Maker of Patterns: Freeman Dyson with Lisa Randall

An autobiography in letters recalls the life of the 94-year-old theoretical physicist and mathematician between 1936 to 1978, and the great scientific advances and political upheavals which he encountered. He speaks with physicist and author Lisa Randall.

Freeman Dyson has chronicled the stories of those who were engaged in solving some of the most challenging quandaries of twentieth-century physics. This volume of his letters to relatives forms a historic account of modern science and its greatest players, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, and Hans Bethe. Whether reflecting on the horrors of World War II, the moral dilemmas of nuclear development, the challenges of the space program, or the considerable demands of raising six children, Dyson offers a firsthand account of one of the greatest periods of scientific discovery of our modern age.

"I do not have any great discovery...to describe," writes Dyson. "The letters record the daily life of an ordinary scientist doing ordinary work. I find them interesting because I had the good fortune to live through extraordinary historical times with an extraordinary collection of friends."

Dyson will speak with Lisa Randall, author of such books as Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs and Higgs Discovery, as well as a lecturer on theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.

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