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253:, though he argued based on his personal acquaintance with Dirac that Dirac was not autistic according to the definition of autism being used in that era. He says Dirac may have been autistic under newer and wider definitions, and that it might be possible to settle this question by DNA analysis someday, provided that a usable sample of Dirac's DNA has been preserved.
189:, 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."
261:, responded to Dyson's review in support of Dyson's questioning Farmelo's assessment of Dirac's possible autism, and particularly appreciating Dyson's rendering of Dirac's assessment of Werner Heisenberg. Dirac's response to critics of his continued support of Werner Heisenberg (who worked on the
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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. For example, when approached by two graduate students, while on a brief visit to
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labeled the book as "a moving human story, and a study of one of the most exciting times in scientific history." The magazine placed the book in their "Best of 2009" list as well. Playwright
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and covering a set time period, for example, chapter Twenty-one is entitled "January 1936-Summer 1939", and begins with a short quote by
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four years before his death that of all the scientists who had visited his institute, Dirac was "the strangest man".
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and that this partially explains Dirac's well-known personality eccentricities.
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The book was published in the United States under a slightly different title:
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The book is divided into thirty-one chapters, each beginning with a short
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Farmelo charts Dirac's life from his upbringing in early 20th-century
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American
Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
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The
Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom
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The
Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom
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during World War 2) was "It is easy to be a hero in a democracy".
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up until his death in 1984, and that of his wife 18 years later.
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The
Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius
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The
Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius
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420:. Bookhugger.co.uk]. Archived from
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