Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902-1984)
Born	8 August 1902 (1902-08-08) Bristol, England
Died	October 20, 1984 (aged 82) Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Residence	UK  USA
Nationality	British
Fields	Physicist
Institutions	Cambridge University Florida State University
Alma mater	University of Bristol Cambridge University
Doctoral advisor	Ralph Fowler
Doctoral students	Homi Bhabha Harish Chandra Mehrotra Dennis Sciama Behram Kurşunoğlu John Polkinghorne Per-Olov Löwdin
Known for	Dirac equation Dirac comb Dirac delta function Fermi–Dirac statistics Dirac sea Dirac spinor Dirac measure Bra-ket notation Dirac adjoint Dirac large numbers hypothesis Dirac fermion Dirac string Dirac algebra Dirac operator Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac force Dirac bracket Fermi–Dirac integral Negative probability
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (1933)
Religious stance	Atheist[1]
Notes He is the stepfather of Gabriel Andrew Dirac. Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A physicist is a Scientist who studies or practices Physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the Florida State University (commonly referred to as Florida State or FSU) is a public Research University located in Tallahassee Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval the University (or derivatives but lower-case when referring to many universitiesor universities The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the A doctorate is an Academic degree that indicates the highest level of academic achievement Sir Ralph Howard Fowler OBE FRS ( January 17 1889 &ndash July 28 1944) was a British Physicist and Astronomer This page is about the physicist Homi J Bhabha For the postcolonialist theorist see Homi K Harish-Chandra ( 11 October 1923 - 16 October 1983) was an Indian -born American Mathematician Dennis William Siahou Sciama FRS ( November 18 1926 &ndash December 18 1999) was a British Physicist who through his own Behram Kurşunoğlu ( Turkey, March 14, 1922 - Miami, USA, October 25, 2003) was a Turkish Physicist John Polkinghorne, Per-Olov Löwdin (born October 28, 1916 in Uppsala, Sweden, died October 6, 2000) was a Swedish Physicist In Physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation formulated by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928 and provides In Mathematics, a Dirac comb (also known as an impulse train and sampling function in Electrical engineering) is a periodic The Dirac delta or Dirac's delta is a mathematical construct introduced by the British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac. In Statistical mechanics, Fermi-Dirac statistics is a particular case of Particle statistics developed by Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac that The Dirac sea is a theoretical model of the Vacuum as an infinite sea of particles possessing Negative energy. In Quantum field theory, Dirac spinor is the Bispinor in the plane-wave solution \psi = \omega_\vec{p}\e^{-ipx} \ of the In Mathematics, a Dirac measure is a measure &delta x on a set X (with any ''&sigma''-algebra of Subsets Bra-ket notation is a standard notation for describing Quantum states in the theory of Quantum mechanics composed of angle brackets (chevrons and Vertical In Quantum field theory, the Dirac adjoint \bar\psi of a Dirac spinor \ \psi is defined to be the dual Spinor \ The Dirac large numbers hypothesis (LNH refers to an observation made by Paul Dirac in 1937 relating ratios of size scales in the Universe to that of force scales In Particle physics, a Dirac fermion is a Fermion which is not its own Anti-particle. In Physics, a Dirac string is a fictitious one-dimensional curve in space conceived of by the physicist Dirac, stretched from a Magnetic monopole - also In Mathematical physics, the Dirac algebra is the Clifford algebra C �( C) which is generated by Matrix multiplication In Mathematics and Quantum mechanics, a Dirac operator is a Differential operator that is a formal square root or Half-iterate, of a second-order In Electrodynamics, the Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac force is the Force experienced by a relativistic charged particle due to an Electromagnetic field. The Dirac bracket is a generalization of the Poisson bracket developed by Paul Dirac to correctly treat systems with second class constraints in Hamiltonian Fermi–Dirac integral may mean one of the following Complete Fermi–Dirac integral Incomplete Fermi–Dirac integral In 1942 Paul Dirac wrote a paper "The Physical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" where he introduced the concept of Negative Energies and The Nobel Prize in Physics (Nobelpriset i fysik is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Atheism Gabriel Andrew Dirac (1925–1984 was a Mathematician who mainly worked in Graph theory.

