dyson was given the Enrico Fermi Award". Now that was a plot twist
Not really. Was he given the award for the same idea? Fermi just "rejected" the idea, not Dyson.
What an unflinchingly honest self-assessment. Earlier in the series he tells us of the very high goals he set for himself as a young mathematician, and where he admits his failure to solve an extraordinarily difficult problem in Diophantine approximation (solved only years later by Klaus Roth, who won a Fields Medal for his efforts). It was then that he decided to start his career in physics. And now he tells us that he wasn't cut out to be particle physicist, that he was really more of a mathematician after all. He was a towering figure in both of course, and his modesty is very moving. In fact this is one of the most moving scientific testimonials I've ever seen.
"With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk.“
Attributed to Von Neumann by Enrico Fermi In meeting with Freeman Dyson.
Attributed to Johnny von Neumann !!!
Freeman Dyson is one of the most humble men I have ever seen. What a brilliant man, understanding his strengths and weaknesses.
I agree 100000%!!!
Well, one can assume that being beaten about the head and shoulders by the likes of Enrico Fermi leads to such personal awareness. :-)
@KC So, you're convinced because you're an expert?
@KC - Well, your comment led me to do a bit of reading and yeah, he has been at odds with a lot of scientists concerning climate change. He is, however, not one of the kooks that denies what is going on, in fact he very much agrees with most's view of what is happening with the climate and its causes. He just doesn't agree with the political side of things as he believes we have much bigger problems that we should be investing our resources on. After reading some of his thoughts I cannot say that he is nuts or anything like that as there is some very good thinking behind his words. I urge everyone to do a bit of reading before using KC's comment to judge the man.
Also, one note on his lack of expertise in the field. Dyson directly answered that challenge with ""my objections to the global warming propaganda are not so much over the technical facts, about which I do not know much, but it's rather against the way those people behave and the kind of intolerance to criticism that a lot of them have.". Unlike the way in which you tried to present this part of his life when, you look at his work there are few that have stretched their minds in so many ways as to man's future and our species continued evolution alongside technology. You have to a bit careful when you say that something is outside of the purview of the fields of theoretical physics and mathematics as, well, is there anything that those two areas of thinking do not include? Everything is physics and it is all explained by maths so I have no problem in listening to, and respecting, this man's opinions concerning most anything, no matter if I agree with him or not.
@KC
There is very little "Climate Science" in the Global Warming theories. Instead, it is based on computer models (mathematics) which Dyson was certainly an expert.
I'd trust him more than any of these so called "experts."
When I was a postdoc in physics, several years ago, I became aware of just how great a physicist was Freeman Dyson. I started to seek his writings and found out that the range of his interests were staggering. Since then I have come to realise that, like the late Fred Hoyle, Dyson was one of the best physicists never to have won a Nobel Prize. A truly great scientist.
Another great Scientist/ Physicist never to have won a Nobel: Ettore Majorana
Nobel prize is overrated
@@1eV Originally, the Nobel Prize was only given for discoveries in Chemistry,Physics and Biology. It was later that all the other categories were added and that is how it was debased and ruined.
One night, while I was part of a retreat of the high-level administrators of a college, a retreat that was held at The Seven Pine Resort, I realized that this was THE Seven Pines, home of many retreats of the world's great minds in physics and mathematics (and a few philosophers), I went through this very nice but humble, unpresuming facility because I had a background in physics and astronomy. I knew about the Seven Pines Retreats, the long list of many of the world's great minds in physics to discuss the unsolved, intriguing problems in the field. In an old room, with glassed-in cabinets for books, many books, the library, I began looking through the titles, and pulls out one intriguing one that I didn't know, to see what was in it. The opening blank page had a note, nicely hand-written to the wealthy person who owned the Seven Pines Resort, whose interest in physical sciences inspired him to use his wealth to gather groups of the world's great physicists together once a year on some particular topic. The note thanked the owner of The Seven Pines for his wonderful idea to do this, for having invited him to share in that year's retreat, and offered this book as a thank you. The note was signed, "with my great respect, Freeman Dyson." When I read that name, and suddenly knew that I was holding the book that Dyson had signed, I momentarily reeled a bit, the mind whorled, and then a short elation came over me that I was ever, even once in my life, this close to Freeman Dyson. I didn't want to own the book. Just holding it once was the best experience I might have of ti.
