Meanwhile, Somewhere Down South…

So while at a hotel somewhere down South for a few days (pen and watercolour pencil sketch on the right), I finally found time to sit and read Graham Farmelo’s book “The Strangest Man”, a biography of Dirac. (It has a longer subtitle as well, but the book is way over in the next room far from my cosy spot…) You may know from reading here (or maybe even have guessed) that if I were to list a few of my favourite 20th century physicists, in terms of the work they did and their approach and temperament, Dirac would be a strong contender for being at the top of the list. I am not a fan of the loudmouth and limelight-seeking school of doing physics that seems all so popular, and I much prefer the approach of quietly chipping away at interesting (not always fashionable) problems to see what might turn up, guided by a mixture of physical intuition, aesthetics, and a bit of pattern-spotting. It works, as Dirac showed time and again.

I’ve read a lot about Dirac over the years, and was, especially in view of the title of the book, a little wary of reading the book when I got it four years ago, as I am not a fan of going for the “weren’t they weird?” approach to biographies of scientists since they serve too much the idea that this is a necessary attribute to have in order to be successful, with the result that they continue to reinforce the idea in the large culture that the door to doing science is closed to most people, which I simply don’t believe to be true. But I must say that the book was excellent (I’m sure the title was chosen in part to help sell copies and so forth).

In fact, as I have been known to do with certain books, I cried a little at the end. It is hard to say why – Was it because such an extremely fine exemplar of what I love about physicists and being a physicist passed from the world? Maybe, although I know that eventually that did happen and had to happen, and will happen again… And is in fact part of the whole business in an essential way. That we can live for a while, think about the world and try to make sense of it…share some of what we find with others in the world before we inevitably die is a wonderful thing, and it gives me both joy and sadness, if the truth be told. But it still makes me cry, especially when so extremely well written as Farmelo’s book is. Was it because of Dirac’s own view of what he thought he’d achieved, and what he thought he’d failed to achieve? There’s a sadness there too, for sure, although ultimately, an individual is seldom the best judge of their legacy… You need others who have more distance from it all to help with that. But his view of his own life’s work, expressed in later years of his life, nevertheless does fill me with a bit of sadness. I’d not seen as much about this part of his life (and several other aspects) as I had in this book.

I highly recommend it.

-cvj