Freeman Dyson has died. He had a long, productive, and apparently happy life, so it's not really sad news for him. It's sad news for the rest of the species, which will have to get by without one of the modern era's foremost intellects.
He was one of those scientists who are better science fiction writers than anyone in SFWA. Back in 1960 he invented the concept of the "Dyson Sphere" — a shell of artificial habitats and solar collectors completely harvesting the energy of a star. In the 1980s he tossed off the idea now called a "Dyson tree," a bioengineered space habitat rooted on a comet, spreading vast leaves to catch the light of the distant Sun. Both notions have become staples of SF, but Dyson got there first.
I'm afraid we shall not see his like again.
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