FSU Physics Home

Physics News

Physics Education/Outreach

2009 Florida State Physics News

• Kirby Kemper named APS Outstanding Referee
• With NSF Grant, Researchers Put Their 'Spin' on Electron Research
• Book sheds light on the life of Paul Dirac
• Circus brings fun to physics
• Bernd Berg elected Secretary-Treasurer of DCOMP
• Ben Thayer Receives Prestigious National Fellowship in Theoretical Particle Physics
• Serbia lauds native son with award in physical science
• Two professors and a scholar/scientist named APS ‘Outstanding Referees’
• Physicists get first look at single top quarks
• A Pioneer in Physics: Philip J. Wyatt
• Physicist tapped to lead Electron Magnetic Resonance program
• Florida State physics professors join prestigious ranks of AAAS fellows
• Researchers named American Physical Society fellows

Book sheds light on ‘Strangest Man’

Presentation, book focus on life of late FSU professor Paul Dirac

By Courtney Griffin • The fsunews.com Staff Writer • October 5, 2009

 

The Strangest man - The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius by Graham Farmelo

A standing-room-only crowd turned out at the Alumni Center on October 1, 2009 to hear the author of a new biography talk about "Paul Dirac's Road to Tallahassee."

The author, Graham Farmelo, traced the Nobel Prize winner's life from his childhood in England to his work as a physics professor at Florida State from 1971-1984. Based on previously undiscovered archives, the book, titled /The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom,/ has received much critical acclaim.

A reviewer for /The New York Times/ calls it "the most satisfying and memorable biography I have read in years," while /Publisher's Weekly/ says Farmelo's "great affection for his odd but brilliant subject shows on every page, giving Dirac the biography any great scientist deserves." While he was researching the book, Farmelo spent time at the Dirac Science Library as well as elsewhere on campus collecting Dirac anecdotes from FSU faculty members and friends. In fact, Farmelo featured comments from Dirac's friend Kurt Hofer, Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Emeritus of biology at Florida State, extensively in the prologue.

The talk marked the U.S. launch of the book, and the following day the author was a guest on National Public Radio's /Science Friday/. The event was hosted by Dean Joseph Travis of Arts & Sciences, Dean Julia Zimmerman of University Libraries, the Department of Physics, and Friends of FSU Libraries.

The name Paul Dirac is attributed to the campus science library and to the late Nobel Prize winning Florida State University professor, but a new book by Graham Farmelo sheds light on the life of a remarkable man who held ranks with the likes of Albert Einstein and Issac Newton in the field of 20th century physics.

Farmelo, biographer and senior research fellow at the London Science Museum, hosted a presentation on his book, The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom with the help of several FSU departments on Thursday, Oct. 1 in the FSU Alumni Center.Farmelo depicted Dirac as a man of great modesty and a lack of conversational skills (typically limiting his responses to “yes,” “no” and “I don’t mind” after 30 seconds of thought) but also of immense achievement.

Dirac contributed to the early development of quantum mechanics as well as to the prediction of the existence of antimatter. Farmelo interspersed discussions of scientific discovery with stories of Dirac’s love of Cher, Mickey Mouse and James Bond films and the physicist learning to water ski in his mid-70s.

“He is a hero to modern theoretical physicists,” Farmelo said. “I knew he had an unusual life, but I didn’t realize how rich a life he had, and that’s why I wanted to write it.” Farmelo’s book has already received positive reviews from the New York Times and made Time magazine’s online “Top 5 Things to Do” for the week of Sept. 18.

Over 200 people attended the presentation to learn more about the book and Dirac himself.

“The event marked the official U.S. launch of the new book by Graham Farmelo about Dirac,” said Mark Riley, chair of the Department of Physics. “It was a spectacular success. Extra chairs had to be brought in for the huge crowd, and even then, many people had to stand.”

Riley said that the presentation was designed to allow community members to learn more about the man who spent his last 14 years in Tallahassee. He said the feedback he’s received of the event has been universally glowing.

“Although (Dirac) is probably FSU’s most famous faculty member ever, very little is actually known about him by the general population,” Riley said. “If you can imagine having Shakespeare as a member of the English Department, then you can understand what it was to have Dirac as a faculty member in Physics.”

Dirac held the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge from 1932 until 1969, when he retired and moved to Florida.

“Dirac has been an idol of mine since I was a teenager and picked up my first book on quantum mechanics,” Riley said. “Very early on, I learned he was a very gentle quiet fellow, a man of very few words indeed.”

Following the presentation, several audience members stood up and spoke about their personal interaction with Dirac during his time here and how his presence influenced them

“I used to talk to him as he was walking from his house to the physics building,” professor of biology Marc Freeman said. “He didn’t have much to say, but I’ve read a great deal about him and he was fantastic.”

Freeman said that it was the students who always benefited the most from Dirac

“As opposed to most prima donnas who don’t teach courses, he taught courses and enjoyed it, and the students loved him as well,” Freeman said. “I only hope that he could have lived longer. ”

Freeman said that this book was a long time coming — too long.

“It is a wonderful book which brings long overdue insight and recognition to this towering scientist, ” Riley said. “I hope FSU students will appreciate that Dirac is not just a curious statue next to the library but one of the greatest scientists of all time, someone who fundamentally changed the way we think about our universe (and) someone who laid the foundation of modern technology.”

Riley described Dirac as someone who helped Einstein when Einstein was having problems with physics, whose name will be taught in classrooms a thousand years from now, who lived on Chapel Drive just around the corner from Doak Campbell Stadium and who has a gravestone in Westminster Abbey right next to Isaac Newton but chose to be buried here in Tallahassee.

Farmelo said he hopes the book will give people a three-dimensional picture of Dirac and allow them to fully appreciate the extent of his achievements in physics.

“FSU has many very distinguished faculty (members), but I suspect he will long remain perhaps the most distinguished,” Farmelo said. “He was an incomparably bright man who is still productive even after death because of the rotundity of his contributions.”