Issues

 / 

2003

 / 

September

  

From the history of physics


Dirac in 20th century physics: a centenary assessment

 a,  b
a Department of Experimental Physics, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 6, Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation
b Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, 6, Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation

Current views on Dirac’s creative heritage and on his role in the formation and development of quantum physics and in shaping the physical picture of the world are discussed. Dirac’s fundamental ideas in later life (1948-1984) and their current development are given considerable attention.

Fulltext pdf (438 KB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.1070/PU2003v046n09ABEH001165
PACS: 01.65.+g, 03.65.−w, 11.10.−z (all)
DOI: 10.1070/PU2003v046n09ABEH001165
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2003/9/c/
000188171400003
Citation: Sanyuk V I, Sukhanov A D "Dirac in 20th century physics: a centenary assessment" Phys. Usp. 46 937–956 (2003)
BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks

Îðèãèíàë: Ñàíþê Â È, Ñóõàíîâ À Ä «Äèðàê â ôèçèêå ÕÕ âåêà (ê 100-ëåòèþ ñî äíÿ ðîæäåíèÿ)» ÓÔÍ 173 965–984 (2003); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0173.200309d.0965

References (110) ↓ Similar articles (20)

  1. Taylor J G (Ed. ) Tributes to Paul Dirac (Bristol: A. Hilger, 1987)
  2. Salam A, Wigner E P (Eds) Aspects of Quantum Theory (Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1972)
  3. Mehra J (Ed.) The Physicist’s Conception of Nature: Symp. on the Development of the Physicist’s Conception of Nature in the 20th Century, Italy, 1972. Dedicated to P A M Dirac on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1973)
  4. Kursunoglu B N, Wigner E P (Eds) Reminiscences About a Great Physicist: Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987)
  5. Heisenberg W "Buchbesprechung: P A M Dirac ’The Principles of Quantum Mechanics’" Metallwirtschaft 9 988 (1930)
  6. Jost R "Foundations of quantum field theory", in Ref. [2] p. 61
  7. Smorodinskii Ya A Usp. Fiz. Nauk 148 527 (1986) [Sov. Phys. Usp. 29 281 (1986)]; see also Ref. [20] Vol. I, p. 613; Mehra J Usp. Fiz. Nauk 153 135 (1987); see also Ref. [20], Vol. II, p. 779
  8. Medvedev B V (Ed.) P A M Dirak i Fizika XX Veka (P A M Dirac and 20th Century Physics) Collected Articles (Moscow: Nauka, 1990)
  9. Dirac P A M Vospominaniya o Neobychai Epokhe (Recollections of the Extraordinary Epoch) Collected Articles (Ed. Ya A Smorodinskii, Moscow: Nauka, 1990); see also Ref. [20] Vol. I, p. 576
  10. Dirac P A M The Principles of Quantum Mechanics 3rd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1947)
  11. Einstein A "Autobiographishes", in Albert Einstein, Philosopher – Scientist (Ed. P A Schilpp, New York: Tydor, 1949) [Translated into Russian: Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov Vols I – IV (Ser. "Klassiki Nauki", Eds I E Tamm, Ya A Smorodinskii, B G Kuznetsov, Moscow: Nauka, 1965 – 1967)]
  12. Klein M J "Thermodynamics in Einstein’s thought" Science 157 509 (1967) [Translated into Russian: in Einshteinovskii Sbornik 1978 – 1979 (Moscow: Nauka, 1983) p. 150]
  13. Mehra J "Einstein and the foundation of statistical mechanics" Physica A 79 447 (1975)
  14. Dirac P A M "Homogeneous variables in classical dynamics" Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 29 389 (1933) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 461]
  15. Dirac P A M "Wave equations in conformal space" Ann. Math. 37 429 (1936) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 485]
  16. Dirac P A M "Applications of quaternions to Lorentz transformations" Proc. R. Irish Acad. A 50 261 (1945) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 553]
  17. Rechenberg H "Osnovaniya geometrii i kvantovaya algebra" (The foundations of geometry and quantum algebra); see Ref. [8] p. 15