Quantum mechanics

Uncertainty principle

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Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS (IPA: /dɪˈræk/) (August 8, 1902 – October 20, 1984) was a British theoretical physicist. Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons In Quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that locating a particle in a small region of space makes the Momentum of the particle uncertain Quantum mechanics (QM or quantum theory) is a physical science dealing with the behavior of Matter and Energy on the scale of Atoms The mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics is the body of mathematical formalisms which permits a rigorous description of Quantum mechanics. The Order of Merit is a British and Commonwealth Order bestowed by the Monarch. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Theoretical physics employs Mathematical models and Abstractions of Physics in an attempt to explain experimental data taken of the natural world Dirac made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Quantum electrodynamics ( QED) is a relativistic Quantum field theory of Electrodynamics. He held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and spent the last ten years of his life at Florida State University. The incumbent of the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, the Lucasian Professor is the holder of a mathematical Professorship at the University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the Florida State University (commonly referred to as Florida State or FSU) is a public Research University located in Tallahassee Among other discoveries, he formulated the so-called Dirac equation, which describes the behavior of fermions and which led to the prediction of the existence of antimatter. In Physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation formulated by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928 and provides In Particle physics, fermions are particles which obey Fermi-Dirac statistics; they are named after Enrico Fermi. In Particle physics and Quantum chemistry, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the Antiparticle to Matter, where antimatter is composed Dirac shared the Nobel Prize in physics for 1933 with Erwin Schrödinger, "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory. The Nobel Prize in Physics (Nobelpriset i fysik is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. History See also Atomic theory, Atomism The concept that matter is composed of discrete units and cannot be divided into arbitrarily tiny "^[2]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Birth and education 1.2 Middle years 1.3 Later years 1.4 Death and afterwards 2 Honours and awards 3 Personality 4 Religious views 5 Legacy 6 Selected bibliography 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Biography

Birth and education

Paul Dirac was born in Bristol,^[3] England and grew up in the Bishopston area of the city. Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Bishopston the name of both a council ward of the city of Bristol, England, and a Suburb of the city that falls within that ward His father, Charles Dirac, was an immigrant from Saint-Maurice in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. Saint-Maurice, or Saint-Maurice-en-Valais, is a municipality and district capital of the district of Saint-Maurice in the canton of The Valais ( German:) is one of the 26 Cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation His mother was originally from Cornwall and the daughter of a mariner. Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar Paul had an elder brother, Félix, who committed suicide in March of 1925, and a younger sister, Béatrice. His early family life appears to have been unhappy due to his father's unusually strict and authoritarian nature. He was educated first at Bishop Road Primary School and then at Merchant Venturers' Technical College (later Cotham Grammar School), where his father was a French teacher. The Society of Merchant Venturers (or just the "Merchant Venturers") is a private charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol, which French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The school was an institution attached to the University of Bristol, which emphasized scientific subjects and modern languages. the University (or derivatives but lower-case when referring to many universitiesor universities This was an unusual arrangement at a time when secondary education in Britain was still dedicated largely to the classics, and something for which Dirac would later express gratitude. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located "Classical literature" redirects here For literature in Classical languages outside the Graeco-Roman sphere see Ancient literature.