@@raymondfrye5017 Judging the worth of someone is subjective. In an ideal world there would be no need of such awards. They have many problems.
I am completely floored by the disarming humbleness of this man. Freeman Dyson was a genius, one of the titans of 20th century physics, indeed, and a fantastic visionary (just think of concepts like the Dyson sphere...) and yet just listen to this! It actually is moving and so profoundly inspiring in its candor, honesty, and intellectual integrity.
Imagine a world in which every person could admit their limits, recognize their faults, and just accept the reality of being wrong about something with this same grace. That's my idea of heaven.
thank you for reminding me that its okay to be wrong... i really needed that
Actually you are correct. It is much better to be wrong than to be ignorant. To be wrong is to know why I am are wrong. When I am ignorant, I don't even know that!
@@folcwinep.pywackett8517 Actually you are wrong, both being wrong and being ignorant are bad things. The point is how when confronted by reality he was able _and_ willing to radically change his way of thinking.
When a better hands you your ass, you won't thank them immediately, buy eventually you'll be very grateful.
"Wrong" is the default state. We are always more wrong than right, so don't let it bother you.
@@jarisundell8859 Being wrong isn't "bad". "Bad" is a moral construct and as such has no relation to natural sciences. Being wrong in science is just another step in exploring the universe by process of elimination. Once you know you're wrong you just move on to the next idea - you're not "bad" and your idea wasn't "bad", you're a scientist and your idea was simply incorrect. Now, if you persist in pursuing your ideas despite them being demonstrably wrong, as in, you're being ignorant, then you're not a scientist - you're either mentally ill, a con-artist, or religious.
I guess Fermi never forgot himself. In the final report of the board that assigned to him (aged then 26) the professorship in theoretical physics at the University of Rome it says:'In spite of his young age and after very few years of scientific work he fully masters the subtlest mathematical techniques, but uses them in a sober and pragmatic way, without losing sight of the physical problem, of the interplay among the physical quantities that are involved, and their concrete value' ...
Considering Freeman Dyson's own genius his humility is refreshing.
Imagine what a crazy smart mofo Fermi must have been to see in an instant that all the stuff they have been working on was wrong.
He was a virulent climate change denier. Thank you!!!
@@MrBaldenegro So am I. Thank you!!!
No intelligent person is arrogant
Fermi, one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century
And this is said by a man who have made profound and beautiful contributions in quantum mechanics. How humble he was...
I wish that even a fraction of common people could be as humble and grounded as this genius.
Rest in peace, Prof. Dyson.
It must be hard and humbling for a genius to stand at his own limit and even more be confronted to an even higher genius who could evaluate months of high intellectual stand work in an instant of intuition.
lol I'm curious what Fermi's side of the story would sound like. "Oh, I was really just irritable at the time and wanted to be alone"
I thought the same thing. It's not like as if all research advisers would always carefully read your work
great response. now, it would be interesting to validate that presentation, to discern how Fermi was right -- and to what extent. or it would be interesting to understand how Dyson and all those in his lab had not had some "rudimentary intuition" of their own that did not have room for hesitation. the idea of limits ... is fascinating. to think even the greatest minds probably do not even touch on the limits of what is knowable (and possibly, unknowable) truths -- but are, as i see it, only able to approximate, validate the extent and limits of the leading minds on areas of current (state-of-the-art) research.
Feynman had a similar humbling experience upon meeting Fermi the first time. Fermi ended up being much better at the mathematical estimates that Feynnan was known for and it really surprised him.
I don't feel this is appropriate here...
Fermi would toss ALL current climate theories out the window. Each has parameters of more than 5, they are beyond trunk wiggling, they have a line of elephants conga dancing.
@MichaelKingsfordGray A theory is a model of reality, maybe 100% predictive, maybe not. A theory that so far is proven true, is still just a model of reality. No more; no less. Theories about physical interactions include known data, postulated data and rules for potential interactions of data. Along with that are rules for when other rules should or should not be applied. Then you get into "What are the unknowns" and "Are there limits to what can be known?" "What are the rules for limits?" and of course, the boundaries of applicability. And, since no system can contain its own meta-system, you know in advance you model MUST contain some implication of potential inconsistency. How is it sought?
The model cannot be the equal of reality.
