He was, unquestionably, the most brilliant person I ever met. I brought my sons and one of my son's best friends (who ended up being the high school class valedictorian).
The kids were probably too young to really gather very much, but they did get pictures of themselves with the great physicist. (He was a short guy, and only my son's friend was about his size.)
We treasure those pictures. In the one in which I appear, with my two sons and Dyson, I have this huge shit eating grin, because again, it was one of the best afternoons of my life.
He was patient, informative, generous with his time, engaging, and incredibly kind.
What was amazing was that I could not raise any subject with him with which he was unfamiliar, in fact his familiarity on any point was profound.
I referenced Stuart Kauffmann's Origin of Order which I think is pretty obscure, and he began to tell me things about Kauffman's personal life. He did really like Kaufmann's description of life as an "eddy in thermodynamics."
The only time he cut me off was when I began to discuss things that may or may not have been classified, nuclear stuff.
He had this huge pile of books in his office underneath his blackboard. People apparently sent him books all the time to read and the pile was those he had no time or inclination to read. He asked each one of us, the kids and myself to take at least one.
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