Paul A. M. Dirac, Interview by Friedrich Hund (1982) [video]

58 points by emerongi 4 days ago | 9 comments

srean 4 days ago |
https://saemiller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1A934B69-17...
One of my favorite photographs. It captures their characters so well.
rramadass 4 days ago |
Nice; the quintessential Theoretical/Mathematical Physicist!
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strangest_Man
Paul Dirac Quotes - https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac
Read his lecture/essay; The Relation between Mathematics and Physics by Paul Dirac - https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/events/strings02/dirac/speach.ht...
Wikipedia also has a nice general overview; Relationship between Mathematics and Physics - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_mathemati...
signa11 4 days ago |
aside: for feynman, mr. oppenheimer said "he is a second Dirac, only this time human".
amai 3 days ago |
Both were pretty neurodivergent. Dirac had Autism and Feynman probably Autism + ADHD .
skew-aberration 2 days ago |
It is a shame to think that people might be aware of Dirac only through reference to Feynman, whose greatest works extended Dirac's own original breakthroughs. He has been rightly likened instead to Einstein for the brilliance and creativity of his contributions. Dirac created much of the foundations, modern formalisms, and mathematical tools of (especially relativistic) QM and also wrote the best textbook on the subject.
amai 3 days ago |
Dirac: "Yes, that is so."
rramadass a day ago |
"There is no God and Dirac is his Prophet".
-- Wolfgang Pauli.
meken 2 days ago |
I recently watched the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, where they make reference to a Dirac Sea [1].
It seemed very magical/trippy/cool.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_sea
bigmattystyles 2 days ago |
Are the two middle initials necessary? Any other notable Paul Dirac's?