Paul Dirac

(1902 -1984) Theoretical physicist

Paul Dirac (1902-1984) was born in Bristol and studied at Bristol University, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering in 1921. Two years later, he began research at the University of Cambridge. He received his PhD from Cambridge in 1926 for his work on quantization rules. He proposed the Dirac equation in 1928, and predicted the existed of the positron, which was later observed by Carl Anderson. Dirac is generally regarded as the founder of quantum electrodynamics, and introduced the conept of vacuum polarisation in the 1930s. His 1930 Principles of Quantum Mechanics is an important landmark in the field of science, still taught today.

From 1932 to 1969, Dirac was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and conducted important research on uranium enrichment during the Second World War. He shared the Nobel Prize for physics with Erwin Schrödinger in 1933, and Royal Medal in 1939 and received the Copley Medal and the Max Planck medal in 1952.

Dirac died in 1984. A plaque in his honour was unveiled at Westminster Abbey in 1995, accompanied by a speech from Stephen Hawking.