  18. Dirac P A M "Note on the relativity dynamics of a particle" Philos. Mag. 47 1158 (1924) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 16]
  19. Dubrovskii V N, Smorodinskii Ya A, Surkov E L Relyativistskii Mir (Relativistic World, Bibliotechka ’Kvant’, Vyp. 34, Moscow: Nauka, 1984)
  20. Dirac P A M Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov T. I Kvantovaya Teoriya (Monografii, Lektsii) T. II Kvantovaya Teoriya (Nauchnye Stat’i: 1924 – 1947) T. III Kvantovaya Teoriya (Nauchnye Stat’i: 1948 – 1984) T. IV Gravitatsiya i Kosmologiya. Vospominaniya i Razmyshleniya. (Lektsii, Nauchnye Stat’i: 1937 – 1984, Collected Scientific Works Vol. I Quantum Theory (Monographs, Lectures) Vol. II Quantum Theory (Scientific Papers: 1924 – 1947) Vol. III Quantum Theory (Scientific Papers: 1948 – 1984) Vol. IV Gravitation and Cosmology. Memoirs and Thoughts (Lectures, Scientific Papers: 1937 – 1984), Ser. ’Klassiki Nauki’, Ed. A D Sukhanov, Moscow: Fizmatlit, 2002 – 2004)
  21. Heisenberg W Z. Phys. 33 879 (1925) [Translated into Russian: Usp. Fiz. Nauk 122 574 (1977)]
  22. Dirac P A M Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 109 642 (1925); [Translated into Russian: Usp. Fiz. Nauk 122 611 (1977), see also Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 59]
  23. Born M, Jordan P Z. Phys. 34 858 (1925) [Translated into Russian: Usp. Fiz. Nauk 122 586 (1977)]
  24. Born M, Heisenberg W, Jordan P Z. Phys. 35 557 (1926) [Translated into Russian: Heisenberg W Izbrannye Trudy (Selected Works, Moscow: URSS, 2001) p. 127]
  25. Dirac P A M Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 110 561 (1926); 111 281, 405; 112 661 (1926); Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 23 412, 500 (1926) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, pp. 72, 91, 117, 147, 140, 163]
  26. Dirac P A M The Principles of Quantum Mechanics (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1930)
  27. Dirac P A M "The physical interpretation of quantum dynamics" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 113 621 (1927) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 171]
  28. Dirac P A M "The basis of statistical quantum mechanics" Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 25 62 (1929); "Note on the interpretation of the density matrix in the many electron problem" Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 27 240 (1931) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, pp. 208, 279]
  29. von Neumann J Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (Berlin: J. Springer, 1932) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Nauka, 1964)]
  30. Dirac P A M "Über die Quantenmechanik der Stossvorgünge" Z. Phys. 44 585 (1927) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 191]
  31. Dirac P A M "Quantum mechanics of many-electron systems" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 123 714 (1929) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 213]
  32. Dirac P A M "Note on the exchange phenomena in the Thomas atom" Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 26 376 (1930)[See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 268]
  33. Dirac P A M "Priblizhennye metody (Dop avt. k rus. per.)" ("Approximate methods (Author’s supplement to the Russian edition"), in Dirac P A M Osnovy Kvantovoi Mekhaniki (The Elements of Quantum Mechanics, Moscow-Leningrad: Gostekhizdat, 1932); see also Ref. [20] Vol. I, p. 303
  34. Dirac P A M "The quantum theory of emission and absorption of radiation" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 114 243 (1927) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 285]
  35. Weisskopf V F "Growing up with field theory", Preprint MIT (1980) [Translated into Russian: Usp. Fiz. Nauk 138 455 (1982)]
  36. Medvedev B V, Shirkov D V Usp. Fiz. Nauk 153 59 (1987) [Sov. Phys. Usp. 30 (9) 791 (1987)]; see also Ref. [20] Vol. I, p. 626
