Freeman Dyson to Give Public Lectures at Yale: “Three Myths in the Public Perception of Science”
New Haven, Conn. " Freeman Dyson, the distinguished scientist, writer and futurist will present a series of three lectures for the public on April 14, 16 and 17 in room 59 of the Sloane Physics Laboratory, 217 Prospect Street. Each lecture will begin at 4 p.m. and all interested persons are invited to attend.
(Media-Newswire.com) - New Haven, Conn. — Freeman Dyson, the distinguished scientist, writer and futurist will present a series of three lectures for the public on April 14, 16 and 17 in room 59 of the Sloane Physics Laboratory, 217 Prospect Street. Each lecture will begin at 4 p.m. and all interested persons are invited to attend.
Dyson, of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, has spent his professional life engaged in the sciences and in writing books for the public. This year the Physics department honors him as the Leigh Page Prize Lecturer and, jointly with Jonathan Edwards College, as a Tetelman Fellow.
Dyson trained as a mathematician and applied his skills to solve problems in many fields, including particle physics, condensed matter physics, nuclear engineering, astronomy and biology. As an author, he writes about scientists rather than science, and about the human consequences of technology rather than the technical details. His most recent book, ``A Many-Colored Glass'', is a meditation on the place of life in the universe.
Dyson’s talks will be:
• “Science Coming to an End,” on Monday, April 14, 2008 — Dyson will explain why he does not agree with some intellectual humanist scholars, most prevalent in Europe, who believe that science was a passing fad that is fortunately now over. This is a joint Leigh Page-Tetelman lecture, sponsored by the Physics Department and Jonathan Edwards College.
• “The Mathematician as an Automaton,” on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 — Dyson will talk about some mathematicians he has known and the different kinds of thinking they do. He divides them into “birds” and “frogs.” Birds fly high and survey the landscape out to the horizon. Frogs live in the mud below and enjoy the beauty of the creatures that they meet there.
• “The Selfish Gene on Thursday,” on April 17, 2008 — Dyson will talk about the relative importance of the individual and the community in language, in law and in science. He asserts that the clash between individual and community values in all three contexts is at the root of many of our ongoing quarrels.
Dyson is presenting this year’s Leigh Page Prize Lectures. Sponsored by the Physics Department at Yale, the talks are given by an invited distinguished physicist in honor of Leigh Page who received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1913, was acting chair of the Department of Physics from 1943 to 1945 and acting director of the Sloane Physics Laboratory in 1945. Dyson is also speaking under the auspices of the Tetelman Fellowship, endowed at Yale in 1979 by Damon Wells of the Class of 1958 in memory of his friend and classmate Alan S. Tetelman, who died in 1978. The fellowship honors distinguished individuals who have made a significant contribution to science. He will give the Master’s Tea Tuesday April 15 at Jonathan Edwards College beginning at 4 p.m.
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