science

The Scientist as Rebel

The Scientist as Rebel is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Scientist as Rebel rather than just read about it. In short: The Scientist as Rebel is a 2006 book by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson. A few of the twenty-nine chapters in the book deal with the interactions of religion and science.

Key takeaways

The Scientist as Rebel belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Scientist as Rebel to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Scientist as Rebel from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Scientist as Rebel is a 2006 book by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson. A few of the twenty-nine chapters in the book deal with the interactions of religion and science. The book is a collection of essays, prefaces, and book reviews concerning miscellaneous topics. Its title is taken from the title of an essay which originated as a November 1992 talk at a Cambridge, UK meeting of scientists and philosophers. Dyson dedicated his talk to the memory of Eric James, Baron James of Rusholme, who died in May 1992.

The book's four sections—"Contemporary Issues in Science," "War and Peace," "History of Science and Scientists," "Personal and Philosophical"—contain information about the author's life, and the general tone is optimistic. He believes that biological engineering will inevitably be enlisted to enhance species or even create new ones (microbes that clean up pollution, for example) and that humans will colonize space.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Scientist as Rebel

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Scientist as Rebel claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Scientist as Rebel before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Scientist as Rebel ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Scientist as Rebel

In research: The Scientist as Rebel appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Scientist as Rebel in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Scientist as Rebel is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 non-fiction books, Books about religion and science, Science book stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Scientist as Rebel outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Scientist as Rebel in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Scientist as Rebel means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Scientist as Rebel out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Scientist as Rebel in simple terms?

The Scientist as Rebel is a 2006 book by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson. A few of the twenty-nine chapters in the book deal with the interactions of religion and science.

Why does The Scientist as Rebel matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Scientist as Rebel?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Scientist as Rebel.