Polite Dissent

In my junior year at college, my hardest class was Physics 197. This was the second semester of general physics for science majors. It was harder than the first semester, because it dealt with more abstract concepts such as optics, electromagnetic waves, and quantum mechanics. It was taught by Dr. Bender, a Harvard-trained quantum physicist who liked to inject a little history into his lectures.

Dr. Bender had just finished up a particularly dense discussion of some of the finer points of quantum electrodynamics. He then started brought up some of the scientists who had made the field famous including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, and Freeman Dyson.

Looking around the large lecture hall, he asked if anyone had ever heard of Dyson.

Without thinking, I raised my hand. Surely if I had heard of him, lots of other students would know him as well. When the girl next to me nudged me in the ribs, I was mortified to discover I was the only one with my hand in the air.

“How have you heard of Dyson?” Professor Bender asked.

“Dyson spheres*,” I replied, my voice echoing in the still air.

He looked at me closely for a second, then nodded and said, “Very impressive.” Turning back to the chalk board, he resumed the lecture as the rest of the class glared at me.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I only knew about Dyson spheres from reading about them in a comic book. Who knew all those years ago that New Mutants Annual #1 would make me seem smart to a university physicist? A dollar well spent.

*This was several years before the Dyson Sphere/Scotty returns episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.