“Now, Voyager, sail thou forth”

Science writing – health, climate change, environment, nanotechnology, biotechnology – often gets a poor press. Too technical, too obscure, too fantastic. A joy, therefore, to find a brilliant article in the latest issue of The Smithsonian on the exploration of outer space.

Long live Freeman Dyson!

Freeman Dyson believes in positive iconoclasm in the same way that his near contemporary, Richard Feynman, advocated the “scientific spirit of adventure”. Feynman urged recognizing the unknown as unknown in order for it to be explored. Dyson shares Feynman’s “humility of the intellect”.