The Story Of Paul Dirac, a Theoretical Physicist

Paul Dirac, a theoretical physicist, believed that the fundamental laws governing the universe could be expressed through “pretty mathematics.” He wrote down an equation to describe the electron and noticed something odd: his equation predicted the existence of antimatter, the mirror image of matter. This positron, a subatomic particle with the same mass as electrons, carries a positive electric charge in contrast to the electron’s negative charge. If they come into contact, they annihilate each other, converting both particles into energy.

Dirac was a lonely boy who grew up in a strict educational regime, which mirrored how he taught French at the Merchant Venture’s School in Bristol. World War I indirectly benefited Dirac by freeing up space and resources for him to advance through the upper classes. His father insisted that he and his brother enroll in engineering classes at Merchant Venture's College, which the University of Bristol eventually took over. However, Paul was not cut out for such a life, as one summer spent as a trainee engineer in a factory resulted in a report describing him as a “positive menace.”

When he failed to find employment upon graduation due to the serious post-war economic depression, his father suggested he study at the University of Cambridge. Dirac secured a spot but couldn’t get a big enough scholarship to attend. Instead, the head of Bristol University’s mathematics department arranged for him to get an applied mathematics degree, which he finished in two years. When…