  37. Dirac P A M, Fock V A, Podolsky B "On quantum electrodynamics" Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 2 468 (1932) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 409]
  38. Shirkov D V "Quantum field — the only form of matter", Preprint MPI-Ph/92-54 (1992)
  39. Dirac P A M "Relativistic quantum mechanics" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 136 453 (1932) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 399]
  40. Dirac P A M "Theorie du positron", in Septiéme Conseil de Physique Solvay: Structure et Propertiétés des Noyaux Atomiques, 22 – 29 October 1933 (Paris: Gautier Villars, 1934) p. 203 [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 431]
  41. Weisskopf V Z. Phys. 89 27; 90 817 (1934)
  42. Stückelberg E G G Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 21 367 (1935); Helv. Phys. Acta 9 255 (1938)
  43. Kramers H A Nuovo Cimento 15 108 (1938)
  44. Bogolyubov N N, Parasyuk O S Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 100 25 (1955)
  45. Bogolyubov N N, Shirkov D V Usp. Fiz. Nauk 55 149 (1953); 57 2 (1955)
  46. Bogolyubov N N, Parasyuk O S Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Matem. 20 585 (1956)
  47. Parasyuk O S Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Matem. 20 843 (1956)
  48. Shirkov D V Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 47 230 (1990)
  49. Stückelberg E G G, Petermann A Helv. Phys. Acta 26 499 (1953)
  50. Gell-Mann M, Low F E Phys. Rev. 95 1300 (1954)
  51. Bogolyubov N N, Shirkov D V Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 103 203 (1955)
  52. Dirac P A M "The physical interpretation of the quantum mechanics" (Bakerian Lecture 1941) Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 180 1 (1942) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 587]
  53. Dirac P A M "Quantized singularities in the electromagnetic field" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 133 60 (1931) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 388]
  54. Oppenheimer J R "On the theory of electrons and protons" Phys. Rev. 35 562 – 563 (1930)
  55. Rutherford E, Chadwick J Ellis Radiation from Radioactive Substances (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1930)
  56. Dirac P A M "Theory of Electrons and Positrons", in Nobel Lectures — Physics 1932 – 1941 (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1965) p. 320 [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. I, p. 381]
  57. Heisenberg W "Cosmic radiation and fundamental problems in physics"Naturwissenschaften 63 63 (1976)
  58. Kobzarev I Yu "K istorii positrona" (On the history of the positron), see Ref. [8] p. 21
  59. Dirac P A M "Discussion of the infinite distributions of electrons in the theory of the positron" Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 30 150 (1934) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 441]
  60. Jackiw R "Effects of Dirac’s negative energy sea in quantum numbers" Helv. Phys. Acta 59 835 (1986)
  61. Popov V S "Kvantovaya elektrodinamika sverkhsil’nykh polei" (Quantum electrodynamics of superstrong fields), in Sovremennaya Teoriya Elementarnykh Chastits (Modern Theory of Elementary Particles, Moscow: Nauka, 1984) p. 127
  62. Pauli W Die allgemeinen Prinzipien der Wellenmechanik (Handbuch der Physik, 2 Aufl., Bd. 24, Berlin: Springer, 1933) s. 82 [Translated into Russian (Moscow-Leningrad: Gostekhizdat, 1947)]
  63. Dalitz R H "Biographical sketch of the life of Professor P A M Dirac, OM, FRS", in Ref. [1]
  64. Dirac P A M The Collected Works of P.A.M. Dirac, 1924 – 1948 (Ed. R H Dalitz, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995)
  65. Dirac P A M "Generalized Hamiltonian dynamics" Can. J. Math. 2 129 (1950); "The Hamiltonian form of field dynamics" Can. J. Math. 3 1 (1951); "Generalized Hamilton dynamics" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 246 326 (1958) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [108], as well as in Ref. [20] Vol. III]