@MichaelKingsfordGray There have been numerous theories that were called theories, but people said "Too bad it can't be tested." Sometimes someone really clever says "Well, what if we tried..." and the untestable becomes testable. Bell's interconnectedness theorem is one example. Modern DNA analysis of traces of dinosaur bone marrow is an other.
This clip illustrates what is great about science.
... and brutal honesty in general.
Looking at this as a PhD student in particle physics is quite scary tbh
@@da40128 It ought to be! And those students had had Dyson as an advisor!
@@sanjursan Agreed.
Whatever happened to those grad students who had to find another advisor and start over? Did they abandon the field.?..who are they and what is their story?
Such a brilliant and wonderful man. “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, this is true knowledge.” - Confucius
This story in another example of how much grad students can really be screwed by the PhD system
Fermi is the most underrated scientist ever, change my mind.
You need to change your knowledge on the word “underrated”
Dyson reminds me of physics golden age scientists
Fermi knows it all and yet he was mistaken for a janitor .
After his high school, his college entrance essay was equivalent to PhD thesis. The professor thought he was cheating until later told Fermi that he will be a great physicist .
He should be in history books him and Maxwell and Newton and all those that made great contribution to our world.
Um... I don't know what history books you're reading that don't have Fermi in them....
I used to play him and had taken up on his name when elementary school, we all had to be a famous scientist, strange the type of stuff we were playing
@@emreduygun strange indeed 😀
He is in history books
That's the movie I wanted to see: Fermi. Instead we got Oppenheimer, meh.
"When one does a theoretical calculation you know there are two ways of doing it; Either you should have a clear physical model in mind, or you should have a rigorous mathematical basis."
The video is distilled into this one statement. Now go and watch the full interview.
@MichaelKingsfordGray Because I want to use the quote elsewhere. It's for me, not for you.
Remember Fermi invented the atomic bomb mathematically and proved it would work. Oppenheimer was only a "plumber" assembling the parts Fermi gave him the designs to. Fermi insisted there was absolutely no need to test the "gun-type uranium bomb" (Little Boy) and he was correct. It tested Hiroshima to the ground. The "implosion plutonium bomb" (Trinity and Fat Man ) needed mechanical testing . In a little more than 9 months, Fermi took the theoretical concept of an atomic bomb into design plans, and had to wait on the fissile material to be isolated and purified.
if afterlife exist, Fermi is actually burning in hell
Oppenheimer was more than a plumber he kept the whole project going ,it took one James Tuck from the British mission and George Kistiakowsky to develop the high explosive implosion system based on shaped charges.
Your statement if false.
Los Alamos had thousands of scientists, including separate sub teams working on detonation methods alone (gun, implosion etc) never mind all the other aspects of bomb design.
It's totally arbitrary to single Fermi out and say his contribution rather than that of Feynman, Teller, Bethe, Ullam, Von Neumann or the hundreds of other less famous physicists was decisive.
@@edwardjones2202 I think his statement was too diminutive, as Oppenheimer was not a mere "plumber". However there is no doubt that Fermi's contribution was the core of the project. Before the Manhattan Project even came into existence, it was the joint work of Fermi and Szilard to demonstrate the theoretical feasibility of a chain reaction. And it was Fermi's intuition to use graphite as neutron moderator and the necessity to manufacture it as free of impurities as possible that opened the path to the construction of the first nuclear reactor in Chicago, beating the German team by several years, as Heisenberg insisted on using heavy water as neutron moderator. The chain reaction is the physical mechanism that frees up the nuclear energy, so creating that is the fundamental contribution that opened the way to the whole field of applications of nuclear energy
This story reminds me of a friend I had many years ago who was just about to present his doctoral thesis when he realised that his thesis was, in fact, nonsense. So he presented his thesis and explained, at the end of it, why it was nonsense. He is now a professor.
MichaelKingsfordGray lol putting gender studies in the same sentence with psychiatry and economics is a good sign of your ignorance
Something similar happened to Gottlob Frege when he was informed of "Russell's Paradox."
that smile while talking about getting something wrong that in the end turns out to be of great help shows both mr Dyson's character and the fact that time does change our perspective on unpleasant events. i found that smile very reassuring.
Imagine what Fermi would say today when deep neural nets have billions of parameters
These are some of the most incredible and moving statements I've ever heard.
