Paul Dirac Net Worth

Background and career

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac ( dih-RAK; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory. He was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1932 to 1969, and a professor of physics at Florida State University from 1970 to 1984. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory."

Dirac graduated from the University of Bristol with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1921, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics in 1923. Dirac then graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, with a Doctor of Philosophy in Physics in 1926, writing the first ever thesis on quantum mechanics.

In 1928, Dirac formulated the Dirac equation, which connected special relativity and quantum mechanics, and predicted the existence of antimatter. The equation has been regarded by some physicists as "the real seed of modern physics". He contributed to Fermi–Dirac statistics, a theory which describes the behaviour of fermions, particles with half-integer spin. His 1930 monograph The Principles of Quantum Mechanics is one of the most influential texts on the subject.

Abdus Salam declared that "Dirac was undoubtedly one of the greatest physicists of this or any century ... No man except Einstein has had such a decisive influence, in so short a time, on the course of physics in this century." Stephen Hawking stated that "Dirac has done more than anyone this century, with the exception of Einstein, to advance physics and change our picture of the universe."