The strangest man : the hidden life of Paul Dirac, quantum genius

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The first full biography of Paul Dirac, one of the most remarkable British physicists since Newton, explores the life of a genius who may have suffered from autism. A pioneer of quantum mechanics, Dirac was regarded as an equal by Einstein and predicted the existence of antimatter solely from his equations. He became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, yet he was known for his extreme reticence, literal-mindedness, and inability to communicate or empathize. His legendary silences contrasted with the emotional void in his speech, often limited to remarks about the weather. Dirac's life was marked by trauma, including his brother's suicide and a lifelong disdain for his father. His political views were radical, and he maintained a friendship with Russian physicist Peter Kapitza, even vacationing in the Soviet Union during the purges. Despite his emotional challenges, Dirac was capable of love and fatherhood. The biography, based on newly discovered family archives, offers a compassionate portrait of Dirac, highlighting his profound appreciation for the beauty of mathematics and suggesting that his eccentricities may have stemmed from undiagnosed autism. Graham Farmelo, the author, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Science Museum in London and an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Northeastern University, Boston.