  66. Dirac P A M Lectures on Quantum Mechanics (New York: Belfer Graduate School Science, Yeshiva Univ., 1964) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Mir, 1968); see also Ref. [20] Vol. I, p. 386]
  67. Arnol’d V I, Kozlov V V, Neishtadt A I "Matematicheskie aspekty klassicheskoi i nebesnoi mekhaniki" (Mathematical aspects of classical and celestial mechanics), in Itogi Nauki i Tekhniki. Ser. Sovremennye Problemy Matematiki. Fundamental’nye Napravleniya Vol. 3 (Moscow: Izd. VINITI, 1985)
  68. Borisov A V, Mamaev I S Puassonovy Struktury i Algebry Li v Gamil’tonovoi Mekhanike (Poisson Structures and Lie Algebras in Hamiltonian Mechanics, Izhevsk: Udmurtskii Universitet, 1999)
  69. Landau L D, in Teoreticheskaya Fizika v 20 Veke (Theoretical Physics in the 20th Century) Dedicated to the memory of W Pauli (1960); Landau L D Sobranie Trudov (Collected Works) Vol. 2 (Moscow: Nauka, 1969) p. 421
  70. Chew G F The Analytic S-Matrix (New York: W.A. Benjamin, 1966) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Mir, 1968)]
  71. Okun’ L B Vvedenie v Kalibrovochnye Teorii: Lektsii, Prochitannye na Shkole OIYaI – TsERN (Moscow: Izd. MIFI, 1983)
  72. Slavnov A A, Faddeev L D Vvedenie v Kvantovuyu Teoriyu Kalibrovochnykh Polei (Introduction to the Quantum Theory of Gauge Fields) 2nd ed. (Moscow: Nauka, 1987)
  73. Dirac P A M "The Lagrangian in quantum mechanics" Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 3 64 (1933) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. III]
  74. Dirac P A M "The Lagrangian in quantum mechanics" Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 3 64 (1993) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 573]
  75. Dirac P A M "On the analogy between classical and quantum mechanics" Rev. Mod. Phys. 17 195 (1945) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 626]
  76. Faddeev L D Teor. Matem. Fiz. 1 3 (1969)
  77. Gitman D M, Tyutin I V Kanonicheskoe Kvantovanie Polei so Svyazyami (Canonical Quantization of Fields with Constraints, Moscow: Nauka, 1986)
  78. Dirac P A M "Pretty mathematics" Int. J. Theor. Phys. 21 603 (1982) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. III]
  79. Schwinger J Phys. Rev. 144 1087; 151 1048, 1055 (1966); 173 1536 (1968); Science 165 757 (1969)
  80. Atiyah M, in Quantum Physics and the Topology of Knots: Proc. XIth Intern. Congress of Mathematical Physics (Ed. E Lieb, Boston: International Press, 1995)
  81. Dirac P A M "The theory of magnetic poles" Phys. Rev. 74 817 (1948) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. III]
  82. Marinov M S Usp. Fiz. Nauk 121 377 (1977) [Sov. Phys. Usp. 20 179 (1977)]
  83. Rubakov V A Pis’ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 33 658 (1981) [JETP Lett. 33 644 (1981)]; Nucl. Phys. B 203 311 (1982); Callan C G (Jr) Phys. Rev. D 25 2141; 26 2058 (1982)
  84. Markovski B, Vinitsky S I (Eds) Topological Phases in Quantum Theory (Singapore: World Scientific, 1989)
  85. Monastyrskii M I, Sergeev A G (Eds) Monopoli: Topologicheskie i Variatsionnye Metody (Monopoles: Topological and Variational Methods) Collected Papers (Moscow: Mir, 1989)
  86. Novikov S P "Gamil’tonov formalizm i mnogoznachnyi analog teorii Morsa" (Hamiltonian formalism and the many-valued analog of the Mors theory) Usp. Matem. Nauk 37 3 (1982)
  87. Rybakov Yu P, Sanyuk V I Mnogomernye Solitony. Vvedenie v Teoriyu i Prilozheniya (Many-Dimensional Solitons. Introduction to the Theory and Applications, Moscow: Izd. RUDN, 2001)
  88. Monastyrskii M I Topologiya Kalibrovochnykh Polei i Kondensirovannykh Sred (Topology of Gauge Fields and Condensed Media, Moscow: PAIMS, 1995)
  89. Dirac P A M "A new basis for cosmology" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 165 60 (1938) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. IV]
