Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac , 1902-84, English physicist. He was educated at the Univ. of Bristol and St. John's College, Cambridge, and became professor of mathematics at Cambridge in 1932. In 1928, Dirac published a version of quantum mechanics that took into account the theory of relativity (see quantum theory ). One consequence of his theory was the prediction of negative energy states for the electron, implying the existence of an antiparticle to the electron; this antiparticle, the positron, was discovered in 1932 by C. D. Anderson. Dirac's equation for the motion of a particle is a relativistic modification of the Schrödinger wave equation, the basic equation of quantum mechanics. For their work Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dirac also received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1952 for this and other contributions to the quantum theory, including his formulation (with Enrico Fermi) of the Fermi-Dirac statistics and his work on the quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation. He wrote The Principles of Quantum Mechanics (1930, 4th ed. 1958).

Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice (1902–84) English physicist. He made valuable contributions to the development of quantum theory. In 1928 Dirac introduced a notation for quantum equations that combined Schrödinger's use of differential calculus with Heisenberg's use of matrices. In 1930 he applied Einstein's theory of relativity to quantum mechanics in order to describe the spin of an electron. The resultant equation predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics with Schrödinger.