Paul Dirac

Who was Paul Dirac?

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac ( dih-RAK; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1932 to 1969, and a professor of physics at Florida State University from 1970 to 1984. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory." Dirac graduated from the University of Bristol with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1921, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics in 1923. Dirac then graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, with a Doctor of Philosophy in Physics in 1926, writing the first ever thesis on quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for both quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory, coining the former term.

The equation connected special relativity and quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter.

Historical significance

Dirac formulated the Dirac equation, one of the most important results in physics, in 1928. The equation has been regarded by some physicists as "the real seed of modern physics". Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.