by Dr Graham Farmelo (Author)
Paul Dirac was one of the leading pioneers of the greatest revolution in 20th-century science: quantum mechanics. One of the youngest theoreticians ever to win the Nobel Prize for Physics, he was also pathologically reticent, strangely literal-minded and legendarily unable to communicate or empathize. Through his greatest period of productivity, his postcards home contained only remarks about the weather. Based on a previously undiscovered archive of family papers, Graham Farmelo celebrates Dirac's massive scientific achievement while drawing a compassionate portrait of his life and work. Farmelo shows a man who, while hopelessly socially inept, could manage to love and sustain close friendship. 'The Strangest Man' is an extraordinary and moving human story, as well as a study of one of the most exciting times in scientific history.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 560
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Published: 22 Jan 2009
ISBN 10: 0571222781
ISBN 13: 9780571222780
Book Overview: The spellbinding story of the man hailed as the greatest physicist since Newton.
Prizes: Winner of Costa Biography Award 2009.