Lectures on Quantum Field Theory

by Paul A.M. Dirac

Genres: Science

Unknown Binding

About the author

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a member of the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami, and spent the last decade of his life at Florida State University.

Among other discoveries, he formulated the Dirac equation which describes the behaviour of fermions and predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory". He also made significant contributions to the reconciliation of general relativity with quantum mechanics.

Reviews

[George Kasnic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit that I will probably understand less than 25% of this book, and definitely less than 10% of the mathematics, and probably less than 1% of the physics. But there are two motivations behind this reading.

Conversations I have had with competent mathematicians (people who do higher math for a living, or have an incredibly deep and broad math background like engineers) have revealed repeatedly a lack of curiousity about how the formulae, methods, and algorithms by which they operate were derived. Sure they can complete proofs, but universally in my experience cannot elucidate what the mathematicians who discovered/constructed those forms were thinking. And they found my curiousity about the history of this thought - to phrase it kindly - odd and unproductive. I only know one physicist and have not had this conversation with her , and given your intellectual curiousity I would ask what your experience with fellow physicists is.
So the first reason I am reading this it to hear directly from Paul Dirac, a brilliant and odd (see my second reason for this read) individual. I hope to gain insight into how his thinking occurs and experience some of the math vicariously (and vectors remain beyond me, as well as transformations, whatever Hibler and Hamiltonian spaces are as well, although Dirac explains the last two with sufficient grace that I can scrabble at the edges of the concept, what an incredibly able lecturer!), but I do not have the prerequisites to discern that actual math and concepts in any real detail and with any mastery at all.

I also read this book by way of a thread of curiousity. Footnotes, connections, asides are not something I dismiss. They gain life with me and become learning paths. From developing lessons based on a casual conversation with gifted colleague - like I did this summer - to ordering a book mentioned in the footnote of an obscure reference in a reading - which is how I got here - knowledge is a sea to swim in and I like the currents to take me where they may.
Gregory Landis is a science fiction author, his short story "Ripples in a Dirac Sea" - is something I read when it came out in 1988 ( https://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHF...... ). The story has always stuck with me, it is incredible science fiction and includes a character study, tension, and approachable science. Having read that, two decades later browsing library shelves in Hockessin Delaware while visiting my daughters (on Wednesday visitations, Delaware's standard day for weeklies, we would go to the library after dinner so they could do schoolwork) I saw a book - "The Strangest Man, The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac" ( https://www.amazon.com/Strangest-Man-... ) on an endcap. A heavy tome, I picked it up, ruffled through the pages and put it back down.

Last year I remembered the short story, read it again, and finally decided to read the biography. Paul Dirac is an incredibly interesting character, brilliant, odd, headstrong. I do not know if I would have liked him personally, but I wish I could wrap my head around what he comprehended and expounded. I cannot.

I got to thinking about Paul Dirac and decided that I did want to hear from him, what he thought, how he thought, how he presented his ideas. It took a bit of searching but I found his lectures through our interlibrary loan system in Maryland. The book came and I began reading it last night. The math is beyond me, as is the physics, but Paul Dirac came to life. I will read this book and finish it. I offer the quote below where Dirac talks about how he thinks about theoretical physics, as not only an insight into his mind, but as evidence that this reading is meaningful for his insights into the process of intellectual curiousity and the exploration of new concepts and ideas which to me apply in any field.

"One has to preserve an open mind on these subjects if one is a research worker, and one musn't believe in anything too strongly; one must always be prepared that various beliefs one has had for a long time may be overthrown. So please understand that what I am saying is, I believe, the best that can be formulated at the present time, but I certainly don't want to assert that it will survive a long time."

Nice to meet you Mr. Dirac, I look forward to getting to know you.