Paul Dirac (1902–84,) fully Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, was a British engineer and theoretical physicist. Regarded as the second most significant physicist of the 20th century, after Albert Einstein, Dirac is one of the originators of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.
Born in Bristol, England, Dirac studied electrical engineering at the University of Bristol’s engineering faculty. He then studied mathematics at Cambridge, completing his PhD in 1926. In 1930, Dirac published the classic work The Principles of Quantum Mechanics. He served as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge 1932–69 and physics professor at Florida State University 1971–84.
In 1928, Dirac introduced a notation for quantum equations that combined Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger’s differential calculus with German physicist Werner Heisenberg’s use of matrices. Dirac described the electron’s properties, including its spin, and hypothesized the positron’s existence by applying Einstein’s theory of relativity to quantum mechanics.
Dirac’s theories on quantum mechanics won him the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared with Schrödinger. Dirac continued to make profound contributions, bringing abstract mathematics to physics, beyond predicting anti-particles as he did in his Dirac Equation.
Dirac is infamous for speaking only when spoken to, using words very sparingly, and his incapacity for polite conversation. Danish science historian Helge Kragh wrote Dirac: A Scientific Biography (1990) and Cambridge science writer Graham Farmelo the biography The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius (2009.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Paul Dirac
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in the case of poetry, it’s the exact opposite!
—Paul Dirac
Topics: Art, Poets, Poetry
The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research.
—Paul Dirac
Topics: Control, Life, Ideas
The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible.
—Paul Dirac
If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination.
—Paul Dirac
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Leave a Reply