The strangest man
by Graham Farmelo · first published 2009
78% recommend22% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Well-written, page-turning biography of physicist Paul Dirac that covers his awkward personality and the development of quantum physics without heavy jargon; suits general readers curious about his life.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
From the Publisher: Paul Dirac was among the great scientific geniuses of the modern age. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, the most revolutionary theory of the past century, his contributions had a unique insight, eloquence, clarity, and mathematical power. His prediction of antimatter was one of the greatest triumphs in the history of physics. One of Einstein's most admired colleagues, Dirac was in 1933 the youngest theoretician ever to win the Nobel Prize in physics. Dirac's personality is legendary. He was an extraordinarily reserved loner, relentlessly literal-minded and a
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I recommend Graham Farmelo's 2009 biography of Dirac, The Strangest Man. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/02/paul-dirac-str... I once started a physics degree at Bristol, where Dirac was born and raised, and the department made a big show of 'their' man. The house…
on “Paul Dirac: The unsung genius” ↗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…
on “Paul Dirac: The Quiet Genius Died 30 Years Ago” ↗the book, 'the strangest man' (graham-farmelo), is an excellent biographical account of p.a.m.d his colleagues at cambridge, created a unit called 'dirac', which was 1 word/hour to describe his taciturn nature :o)
on “Paul Dirac: The Mozart of Science (2008)” ↗The Strangest Man - Graham Farmelo A biography of Paul Dirac. Very good. --------------- The Fabric of the Universe - David Deutsch What picture can we paint of the universe if we take together the best theories we…
on “Ask HN: Great book that you read recently?” ↗"Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynmann" and "What Do You Care What People Think", both [obviously] by Richard Feynmann "Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver Sacks, mostly about Sacks' early life "The strangest man: The hidden life of Paul Dirac", by Graham Farmelo "The man who loved only numbers: the story of Paul Erdos and the search for mathematical truth" by Paul Hoffman "Subtle is the lord: the science and…
on “Ask HN: what are your favorite biographies/autobiographies of a scientist?” ↗Being in the topic of Paul Dirac, there is a wonderful biography - The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius, by Graham Farmelo. It is an exceptionally well-written biography of one of the greatest physicists, and a rare combination of a page-turner and a book…
on “Quantum Mechanics: Ph.D Thesis of Paul Dirac” ↗…history. Turing's Cathedral (or as my brothers call it: Von Neumann's Cathedral). An awesome account of the history of computation, and the obstacles that had to be overcome. Cryptonomicon. Hilarious The Strangest Man, by Graham Farmelo. A biography of delightfully awkward Paul Dirac. The Library of Babel, by Jorge Luis Borges. Thought provoking and profound.
on “Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life?” ↗…William Dunham (This is less a biography more like a compedium, still recommended) Archimedes -> Archimedes, E.J Dijksterhuis(As many on this list, this is considered the seminal biography) Dirac -> The strangest man ,Graham Farmelo (This is a popular account by a good writer). Dirac: A Scientific Biography, Helge Kragh. More technical.
on “10,000 Hours with Claude Shannon (2017)” ↗The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo is a great biography of Dirac. Wholly recommended.
on “Interview with Paul Dirac (1982) [video]” ↗The Strangest man by Graham Farmelo. It`s a biography of Paul Dirac, considered one of the best physicists of the 20th century. The book elucidates his obscure life and his contribution to quantum physics while not being…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗I can recommend „The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac“.
on “Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang” ↗"The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac" is a good read if your interested in learning more about Dirac's life.
on “Paul Dirac's handwritten notes for his PhD, the first ever on quantum mechanics” ↗If you want to learn a bit more about Dirac's life, I really recommend reading "The Strangest Man" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strangest_Man
on “The life-changing love of Paul Dirac (2015)” ↗Thanks for the pointers. I'll check them out. I recently read - The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom - The Man Who Loved Only Numbers (Paul Erdős) The Dirac book is by a physicist, as opposed to a professional biographer. I very much enjoyed it. Dirac…
on “Von Neumann, Einstein, Morgenstern, Morse and Lefschetz (1952)” ↗…environment for Dirac to concentrate even more intensively on his work. Heisenberg and Schrodinger had knifed a sack of gemstones, and the race was on to pick out the diamonds. -- Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man
on “Paul Dirac's handwritten notes for his PhD, the first ever on quantum mechanics” ↗