
Paul Dirac: The Quiet Genius Died 30 Years Ago - MaysonL
http://blog.lindau-nobel.org/paul-dirac-the-quiet-genius-died-30-years-ago/
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dkfmn
One of my favorite references to him is a recommendation[1] written by
Oppenheimer about Feynman. The line was: "He's a second Dirac, only this time
human."

Edit: to be fair Oppenheimer was quoting Wigner... Dirac went on to marry
Wigner's sister.

[1] [http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/12/he-is-second-dirac-
only...](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/12/he-is-second-dirac-only-this-
time-human.html)

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mhartl
Dirac once introduced his wife by saying, "Allow me to present Wigner's
sister, who is now my wife."

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3rd3
There is a great talk on Dirac by Graham Farmelo on YouTube:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfYon2WdR40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfYon2WdR40)

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dmunoz
Graham Farmelo also wrote The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac,
Mystic of the Atom [0] which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It's not very
technical, which is sometimes a nice attribute in these sorts of biographies,
but it covers the science as it develops, if a little too briefly.

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/The-Strangest-Man-Hidden-
Mystic/dp/046...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Strangest-Man-Hidden-
Mystic/dp/0465022103/)

~~~
ab-irato
> covers the science as it develops, if a little too briefly.

Most biographies of scientists focus on their character and personal life
rather their work.

There are very few technical biographies, even of highly technical people.
Readers won't understand the work of the scientist any better after reading
through one of them.

Quantum Man[0] by Lawrence Krauss specifically aims to be a solution to this
regarding Richard Feynman. And even in this case the exposition needs to be so
terse that only the highly technical reader will fully understand most aspects
of Feynman's work in the correct context.

Do you know of any biography of Dirac that edges on "if a little too
technical"? I would love to read that.

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Man-Richard-Feynmans-
Discoveri...](http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Man-Richard-Feynmans-
Discoveries/dp/0393340651)

~~~
pvitz
A very good resource are Thomas Kuhn's interviews with Dirac [1]. He talked
about his childhood (they barely spoke anything at home, because they had to
talk in French...), his university studies and his findings. It is quite long
but worth it!

[1]
[http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4575_1.html](http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4575_1.html)

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ab-irato
This is great material! I wonder if the recordings are available somewhere on-
line to the public.

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pvitz
As they have a lot of material of other important physicists too, I would be
very interested. They have some voice clips online, so I hope they will
release the full interviews one day.

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BigChiefSmokem
"Paul Dirac apparently had a reserved and taciturn nature. There are numerous
accounts how he didn’t mind remaining silent in company. And if asked a
question, his answer would be short and nothing but the literal truth –
sometimes the asker had to wait up to thirty minutes for it."

This is what _completes_ genius.

~~~
elpachuco
>>This is what completes genius.

Not it doesn't. People are different. Some more different than others.
Frankly, it sounds like an autistic person is being described.

