Author of critically acclaimed biography of Paul Dirac to speak at Florida State
Graham Farmelo, author of The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom, will offer a free lecture to the public at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Florida State University Alumni Center Grand Ballroom.
Although Dirac died 25 years ago, the 2009 biography sheds new light--both personally and professionally--on one of Florida State's most distinguished faculty members ever and is based on previously undiscovered archives.
Biography of Paul Dirac by Graham Farmelo
Dirac, who won the Nobel Prize in 1933, worked in the Department of Physics at Florida State from 1971 until his death in 1984. Early in his career he predicted the existence of antimatter, and he was one of Einstein's most admired colleagues. Nevertheless, Dirac was an enigmatic personality, and countless stories attest to his lack of conversation skills and his general social awkwardness.
Farmelo's talk is titled "Paul Dirac's Road to Tallahassee" and marks the U.S. launch of the book, which was first published in the United Kingdom and has received rave reviews.
Publisher's Weekly says, "Farmelo proves himself a wizard at explaining the arcane aspects of particle physics. His great affection for his odd but brilliant subject shows on every page, giving Dirac the biography any great scientist deserves."
Farmelo, a former theoretical physicist, is Senior Research Fellow at the Science Museum in London and an adjunct professor of physics at Northeastern University in Boston. An international consultant in science communication, he edited the best-selling book, It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science.
After the lecture, the author will be on hand to sign copies of the book, which will be available for purchase.
Click here to read a review of the book in The New York Times.