Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac: Reminiscences about a Great Physicist

by Behram N. Kursunogammalu (Editor)

In this memorial volume, twenty-four of Dirac's closest friends, colleagues and contemporaries remember him with affection. Dirac, who died in 1984, was unquestionably one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century. The book describes his human side, with many anecdotes about the man with a reputation for silence. His immense influence on modern physics is surveyed in chapters written by eminent scientists. Dirac was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 at the age of thiry-one. His tremendous contributions to the field included his prediction of the magnetic moment and antiparticles as well as the spin of the electron. His formulations of the quantum field theory, statistics of particles and fields, his work on gravitational waves, and his prediction of magnetic monopoles stand as monuments to his originality and deep understanding of natural phenomena. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the development of quantum theory or in Paul Dirac.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 1987