Dirac studied electrical engineering at the University of Bristol, completing his degree in 1921. Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of Engineering that deals with the study and application of the University (or derivatives but lower-case when referring to many universitiesor universities He then decided that his true calling lay in the mathematical sciences and, after completing a BA in applied mathematics at Bristol in 1923, he received a grant to conduct research at St John's College, Cambridge, where he would remain for most of his career. Applied mathematics is a branch of Mathematics that concerns itself with the mathematical techniques typically used in the application of mathematical knowledge to other domains St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a At Cambridge, Dirac pursued his interests in the theory of general relativity (an interest he gained earlier as a student in Bristol) and in the nascent field of quantum physics, under the supervision of Ralph Fowler. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of Gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916 Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons Sir Ralph Howard Fowler OBE FRS ( January 17 1889 &ndash July 28 1944) was a British Physicist and Astronomer

Middle years

Dirac noticed an analogy between the Poisson brackets of classical mechanics and the recently proposed quantization rules in Werner Heisenberg's matrix formulation of quantum mechanics. In Mathematics and Classical mechanics, the Poisson bracket is an important operator in Hamiltonian mechanics, playing a central role in the definition Classical mechanics is used for describing the motion of Macroscopic objects from Projectiles to parts of Machinery, as well as Astronomical objects Werner Heisenberg (5 December 1901 in Würzburg &ndash1 February 1976 in Munich) was a German theoretical physicist best known for enunciating the Matrix mechanics is a formulation of Quantum mechanics created by Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan in 1925 This observation allowed Dirac to obtain the quantization rules in a novel and more illuminating manner. In Physics, quantization is a procedure for constructing a Quantum field theory starting from a classical field theory. In Physics, canonical quantization is one of many procedures for quantizing a Classical theory. For this work, published in 1926, he received a Ph.D. from Cambridge. "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation.

In 1928, building on Wolfgang Pauli's work on non-relativistic spin systems, he proposed the Dirac equation as a relativistic equation of motion for the wavefunction of the electron. In Quantum mechanics, spin is a fundamental property of atomic nuclei, Hadrons and Elementary particles For particles with non-zero spin In Physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation formulated by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928 and provides Special relativity (SR (also known as the special theory of relativity or STR) is the Physical theory of Measurement in Inertial A wave function or wavefunction is a mathematical tool used in Quantum mechanics to describe any physical system The electron is a fundamental Subatomic particle that was identified and assigned the negative charge in 1897 by J This work led Dirac to predict the existence of the positron, the electron's antiparticle, which he interpreted in terms of what came to be called the Dirac sea. The positrons or antielectron is the Antiparticle or the Antimatter counterpart of the Electron. to most kinds of particles, there is an associated antiparticle with the same Mass and opposite Electric charge. The Dirac sea is a theoretical model of the Vacuum as an infinite sea of particles possessing Negative energy. The positron was observed by Carl Anderson in 1932. Carl David Anderson ( 3 September 1905 &ndash 11 January 1991) was an American Physicist. Dirac's equation also contributed to explaining the origin of quantum spin as a relativistic phenomenon. In Quantum mechanics, spin is a fundamental property of atomic nuclei, Hadrons and Elementary particles For particles with non-zero spin

The necessity of electron matter being created and destroyed in Enrico Fermi's 1934 theory of beta decay, however, led to a reinterpretation of Dirac's equation as a "classical" field equation for any point particle of spin ħ/2, itself subject to quantization conditions involving anti-commutators. In Nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of Radioactive decay in which a Beta particle (an Electron or a Positron) is emitted A field equation is an equation in a Physical theory that describes how a Fundamental force (or a combination of such forces interacts with Matter In mathematics anticommutativity refers to the property of an operation being anticommutative, i Thus reinterpreted as a (quantum) field equation, this Dirac field equation is as central to theoretical physics as the Maxwell, Yang-Mills and Einstein field equations. In Classical electromagnetism, Maxwell's equations are a set of four Partial differential equations that describe the properties of the electric Gauge theory is a peculiar Quantum field theory where the Lagrangian is invariant under certain transformations General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of Gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916 Dirac is regarded as the founder of quantum electrodynamics, being the first to use that term. Quantum electrodynamics ( QED) is a relativistic Quantum field theory of Electrodynamics. He also introduced the idea of vacuum polarization in the early 1930s. In Quantum field theory, and specifically Quantum electrodynamics, vacuum polarization describes a process in which a background Electromagnetic field produces This work was key to the development of quantum mechanics by the next generation of theorists, and in particular Schwinger, Feynman, Sin-Itiro Tomonaga and Dyson in their formulation of quantum electrodynamics. Julian Seymour Schwinger ( February 12, 1918 &ndash July 16, 1994) was an American Theoretical physicist. Richard Phillips Feynman (ˈfaɪnmən May 11 1918 – February 15 1988 was an American Physicist known for the Path integral formulation of quantum Sin-Itiro Tomonaga or Shinichirō Tomonaga (朝永 振一郎 Tomonaga Shin'ichirō, March 31, 1906 Freeman John Dyson FRS (born December 15, 1923) is an English-born American theoretical Physicist and Mathematician, famous for his

Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics, published in 1930, is a landmark in the history of science. Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Science is a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world, produced by a global community of researchers It quickly became one of the standard textbooks on the subject and is still used today. In that book, Dirac incorporated the previous work of Werner Heisenberg on matrix mechanics and of Erwin Schrödinger on wave mechanics into a single mathematical formalism that associates measurable quantities to operators acting on the Hilbert space of vectors that describe the state of a physical system. Werner Heisenberg (5 December 1901 in Würzburg &ndash1 February 1976 in Munich) was a German theoretical physicist best known for enunciating the Matrix mechanics is a formulation of Quantum mechanics created by Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Pascual Jordan in 1925 In Physics, especially Quantum mechanics, the Schrödinger equation is an equation that describes how the Quantum state of a Physical system This article assumes some familiarity with Analytic geometry and the concept of a limit. The book also introduced the delta function. The Dirac delta or Dirac's delta is a mathematical construct introduced by the British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac. Following his 1939 article^[4], he also included the bra-ket notation in the third edition of his book^[5], thereby contributing to its universal use nowadays. Bra-ket notation is a standard notation for describing Quantum states in the theory of Quantum mechanics composed of angle brackets (chevrons and Vertical

In 1933, following his 1931 paper on magnetic monopoles, Dirac showed that the existence of a single magnetic monopole in the universe would suffice to explain the observed quantization of electrical charge. In Physics, a magnetic monopole is a hypothetical particle that is a Magnet with only one pole (see Maxwell's equations for more on magnetic Electric charge is a fundamental conserved property of some Subatomic particles which determines their Electromagnetic interaction. In 1975^[6] and 1982^[7] intriguing results suggested the possible detection of magnetic monopoles, but there is to date no convincing evidence for their existence.

He married Eugene Wigner's sister, Margit, in 1937. Eugene Paul "EP" Wigner ( Hungarian Wigner Pál Jenő) ( November 17, 1902 &ndash January 1, 1995) was a Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He adopted Margit's two children, Judith and Gabriel. Gabriel Andrew Dirac (1925–1984 was a Mathematician who mainly worked in Graph theory. Paul and Margit Dirac had two children together, both daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Florence Monica.

Later years

Dirac was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge from 1932 to 1969. The incumbent of the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, the Lucasian Professor is the holder of a mathematical Professorship at the University of Cambridge In 1937, he proposed a speculative cosmological model based on the so called large numbers hypothesis. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Physical cosmology, as a branch of Astronomy, is the study of the large-scale structure of the Universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its The Dirac large numbers hypothesis (LNH refers to an observation made by Paul Dirac in 1937 relating ratios of size scales in the Universe to that of force scales During World War II, he conducted important theoretical and experimental research on uranium enrichment by gas centrifuge. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Enriched uranium is a kind of Uranium in which the percent composition of Uranium-235 has been increased through the process of Isotope separation. A gas centrifuge is a separating machine specifically developed to separate Uranium-235 from Uranium-238.

