George Dyson (science historian)
George Dyson | |
---|---|
![]() George Dyson, Trinity College, Cambridge, 2009 | |
Occupation(s) | science historian, writer, boat designer, builder |
George Dyson (born 1953) is a scientific historian, the son of Freeman Dyson and Verena Huber-Dyson, brother of Esther Dyson, and the grandson of Sir George Dyson. He is the father of Lauren Dyson. When he was sixteen he went to live in British Columbia in Canada to pursue his interest in kayaking and escape his father's shadow. While there he lived in a treehouse at a height of 30 metres. He is the author of Project Orion: The Atomic Spaceship 1957-1965 and Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence, in which he expanded upon the premise of Samuel Butler's 1863 article of the same name and suggested coherently that the Internet is a living, sentient being. He is the subject of Kenneth Brower's book The Starship and the Canoe. Dyson was the founder of Dyson, Baidarka & Company, a designer of Aleut-style skin kayaks, and he is credited with the revival of the baidarka style of kayak.
Books
- Baidarka the Kayak, 1986, Alaska Northwest Books, ISBN 088240315X
- Darwin Among the Machines, 1998, Allan Lane Science, ISBN 0738200301
- Project Orion: The Atomic Spaceship 1957-1965, 2002, Allan Lane Science, ISBN 0713992670
External links
- Biography and articles from Edge.org
- George Dyson's Flickr Photostream
- Dyson, Baidarka & Company (Flickr Photostream by Thomas Gotchy)
- George Dyson's Mother, Verena Huber-Dyson
- A lecture by George Dyson on "von Neumans universe"
- Engineers' Dreams
- TED Talks: George Dyson at the birth of the computer at TED
- TED Talks: George Dyson on Project Orion at TED