Fermi is one of the few (if not the only) physicists who were masters in theory AND experiment.
Werner Heisenberg - Newton was pretty good in that regard.
newton's calculus was mysticism garbage, which is why weierstrass and cauchy completely changed its foundations.
Well if the other Heisenberg had been good at experiment, we'd all be speaking German now!
@@senselessnothing I always preferred the classical Greek Method of Exhaustion to Newton. Damn, they were so close!
@@vibratingstring They had actually used exhaustion for many elementary curves, including parabolas. Personally I credit them with the invention of calculus and not newton's haphazard mathematical oddities.
The reason ancient greeks didn't manage to go further is because they simply lacked manpower for cross-fertilization. Leibniz's utilization of difference operators for example connects integration-derivatives extremely simply, even though modern arguments are much more elaborate. Analysis really flourished alongside physics, sadly ancient greeks really didn't manage to get physics right. But I'd say with a bit more time they would have gotten it right. Observing the failure of aristotelean physics would set them on the right path very quickly.
Dyson is being too modest here. He has always been an exceptional original thinker, who has made great contributions to both mathematics and physics; and in particular QFT.
He knows his strengths and weaknesses
He's not being too modest about the project he describes. Overfitting is a classic no-no.
Love watching Freeman Dyson think out loud.
Holy crap. What a story . . .
extreme humility
Fermi was pretty much the "perfect" physicist. Incredible mental calculation power, faultless mathematics, complete and simple conception of a topic and experimental rigour.
Fermi was just simply PERFETTO.
And the funny part is that in turn Fermi felt just as an “ordinary genius” when he had to talk to Ettore Majorana.
In school I was taught that Fermi was the last "complete" physicist -- a master of both theory and experimental physics. Supposedly, he was brought onto the Manhattan project as a sort of lie detector. Other physicists would bring their ideas to him, and if his eyes "lit up", it would confirm they were on the right track.
@@byte1964 that's more humility than fact. He loved Ettore. But Ettore is a midget in front of Fermi when it comes to scientific contribution.
Also, genius is subject.
When I was finishing my bachelors degree in physics, struggling with my options and lack of physical intuition, one of my math professors, a rather harsh man, told me, "some of us make breakthroughs; the rest of us sweep up after." I realized I didn't want to be a physics janitor, and changed careers (with some long detours). Probably saved me a lot of heartbreak, to be honest.
The way I think of it is that the real pioneers in a field draw the map, and later generations of PhD students get to colour in the small details.
Yeah they had to be painful. Little pride rendering. But probably saved you loads of time down the road. At least you could Glimpse at greatness , you can identify with it at least, while monkeys like myself can't get out of algebra class
I find, however, there is dignity in being a "janitor" and a dignity in "sweeping up" -- it's a completely necessary part of intellectual life, and even 90% of what we do: clearing up, simplifying, making things easier and clearer to ourselves and for the next generation. It's seldom that the first solution or breakthrough in a problem is the cleanest and clearest and most elegant. Once upon a time it was said that only three people understood relativity theory. Now it's successfully taught to thousands of students every year.
@@toddtrimble2555 Beautifully said. It is not about heroic act. It is an act of faith. The first commitment is to understand a subject "without fooling oneself". The glory, the breakthrough all that should be a process, a process that even might lead to nowhere. But at the end of the day we should be able to tell ourselves "Well, at least I was honest in my pursuit"
Without people who are willing to venture out and fail even at a high cost, progress would never be made.
I love this man ... so humble and honest ! That’s a big example for everybody!
An incredible insight into creativity, authenticity, and uncompromising probity. Dyson was an incredibly rare gift; not just to mathematical physics, but also the humankind as a whole. He was a source of inspiration - a kind of person who could renew your faith in humanity’s potential.
The years 1900 to 1980 will be remembered as an heroic age in science. The birth of quantum mechanics, general relativity, and the construction of the Standard Model. If the 21st Century can top that, well, that'll be something.
Enrico Fermi The Last Man who knew everything The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age Hardcover - December 5, 2017
by David N. Schwartz (Author)
Such a humble personality! RIP professor.
What a lovely man to watch. One of those sooo humble Professors you hardly understand the importance of them and the impact they have made on science.