Dirac's quantum electrodynamics led to predictions for experimental results that were infinite, but around 1950 the renormalization approach solved these problems. In Quantum field theory, the Statistical mechanics of fields and the theory of self-similar geometric structures renormalization refers to a collection Dirac criticized that approach "monomaniacally", and his work on the subject moved increasingly out of the mainstream. In 1975 he said, "I must say that I am very disturbed by the situation, because this so-called "good theory" does involve neglecting infinities, which appear in its equations, neglecting them in an arbitrary way. This is just not sensible mathematics. Sensible mathematics involves neglecting a quantity when it is small—not neglecting it just because it is infinitely great and you do not want it!"^[8] After having relocated to Florida in order to be near his elder daughter, Mary, Dirac spent his last ten years (of both life and physics research) at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida. Florida State University (commonly referred to as Florida State or FSU) is a public Research University located in Tallahassee

Amongst his many students was John Polkinghorne, who recalls that Dirac "was once asked what was his fundamental belief. John Polkinghorne, He strode to a blackboard and wrote that the laws of nature should be expressed in beautiful equations. "^[9]

Death and afterwards

In 1984 Dirac died in Tallahassee, Florida where he is buried. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the ^[10] The Dirac-Hellmann Award at FSU was endowed by Dr Bruce P. Hellmann (Dirac's last doctoral student) in 1997 to reward outstanding work in theoretical physics by FSU researchers. The Paul A. M. Dirac Science Library at FSU is named in his honor. In 1995, a plaque in his honour bearing his equation was unveiled at Westminster Abbey in London with a speech from Stephen Hawking. In Physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation formulated by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928 and provides The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Stephen William Hawking CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (born 8 January 1942 is a British theoretical physicist. A commemorative garden has been established opposite the railway station in Saint-Maurice, Switzerland, the town of origin of his father's family. Saint-Maurice, or Saint-Maurice-en-Valais, is a municipality and district capital of the district of Saint-Maurice in the canton of

Honours and awards

Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize for physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory. The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature "^[2] Dirac was also awarded the Royal Medal in 1939 and both the Copley Medal and the Max Planck medal in 1952. The Royal Medals of the Royal Society of London, also as The Queen's Medals were established by King George IV. The Copley Medal is a scientific award for distinguished achievement in any field of Science established by the Royal Society of London in 1731 The Max Planck medal is an award for extraordinary achievements in Theoretical physics. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1930, and of the American Physical Society in 1948. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and is the World 's second largest organization of physicists behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

In 1975 Dirac gave a series of five lectures at the University of New South Wales which were subsequently published as a book, Directions of Physics (Wiley, 1978 – H. The University of New South Wales, also known as UNSW or colloquially as New South, is a University situated in Kensington, a suburb in Hora and J. Shepanski, eds. ). Dirac donated the royalties from this book to the University for the establishment of the Dirac Lecture Series ^[11]. The Silver Dirac Medal for the Advancement of Theoretical Physics is awarded by the University of New South Wales on the occasion of the Public Dirac Lecture. The University of New South Wales, also known as UNSW or colloquially as New South, is a University situated in Kensington, a suburb in

Immediately after his death, two organizations of professional physicists established annual awards in Dirac's memory. The Dirac Prize is the name of three prominent Awards in the field of Theoretical physics, Computational chemistry, and Mathematics, awarded by The Institute of Physics, the United Kingdom's professional body for physicists, awards the Paul Dirac Medal and Prize for "outstanding contributions to theoretical (including mathematical and computational) physics". The Institute of Physics (IOP is the UK and Ireland 's main professional body for Physicists It was founded as the Physical Society ^[12] The first three recipients were Stephen Hawking (1987), John Stewart Bell (1988), and Roger Penrose (1989). Stephen William Hawking CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (born 8 January 1942 is a British theoretical physicist. John Stewart Bell ( June 28 1928 &ndash October 1 1990) was a Physicist, and the originator of Bell's Theorem, one of the Sir Roger Penrose, PhD, OM, FRS (born 8 August 1931) is an English Mathematical physicist and Emeritus The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) awards the Dirac Medal of the ICTP each year on Dirac's birthday (August 8). The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP was founded in 1964 by Pakistani sceintist Abdus Salam ( Nobel Laureate) Also, the Dirac Prize is awarded by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in his memory. The Dirac Prize is the name of three prominent Awards in the field of Theoretical physics, Computational chemistry, and Mathematics, awarded by The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP was founded in 1964 by Pakistani sceintist Abdus Salam ( Nobel Laureate)

