development of
escalation of
Morrison and
Pauling on
physicists’ advice on
scientific allure of
testing of
Vietnam War and
nuclearism
Oak Ridge’s Institute for Energy Analysis, computer simulations of climate change and
Odyssey (Homer)
Oersted Medal
Oldstone Hotel conference
On the Beach (Kramer)
On Thermonuclear War (Kahn)
O’Neill, Gerard
O’Neill, Gerard, on space stations
Oort Cloud
Oparin, Alexander
Oppenheimer, Frank
Oppenheimer, J. Robert
on Cold War and H-bomb
as friend
as IAS director
“Nolo contendere” of
as nuclear archbishop
permanent faculty position offered by
personal mistakes of
post-tribunal status of
QED reforms challenged by
security clearance denial of
Strauss as opponent of
Teller as opponent of
Tomonaga’s paper and
U.K. return advised by
optimist
“Oregon Trail”
Orgel, Leslie
Origins of Life (Dyson, F.)
Orion project
de Hoffmann and
death of
as Deep Space Bombardment Force
doubts about
government rejection of
as human technology’s expansion
neutron bomb required for
on nuclear-powered space ship
problem solver of
radioactive exhaust problem in
scientific life’s happiest period during
space exploration’s mission in
test-fire of nonnuclear mock-up in
U.S. Air Force custody of
Outline of History (Wells)
pacemaker
Pacific coast trip
harmony discovery during
Joyce read on
Lamb shift revisited on
pacifist
Pais, Abraham
Paradise Lost (Milton)
parents
parity
particles
creation and destruction of
Shakespeare and
virtual
Pauli, Wolfgang
on convergence theory
as quantum science founder
Pauling, Linus
Pedoe, Daniel
Peierls, Rudolph
as Birmingham mentor
career help from
critical mass of uranium calculations of
graduate recommendation by
Penrose, Roger
“Pentagon Papers”
Philip, Prince
Phillips, John, as “The A-Bomb Kid”
Physical Review, quantum gospel in
physicists
Planck, Max
Plato’s cave analogy
Pocono conference
Feynman challenged at
Feynman’s admission of defeat after
on infinity’s substance
Schwinger’s theory prevails at
poetry
Blake’s
Eliot’s
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce)
Potts, Lawrence
poverty
Powell, Cecil
Princeton University
Project Cyclops
Project Plowshare
Congressional testimony and
as peaceful nuclear projects
publication list
Pugwash conference
pulsars
pure mathematics
QED. See quantum electrodynamics
Quakers
quantum electrodynamics (QED)
on accuracy of electron’s magnetism
atomic nucleus in
best explanation of
bible of
convergence and
Feynman and Schwinger compatibility in
Glashow and
Kemmer on
key to
mathematical epiphany on
Nobel prize winners and
notes and papers as bible of
nucleus model in
reform of
Schwinger’s theory on
study of
universal electron field in
Weinberg and
quantum field theory
Kemmer on
universal electron field in
quantum mathematics
quantum mechanics
Dirac on
Planck’s hypothesis on
quantum science
Pauli as founder of
professor of
rewriter of
Shakespeare compared to
Solvay conference and
uncertainty and indeterminacy of
upheaval in
Rabi, Isidor
radar systems analysis
radiation death rate
“The Radiation Theories of Tomonaga, Schwinger, and Feynman”
radioactive exhaust
Randi, James
random matrices
random matrix theory. See random matrices
reactor. See nuclear reactors
Reagan, Ronald
reductionism
Regge, Tullio
Release 2.0 (Dyson, Esther)
religion
Dawkins on
Dennett on
early conclaves of
Gifford Lectures and
personal experience of
reductionism and
Sagan on God and
science compared to
science’s coexistence with
science’s complementarity with
science’s guidance by
on spiritual traditions of
Templeton Prize for progress in
as way of life
reprogenetics
mixed view of
Silver and
retraction, number theory and
Return to Space (television program)
Riemann zeta function 187
RNA, origin of life and
Robert, Phillip
rockets
Rose, Charlie
Rosenberg, Ethel
Rosenberg, Julius
Rosenbluth, Marshall
Russia. See also Soviet Union
common ground with
historical perspective of
sharing nuclear secrets with
technical superiority of
safety
Sagan, Carl
on “Dyson civilizations”
Gifford Lectures of
San Diego summer study session
Sankey, Peter
Schmidt, Helmut
School of Natural Sciences
faculty (mid-1960s to mid-1970s) of
Institute of Advanced Studies and
Schrage Musik (“Crooked Music”)
Schrodinger, Erwin
Schweber, Silvan, history on QED and
Schwinger, Julian
electron’s renormalization of
Green’s function and
Nobel Prize for
on parallel track with Tomonaga
prevailing theory of
QED theory of
summer study with
