Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was one of the leading theoretical physicists of the twentieth century. He made significant contributions to the early development of quantum mechanics, to theories of atomic structure and properties, and to quantum electrodynamics (the study of electrical interactions between atomic particles). Dirac successfully predicted the existence of the positron, i.e., a positively charged electron, and established the theoretical foundations for later discoveries related to antimatter. Dirac shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Erwin Schrödinger in 1933 for his "discovery of new fertile forms of the theory of atoms and for its applications." Few of Dirac's theories were simple to grasp, and for that reason he had few students during his career.

Dirac was born in Bristol, England on August 8, 1902 to Charles Adrien Ladislas Dirac, a Swiss immigrant, and Florence Hannah (Holten) Dirac, a native of Britain. Dirac's father taught French at...