![]() ![]() ![]() The final two chapters break from the dating style, in order to discuss "Dirac's Brain and Persona" and his "Legacy". The book is divided into thirty-one chapters, each beginning with a short epigraph and covering a set time period, for example, chapter Twenty-one is entitled "January 1936-Summer 1939", and begins with a short quote by Paul Carus. For example, when approached by two graduate students, while on a brief visit to Berkeley, Dirac sat through a brief presentation about their work on quantum field theory, bracing themselves for his perceptive comments, there was a long silence, after which Dirac asked them "Where is the post office?" Offering to take him there, the students suggested that he could give them his thoughts on their presentation, to which Dirac replied, "I can't do two things at once." Throughout the book, Dirac's work and his unusual personality is explored, with his reservedness, apparent lack of empathy, and relentless literal-mindedness leading way to several humorous anecdotes. Farmelo charts Dirac's life from his upbringing in early 20th-century Bristol, through his years in Cambridge, Göttingen and Princeton up until his death in 1984, and that of his wife 18 years later. ![]()
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