Exactly, it is the humble professors in colleges that we never hear about who are contributing to the scientific community and ultimately to humanity. And not media clowns like Krauss, Tyson, Dawkins...
How clearly he remembers those words shows how deeply they hurt💔
Humbling.
How beautiful an explanation of the emotional response to blind alleys in scientific research.
from the I-Showed-Him file; in 1993 Dyson was given The Enrico Fermi Award honoring scientists of international stature for their lifetime achievement in the development, use, or production of energy. Past awardees include von Neumann, Lawrence, Teller and Oppenheimer.
Where enthusiasm fails you, reality can finally come to play.
Extremely useful story about Fermi rejecting their very strenuous work that had foundational flaws in the reasoning. When I see comment sections all over youtube one of the phenomena that keeps happening is that someone will make a claim in the comments and then if I or someone else replies to say "actually...there are some flaws in the reasoning of that idea so you should save yourself and abandon it" then the original commenter seems more upset about us being supposedly "rude" than in the fact their claim actually does have flaws in the reasoning. Maybe the plague of social media is teaching people bad habits about reason and clear thinking.....in the false pursuit of reputation.
That's very foolish why would someone who don't even know you would agree to you.If it was someone like Fermi then it's another case he has proved his worth on the other hand if you agree to internet commenter then you are a fool
@@adsfgfghfhdfghkjtyuty4311 Logical fallacy reverse appeal to authority..... which has nothing to do with what I said, either.
@rf4life Bit of a lack of content in your reply..... social media plagues remain a viable cause for the behavior I notice.
@@achintyaindra2465 What are you even trying to say....? You've never learned anything from a stranger.... and if a stranger tells you 2 plus 2 is 4... you have some duty to claim they are wrong? And in what way are you trying to invoke Fermi as an appeal to authority? Fermi did not rely upon his popularity or authority....those are logical fallacies. Fermi offered independent reasoning for why there were problems with the claims Dyson was making. He never once said "because I am Fermi..." If you are not able to take input from someone on the internet about why a claim you made has logical fallacies or problems in reasoning.....then that is a weakness in your character, not a strength.
I am an engineer and I tell people, “don’t fall in love with your own ideas.”
If Fermi was alive he would have probably shit on the theory of quarks too.
this guy is 95 and talks quarks and stuff... most people at 95 spend the whole afternoon searching for their teeth :D... this is astonishing...
It truly is
The mind is muscle-like.
fyi this was recorded in 1998 (see the description)
A bit disrespectful and of questionable accuracy
Haha
R.I.P brilliant man.
Fermi was one of the most intuitive minds in the history of Physics and could reduce complex problems on a single sheet of paper with, for him, simple calculations, that resulted in an accurate ballpark. Later, more detailed calculations often simply confirmed Fermi's 'back of the envelope' calculations.
Fermi: the 'Italian Stallion' of physics.
The italian talents in science have always been greatly underestimated.
This man right here is REAL hes not talking differently for the interveiws id choose him as a sort of uncle/grandpa anyday😂😭 such knowledge wisdom and experience truly rare and a gem
What incredible strength of charactor and integrity to take all that on board and have nothing but praise for Enrico Fermi...
Dyson is a true genius and a great man; yet he tells us who he relied on and thought was a genius Fermi, this confirms what I always believed that Enrico Fermi's contributions are so underappreciated and so underrated as a genius in American history.
Fermi being firm
I recently read the book - The Pope of Physics. This incident was mentioned in that book.
Very few people push themselves to find where their limits are, and when you do, that can be painful if you discover that something you wanted to do isn't going to be possible. I think I felt every ounce of his pain, but was inspired by his humble acceptance and determination to continue with what he did best.
Just broaden your limits, problem solved.
He was always considered a physicist, but he wasn't. He was probably one of the best ever applied mathematicians who ever lived
Important video regarding Fermi's insight bringing a red light to a major project at Cornell.
Humility should always be respected and even more, it must be applauded!
i make a point of liking every video of Freeman Dyson that I like, it hasnt changed yet
What a humble man...
Rest in peace Mr. Dyson. I just heared...
Good man
That raises questions such as how many cosmological theories, about which intense work has been going on for more than 30 years - examples are string theory, universe of 10 dimensions, inflation - are also delusory.
99% of them are bollocks.