Schwinger and Feynman compatibility
Schwinger-Dyson equations. See Dyson-Schwinger equations
Schwinger-Tomonaga field theory
Schwitters, Roy
science. See also quantum science
art and
continued expansion of
enlightenment by
Gifford Lectures on
mathematics different from
Monad’s impartiality and<
br />
Newton and
Pauli on
as provisional
quantum
reductionism and
religious truth and
restriction of
Science and Human Values (Bronowski)
scientist
engineer contrasted with
symmetry and
The Scientist as Rebel (Dyson)
SDI. See Strategic Defense Initiative
search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)
Drake’s probability formula in
favored mode of exploration in
founding documents of
infrared ray detection in
results of
thought experiments and
Shakespeare
Sharp, Dover
Shelter Island conference
Lamb shift at
scientists at
Sherwin, Martin
silence, in Nevada desert
Silver, Lee
Simonyi, Charles
Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP)
“Sir Phillip Robert’s Erolunar Collision” (Dyson, Freeman)
Sloan Foundation
Smolin, Lee
Snow, C. P.
Socinus, Faustus
soil
solar system
Solvay, Ernest
Solvay conference (1911)
Solvay conference (1927)
Soviet Union
Cold War threat of
defense-by-bluff
space colonization
biosphere genome and
human adaptation for
Orion and
places for
reasons for
space stations
Space Studies Institute
space travel. See also Orion project
from human perspective
Space Traveler’s Manifesto (Dyson, F.).
speaker, public
spiritual experience
Sputnik
Stapledon, Olaf
Star Maker (Stapledon)
God concept in
scientific work influenced by
Star Trek
Starkman, Glenn
on memory’s digital character
on thinning of universe
The Starship and the Canoe (Brower)
START. See Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
starvation
Steinberger, Jack
Steiner, George
a “stockpile,” as unit of fission energy
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (START)
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Strauss, Lewis, as Oppenheimer’s opponent
strontium-90, in milk
The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet (Dyson, F.)
vision of multiple human species
vision of space colonization
Superconducting Super Collider
Super-Orion
survival, in nuclear age
symmetry. See also mirror symmetry; parity
non-symmetry and
scientist and
tactical nuclear weapons
Davy Crockett warhead as
Vietnam War and
“Tactical Nuclear Weapons in South-East Asia” (report)
Tanner Lectures (Oxford)
Tarner Lectures (Cambridge)
Taylor, Geoffrey
as Cavendish Laboratory scientist
graduate recommendation by
Taylor, Maxwell
Taylor, Ted
as bomb designer
Davy Crockett warhead and
nuclear reactor design and
reflections on
Teller, Edward
as co-creator of first hydrogen bomb
friendship of
nuclear reactor design and
as Oppenheimer’s opponent
Templeton Prize
Dawkins reaction to
for religious progress
theofiction
theoretical physics
thermonuclear war
thermonuclear weapons
Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman)
thinning of the universe
Thirring, Walter
Thomas, Dylan
Thompson, Frank
thought experiment
Astrochicken as
to Uranus
“Time and Its Mysteries” (Dyson, F.)
Tolstoy, Leo
Tomonaga, Shin’ichiro
isolation of
Nobel Prize for
Oppenheimer’s assistance to
on parallel track with Schwinger
Townes, Charles
Tractatus (Wittgenstein)
Training, Research, Isotope production, General Atomic (TRIGA)
Trinity College. See Cambridge University
tritium
Tuchman, Barbara
turbulence-correcting technology
The Turn
2001: A Space Odyssey (Clarke)
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
as human journey
interview for
Twyford (boarding school)
U-235
U-238
Ulam, Stanislaw, as first hydrogen bomb’s co-creator
unboundedness
universe
consciousness and drama of
disappearance of
exploration of
far future and
radio method of exploration
Weinberg’s pointlessness of
Witten on expansion of
University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham, England fellowship
uranium
uranium-235
Uranus
vacation
Berkeley trip (1953)
Berkeley trip (1955)
family
Galapagos Islands
in Munster, Germany
The Varieties of Religious Experience (James)
Venter, Craig
Vietnam tactical nuclear weapons
Vietnam War
protest of
Taylor, M., nuclear option in
Voltaire
von Braun, Wernher
von Neumann, John
at Atomic Energy Commission
computer simulated explosion by
thermonuclear weaponry and
Wagner, Richard
War and Peace (Tolstoy)
Watson, James
Weapons and Hope (Dyson, F.)