The street on which the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida, is located was named Paul Dirac Drive. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory develops and operates high Magnetic field facilities that scientists use for basic research in Physics, Biology Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the There is also a road named after him in his home town of Bristol, UK. Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London The BBC named its video codec Dirac in his honour. A video Codec is a device or Software that enables Video compression and/or decompression for digital video Dirac is a prototype Algorithm for the encoding and decoding of raw video And in the popular British television show Doctor Who, the character Adric was named after him (Adric is an anagram of Dirac). Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Adric is a Fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who An anagram ( Greek anagramma 'letters written anew' passive participle of ana- 'again' + gramma 'letter' is a type of Word play

Personality

Dirac was known among his colleagues for his precise and taciturn nature. When Niels Bohr complained that he did not know how to finish a sentence in a scientific article he was writing, Dirac replied, "I was taught at school never to start a sentence without knowing the end of it. Niels Henrik David Bohr (nels ˈb̥oɐ̯ˀ in Danish 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962 was a Danish Physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding "^[13] He criticized the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer's interest in poetry: "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. "^[14]

Some psychologists, including Simon Baron-Cohen have speculated that Dirac may have suffered from Asperger syndrome, an autistic spectrum disorder, due to his taciturn nature, and logical rather than emotional mindset. Simon Baron-Cohen is a professor of Developmental psychopathology in the departments of Psychiatry and Experimental psychology, a Fellow of Trinity Asperger syndrome (also called Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's disorder, Asperger's or AS) is the Autism spectrum disorder (ASD ^[15] Dirac himself wrote in his diary during his postgraduate years that he concentrated solely on his research, and only stopped on Sunday, when he took long strolls alone.

According to a story told in different versions, a friend or student visited Dirac, not knowing of his marriage. Noticing the visitor's surprise at seeing an attractive woman in the house, Dirac said, "This is. . . this is Wigner's sister". Margit Dirac told both George Gamow and Anton Z. George Gamow (pronounced as ˈgamof ( March 4, 1904 &ndash August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Георгий Антонович Capri in the 1960s that her husband had actually said, "Allow me to present Wigner's sister, who is now my wife. "^[16][17]

Dirac was also noted for his personal modesty. He called the equation for the time evolution of a quantum-mechanical operator, which he was the first to write down, the "Heisenberg equation of motion". Most physicists speak of Fermi-Dirac statistics for half-integer-spin particles and Bose-Einstein statistics for integer-spin particles. In Statistical mechanics, Fermi-Dirac statistics is a particular case of Particle statistics developed by Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac that In Statistical mechanics, Bose - Einstein statistics (or more colloquially B-E statistics determines the statistical distribution of While lecturing later in life, Dirac always insisted on calling the former "Fermi statistics". He referred to the latter as "Einstein statistics" for reasons, he explained, of "symmetry".

Religious views

Dirac had a characteristically balanced position on God. For some physicists "God" is not a personal deity in the usual religious sense, but rather a metaphor for nature: this seems especially true of Einstein and his Spinoza - like view of God as impersonal. Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, Dirac once said "God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world".

Here he used "God" as a metaphor for nature at the same time as adhering to his own rules for complete specificity and “never starting a sentence without knowing the end of it". The sentence can mean belief in God or belief in Nature or neither or both.