Graham Lyons
That’s science. Theory until it survives sufficient testing against reproducible experimental results. That it might take decades to determine which 99% is wrong or needs adjustment and which 1% is correct is the price the Universe charges to understand its truths.
Pan Dzban
That’s science. Theory until it survives sufficient testing against reproducible experimental results. That it might take decades to determine which 99% is wrong or needs adjustment and which 1% is correct is the price the Universe charges to understand its truths.
In the meantime so much time and energy is wasted on the illusory instead of making real scientific and technological progress.
Great Freeman Dyson.
On the other end... It is very useful to have a genius available nearby, one that is always right. Fermi was key to the speedy development of the basis of nuclear technology. From what I recall, Enrico Fermi missed a beat only once, when he designed the Hanford reactor to produce plutonium. After six hours the reactor reached criticality, the level of activity suddenly and unexpectedly decreased. It took Fermi few minutes to deduce the cause, the formation of xenon - which is a reactor poison; and some more little time to find a solution: 500 more rods. Thankfully the military always think about contingency, so they added extra slots to the design.
Another person from that time which had a similar genius mind, able to make the correct deductions with little or no data - was Lise Meitner. Previously, she was able to deduce correctly all the products of the fission of uranium in the blink of an eye; something that Otto Hahn (who got the Nobel) was unable to achieve. Mrs Meitner was Jewish and has to flee her country, but kept working from afar and produced such genial answers to the nuclear conundrum.
Thanks for the video...
This is pure gold. Thank you for uploading it.
This is an exceedingly important story in modern physics, and beautifully told by the guy who had strayed outside his intuitive areas. I have always admired Freeman Dyson's ability when he was very young to explain the new theory by Schwinger of quantum electrodynamics to the team (Cal Tech ? ?) that needed it.
Explain all the (equivalent) theories of QED to the world.
It’s amazing to be alive during this time period. People far in the future will look at Dyson and others as himself as the foundation of science.
Without filters - a pure ray of white light - all together and beautiful.
What humility Dyson shows after years of working on mathematics of the highest order- when Fermi could pinpoint the theoretical flaws in an instant.
If ever a man were able to define the ideal of "scientist", in the realisation of the idea of a person who can accept evidence as what it is rather than what he wishes it to be, and use it to improve the human condition, it would be difficult to find a better candidate. Equal perhaps, but rarely better. Thank you for posting this.
This little tale was a neat delineation of the boundary that separates mathematicians from physicists. Great stuff.
I needed this!
It takes a honesty and a strong character to be corrected like that by ( possibly) one of your heroes and take it positively and use it as a wake up call and better yourself. Yes it hurts and it is tough to hear: I’m not impressed by your work, but that is not the end of you and it invites you to change for the better. And mr Dyson clearly did.
What a wonderful lesson!
Thank you for this wonderful series. I find it helpful to see, in such an intimate discussion, that even for a giant like Freeman Dyson, whose mathematical skills I could never remotely approach, there are limits of talent and intuition which one has to admit and deal with.
Wonderful interview, thank you.
Did not understand a great deal of what Professor Dyson put forth, and it was still better than man's religions.
Failing is learning.
Wonderful man.
Such a great story
Science is a very human form of knowledge. We are always at the brink of
the known; we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. Every
judgment in science stands on the edge of error, and is personal.
Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible.
Jacob Bronowski
Wonderful quote!
An example of how it takes genius to recognize greater genius.
What an unusual and gifted man.
What a great man
Humble man
Yes, humans are involved. Ego's and mistakes abound.
Humble guy, I like him.
His vacuums are great.
What a MAN!
How many dimensions are there in String "theory"? Eleven? I bet you can make an elephant do the tango with eleven parameters!
Or win a round at the masters?
Dimensions are not free parameters. Also string theory very much fulfills Fermi's second criterion of having a rigorous mathematical basis.
The rare ability to stand aside from oneself and look at what is going on, then set one’s ego involvement on the shelf and move forward.
I wish people were as aware as he was that physics and mathematics are quite different things, regardless of how much they share in common. Mathematics may be a tool for physics, but not necessarily.
Dyson... the man!
Orion project, was the last hope for humanity
Awesome. Role model
Science will humble you. Just when you think you are smart, someone comes along and makes you feel you are not as smart as you think.
It takes intelligence to know where you're not smart.