The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book PrizeThe definitive biography of Paul Dirac, the brilliantand enigmaticphysicist whose foundational work in quantum mechanics revolutionized modern science.This biography is a gift. A thoughtprovoking meditation on human achievement, limitations, and the relations between the two. New York Times Book ReviewPaul Dirac was among the great scientific geniuses of the modern age. An admired colleague of Albert Einstein and one of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, the most revolutionary theory of the past century, Dirac also predicted the existence of antimatterwidely regarded as a triumph of twentiethcentury physicsand was the youngest theoretician ever to win the Nobel Prize in physics.Like Diracs achievements, his personality is legendary. An extraordinarily reserved loner, relentlessly literalminded and seemingly devoid of empathy, Dirac was nevertheless an intensely loyal family man, with tastes in the arts that ranged from Beethoven to Cher, from Rembrandt to Mickey Mouse.Based on previously undiscovered archives, The Strangest Man reveals the many facets of Diracs brilliantly original mind, while also charting one of the most spectacularly exciting eras in scientific history.