Heisenberg recollects a friendly conversation among young participants at the 1927 Solvay Conference about Einstein and Planck's views on religion. The International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, located in Brussels, were founded by the Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay Wolfgang Pauli, Heisenberg and Dirac took part in it. Dirac's contribution was a poignant and clear criticism of the political manipulation of religion, which was much appreciated for its lucidity by Bohr, when Heisenberg reported it to him later. Among other things, Dirac said: "I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and as scientists honesty is our precise duty—we cannot help but admit that any religion is a pack of false statements, deprived of any real foundation. The very idea of God is a product of human imagination. . . . I do not recognize any religious myth, at least because they contradict one another. . . . " Heisenberg's view was tolerant. Pauli had kept silent, after some initial remarks, but when finally he was asked for his opinion, jokingly he said: "Well, I'd say that also our friend Dirac has got a religion and the first commandment of this religion is 'God does not exist and Paul Dirac is his prophet. '" Everybody burst into laughter, including Dirac. ^[1]

According to Margit, Dirac's wife, he believed in an intelligent creator. Although an atheist early in life, he became a Christian later in life, attending church on Sundays. ^[18]

Legacy

Dirac is widely regarded as one of the greatest physicists of all time. He was one of the founders of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons Quantum electrodynamics ( QED) is a relativistic Quantum field theory of Electrodynamics. Many physicists consider Dirac the greatest physicist of the 20th century. Antonino Zichichi, a professor of advanced physics at the University of Bologna, believes that Dirac had a much bigger impact on modern science in the 20th century than Albert Einstein. Antonino Zichichi (born October 15 1929) is an Italian physicist who has worked in the field of Nuclear physics. Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical ^[19]

Dirac's quantum-field analysis of the vibrations of a membrane, in the early 1960s, proved extremely useful to modern practitioners of Superstring theory and its closely related successor, M-Theory. See also String theory Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and Fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modelling In Theoretical physics, M-theory is a new limit of String theory in which 11 dimensions of Spacetime may be identified ^[20]

Selected bibliography

• Principles of Quantum Mechanics (1930): This book summarizes the ideas of quantum mechanics using the modern formalism that was largely developed by Dirac himself. Towards the end of the book, he also discusses the relativistic theory of the electron (the Dirac equation), which was also pioneered by him. In Physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation formulated by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928 and provides This work does not refer to any other writings then available on quantum mechanics.
• Lectures on Quantum Mechanics (1966): Much of this book deals with quantum mechanics in curved space-time.
• General Theory of Relativity (1975): This 68-page work summarizes Einstein's general theory of relativity.

See also

• Dirac notation
• Dirac matrices
• Dirac delta function, Dirac comb
• Dirac large numbers hypothesis

References

• The Second Creation: makers of the revolution in twentieth century physics by Robert P. Crease and Charles C. Mann, 1986 Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1996 (revised), Rutgers University Press. Entertaining personality-based history of particle physics/quantum mechanics in the twentieth century.
• QED and the men who made it: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga by Silvan S. Schweber, Princeton University Press, 1994. Includes a chapter on Dirac as the founder of quantum electrodynamics.
• "Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac"

External links

• Dirac Medal of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics
• O'Connor, John J. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP was founded in 1964 by Pakistani sceintist Abdus Salam ( Nobel Laureate) & Robertson, Edmund F. , “Paul Dirac”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive 
• Dirac Medal of the World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists (WATOC)
• The Paul Dirac Collection at Florida State University
• The Paul A. M. Dirac Collection Finding Aid at Florida State University
• Photocopies of Dirac's papers from the Florida State University collection, held under Dirac's name in the Archive Centre of Churchill College, Cambridge, UK
• Letters from Dirac (1932-36) and other papers, held in the Personal Papers archives of St John's College, Cambridge, UK
• Annotated bibliography for Paul Dirac from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues

Persondata
NAME	Dirac, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	August 8, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bristol, England
DATE OF DEATH	October 20, 1984
PLACE OF DEATH	Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.

The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is an award-winning website maintained by John J The World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists ( WATOC) is a scholarly association founded in 1982 "in order to encourage the development and application Churchill College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1958 as the national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a A physicist is a Scientist who studies or practices Physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

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