Freeman Dyson Interview (page: 5 / 6) Theoretical Physicist and Author	Print Interview

Where did all these ideas about religion and life and death come from?

Freeman Dyson: They're natural. I think everybody's born with it to some extent. You look for justice in the world and you don't find it. I was looking for justice really more than anything. I could see the fact that I was very privileged. I enjoyed this very sheltered childhood and never had to go hungry, whereas the rest of the world was in much worse shape than I was. I had somehow to come to grips with that. Why is the world so unfair? It's a good answer if all those other people who are suffering are really me. Then it's not so unfair.

What were you reading as a young man?

Freeman Dyson: I read a lot of science fiction. I did read -- I don't remember at what stage -- William James's The Variety of Religious Experience. That probably was later. It was an excellent book about religions. I read a book called Men of Mathematics, which was full of romantic stories about mathematicians. That gave me, certainly, some idea about doing great things in mathematics. I didn't go much for literature in those days. I think I wanted to read books more about practical and scientific questions. I read Aldous Huxley's Ends and Means, which essentially is the ethic of non-violence and non-involvement. He was a Gandhian. I think maybe I got a lot of that from Huxley.

Where did this imagination spring from, all thinking about life beyond our own planet, and the future? Where did that come from?

Freeman Dyson: I suppose a lot of it comes from Jules Verne. He was the one that I read first. I know I discovered Jules Verne at the age of eight, I remember that. I read From Earth to Moon and a Trip Around It, and Captain Nemo and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Those were great stories. I think that's maybe where it came from. But that was not unusual. Most of the kids at that time were reading stuff like that.

Back in England, when you were a kid, with all that was going on around you, did you ever think that there might not be a future?

Freeman Dyson: Oh, yes. We didn't expect to survive. That was sort of a given. This next war was -- we looked at it rather the same way we now look at World War III, I mean, you don't expect to survive World War III if it happens. That was the same feeling we had.

Yet you survived to think a great deal about the future.

Freeman Dyson: Yes. It was just amazing. The war turned out to be almost a picnic, compared to what we'd expected.

When did you first know what you wanted to do?

Freeman Dyson: I never have. I'm always waiting to find out. I've been an opportunist. I've always grabbed at opportunities as they came along.

What did your parents think about what you decided to do or not do with your life?

Freeman Dyson: They were very tolerant. I remember when I came to America. Of course that came as a bit of a shock when I told my mother I was going to stay in America. I remember her saying, "Well, I understand from a professional point of view that makes a lot of sense. But how could you stand to live among all those hypochondriacs?" And I've been wondering ever since.

Was that the nicest thing she said about America?

Freeman Dyson: Right. That was certainly the image we had of Americans. And it was pretty accurate, I would say.

Was there someone who gave you a break you needed to get ahead?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Freeman Dyson: I suppose there were lots of lucky things that happened to me. One of them was getting a Harkness Fellowship. At the time after the war, when I wanted to travel, all the young people of my generation had been unable to travel, all through the war years. So we were just dying to get out and see the rest of the world as soon as the war was over. And there happened to be this philanthropic foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, founded by Harkness. And they offered fellowships to young English people to come to America for a couple of years and essentially study and do whatever we liked. And I got one of these fellowships. That was a tremendous piece of luck. And as a result of that, I went to Cornell University, which happened to be the place which was most active in physics at that time. All the bright people from Los Alamos went to Cornell after the war. It was just a great place to be. So it sort of fell into my lap. I got this fellowship and when I arrived at Cornell, fresh from England, I found that I was rich compared with the poor Americans who had to struggle to get into graduate school. And I was being lavishly supported with this fellowship. So I've always been pampered right from the beginning.

We don't all think of winter in Ithaca as being pampered. We'll take your word for it.

Freeman Dyson: A little bit of cash helps even there.

What do you know now about achievement that you did not know when you were younger?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Freeman Dyson: I suppose that what I've learned comes from Dick Feynman, who's one of my heroes. He's the professor at Cornell whom I got to know when I first came to America, who's a great, just a great man, and many books have been written about him. He was a great character as well as being a great scientist. And he had -- he was a tremendous success. Of course he did all kinds of things very well and his gospel was, "Always say yes the first time, and say no the second time." I think that's a very good rule for life, that the first time you have an opportunity to do something crazy say yes. Try it out and see if it makes sense, and if it doesn't make sense then have the courage the next time to say no. He applied that rule all through his life, and I think I have to a great extent too. So I'm very happy to take chances, to take risks, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. At least life is interesting that way, and in the end you achieve something. But you can't tell in advance which of the chances you take are going to turn out well and which are going to turn out badly. When things do turn out badly, then cut your losses and try something else. I'm sounding like a pontificator at that point, but I think that's roughly how I would explain whatever success I've had. And it doesn't apply to everybody; people are all different. Some people find some great purpose in their lives right at the beginning and stick with it all the way the way through. That's great too. That's not the way I have been operating.

Not all smart people are successful. How do you account for the success that you've enjoyed, for your achievements?

Freeman Dyson: I think it's largely luck. And, of course, being an opportunist, being able to grab opportunities as they turn up. I think it's sort of in my favor that I have a short attention span. I can always switch from one field to another rather easily. I've never got stuck into one narrow groove. I think that's probably the main reason that when new things come up I'm always ready to jump.

You say luck. Do you believe in destiny?

Freeman Dyson: No. Not really.

Blood, sweat and tears?

Freeman Dyson: Yes, blood, sweat and tears, yes. But that's part of doing a job well no matter what you're doing. That certainly runs in the family. All my family are all hard workers.

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