# Quote — Freeman Dyson, The Scientist as Rebel

> Starting from Einstein's theory of general relativity, Oppenheimer and Snyder found solutions... that described what happens to a massive star when it has exhausted its supplies of nuclear energy. The star collapses gravitationally and disappears from the visible universe, leaving behind only an intense gravitational field to mark its presence. The star remains in a state of permanent free fall, collapsing endlessly inward into the gravitational pit without ever reaching the bottom. ... In my opinion, the black hole is incomparably the most exciting and the most important consequence of general relativity. But Einstein ... was actively hostile to the idea of black holes. ... Oddly enough, Oppenheimer too in later life was uninterested in black holes, although... they were his most important contribution to science. ... Oppenheimer in his later years believed that the only problem worthy of attention of a serious theoretical physicist was the discovery of fundamental equations of physics. Einstein certainly felt the same way.

- Author: [Freeman Dyson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson.md)
- Book: [The Scientist as Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/starting-from-einsteins

## More from this book

> It is more difficult for a modern scientist to be a serious Christian, like Polkinghorne, than to be a serious Muslim, like the Nobel Prize-winning physicisit Abdus Salam. Salam happily proclaimed his Muslim faith but did not feel any need to write books about it. For Salam, the idea of a conflict between his faith and his science was ludicrous. Muslim faith has nothing to do with science. But Polkinghorne writes books to prove to himself and to us that his theology and his science can live together harmoniously..

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/it-is-more.md)

> It is a curious accident of history that the Christian religion became heavily involved with theology. No other religion finds it necessary to formulate elaborately precise statements about the abstract qualities and relationships of gods and humans. ... The idea that God may be approached and understood through intellectual analysis is uniquely Christian.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/it-is-a-curious-accident.md)

> It is probably not an accident that modern science grew explosively in Christian Europe and left the rest of the world behind. A thousand years of theological disputes nurtured the habit of analytical thinking that could also be applied to the analysis of natural phenomena. On the other hand, the close historical relations between theology and science have caused conflicts between science and Christianity that does not exist between science and other religions.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/it-is-probably.md)