Weinberg, Steven
Final Theory of
as graduate student
as Jason member
on universe’s pointlessness
Wells, H. G.
Wentzel, Gregor
What is Life? (Schrodinger)
Wheeler, John
white swans
analogy of
symmetry and
wife. See Huber, Verena (first wife); Jung, Imme (second wife)
Wigner, Eugene
Wilberforce, Samuel
Wilczek, Frank
Wills, Gary, on national security state
Wilson, Robert R.
electron accelerator and
at Los Alamos
Winchester College (boarding school)
“chambers annals” logbook at
Cosmic Unity concept at
courses studied at
honorary event and talk at
mathematics addiction at
World War II deaths from
Witten, Edward
Wittgenstein, Ludwig
Woese, Carl
The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (Bernal)
world soul
God as
mother’s thoughts on
World War I
World War II
abhorrence of killing in
airmen’s survival in
applied mathematics’ use in
Bomber Command in
unde
r General Harris
at High Wycombe
MONICA’s evaluation in
Operation Gomorrah in
Schrage Musik (“Crooked Music”) in
strategic bombing in
war criminals in
as wartime analyst
Wright, Courtenay
Wright, Thomas
Author of Nature and
science and values mixed by
Yang, Chen Ning
Yang-Lee paper
Zurich trip (1951)
Also by Phillip F. Schewe
The Grid
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHILLIP F. SCHEWE works at the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland, where he is director of communications. He has a Ph.D. in physics but has spent most of his career as a writer, chiefly as an explainer and popularizer of science. In addition, he has written numerous plays, which have been performed in New York, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. His previous book, The Grid, a history of the impact of electricity on society, was called by NPR one of the top science books of the year for 2007. He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
MAVERICK GENIUS. Copyright © 2013 by Phillip F. Schewe. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by James Iacobelli
Cover photograph of Freeman Dyson © Imke Lass/Redux; background © Maridav/Shutterstock.com
ISBN 978-0-312-64235-8 (hardcover)
e-ISBN 9781250021014 (e-book)
First Edition: February 2013
* Actually, the 1920s model of quantum mechanics had done an adequate job of describing the relatively slow movements of electrons inside atoms. But scientists quickly realized that quantum descriptions needed to incorporate Einstein’s theory of relativity. Einstein had shown that as the velocity of particles came anywhere close to the speed of light, modifications to the equations describing their motion would be needed. The fuller quantum theory not only had to account for high velocities but also had to explain the exciting and disturbing possibility that particles, such as electrons, could be created and destroyed. This was part of Paul Dirac’s proposal for the existence of a new class of substance that came to be called antimatter.
* Left to itself, the uranium hydride fuel, encased in skinny tubes made of zirconium metal, would continue to fission, producing more and more heat. The fission rate can be controlled by thrusting sticks of neutron-absorbing material in among the fuel rods. These control rods rob the chain reaction of the itinerant neutrons needed for fissioning of uranium. Pull the control rods back out and fission starts back up.
In the most popular reactor design, called a light water reactor, the heat generated by all those falling-apart uranium nuclei is carried away by the circulation of water through the core. This water can be turned directly into steam, or used to heat steam in a separate set of pipes. The steam then rotates the turbines used to generate electricity. The water in the reactor also bathes the fuel tubes, ensuring that they don’t get too hot.
The water plays another important role insofar as the hydrogen atoms in the water continuously intercept some of the neutrons flying around the core. These little encounters can sap some of the neutrons’ energy. This is not a detriment but exactly what you want, since for triggering a fission event it can often be the case that the neutron has too much energy. They have to be slowed a bit, or cooled, by interactions with the lightweight hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen doesn’t absorb the neutrons, but merely “moderates” their speed, making them suitable for fission.
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