  90. Rubakov V A Usp. Fiz. Nauk 171 913 (2001) [Phys. Usp. 44 871 (2001)]
  91. Salam A "Dirac and Finite Field Theory", see Ref. [1] p. 84
  92. Dirac P A M "Unitary representations of the Lorentz group" Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A 183 284 (1945) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. II, p. 537]
  93. Dirac P A M "An extensible model of the electron" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 268 57 (1962) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. III]
  94. Dirac P A M "Particles of finite size in the gravitation field" Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 270 354 (1962) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [20] Vol. III]
  95. Dirac P A M "The relations between mathematics and physics" Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh A 59 122 (1938 – 1939) [See the translation into Russian in Ref. [108], as well as in Ref. [20] Vol. IV]
  96. Vizgin Vl P "P.A.M. Dirac on the interrelation between physics and mathematics", see Ref. [8] p. 95
  97. Heisenberg W "Kvantovaya mekhanika i beseda s Einshteinom" (Quantum mechanics and the conversation with Einstein) Priroda (5) 87 (1972)
  98. Faddeev L D "Matematicheskii vzglyad na evolyutsiyu fiziki" (Mathematical view on the evolution of physics) Priroda (5) 11 (1989)
  99. Uffink J, van Lith J "Thermodynamic uncertainty relations" Found. Phys. 28 323 (1998)
  100. Rudoi Yu G, Sukhanov A D "Termodinamicheskie fluktuatsii v podkhodakh Gibbsa i Einshteina" (Thermodynamic fluctuations within the Gibbs and Einstein approaches) Usp. Fiz. Nauk 170 1265 (2000) [Phys. Usp. 43 1169 (2000)]
  101. Guth E "Brownian motion and indeterminacy relations" Adv. Chem. Phys. 15 363 (1969)
  102. Oksak A I, Sukhanov A D "Predstavlenie kvantovogo brounovskogo dvizheniya v metode kollektivnoi koordinaty" (Representation of quantum Brownian motion in the method of collective coordinate) Teor. Matem. Fiz. 136 115 (2003) [Theor. Math. Phys. 136 994 (2003)]
  103. Sukhanov A D "K stoletiyu neklassicheskoi fiziki" (To the centenary of nonclassical physics), in 100 Let Kvantovoi Teorii. Istoriya. Fizika. Filosofiya: Trudy Mezhdunarodnoi Konferentsii (100 Years of the Quantum Theory. History. Physics. Philosophy: International Conference Proceedings, Editor-in-chief E A Mamchur, Moscow: NIA – Priroda, 2002) p. 39
  104. Sukhanov A D "Novyi podkhod k sootnosheniyu neopredelennostei energiya – vremya" (A new approach to the energy–time uncertainty relation) Fiz. Elem. Chastits At. Yadra 32 1177 (2001) [Phys. Part. Nucl. 32 619 (2001)]
  105. Glagolev N A Proektivnaya Geometriya (Projective Geometry, Moscow-Leningrad: Gostekhizdat, 1963); Busemann H, Kelly P J Projective Geometry and Projective Metrics (New York: Academic Press, 1953) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: IL, 1957)]
  106. Cartan E The Theory of Spinors (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1966) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: IL, 1947)]
  107. Klein F Elementarmathematik vom höheren Standpunkte Bd. 2 Geometrie (Berlin: J. Springer, 1924) [Translated into English: Elementary Mathematics from an Advanced Standpoint: Geometry (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1939); Translated into Russian (Moscow: Nauka, 1987)]
  108. Dirac P A M K Sozdaniyu Kvantovoi Teorii Polya: Osnovnye Stat’i 1925 – 1958 Godov (On the Creation of Quantum Field Theory: The Main Papers of 1925 – 1958, Ed. B V Medvedev, Moscow: Fizmatlit, 1990)
  109. Sukhanov A D "Obobshchennye sootnosheniya neopredelennostei v kvantovoi mekhanike i teorii brounovskogo dvizheniya" (Generalized uncertainty relations in quantum mechanics and the theory of Brownian motion) Teor. Matem. Fiz. (2003, in press)
  110. Sukhanov A D "Sootnosheniya neopredelennostei Shredingera i fizicheskie osobennosti korrelirovanno-kogerentnykh sostoyanii" (Schrödinger uncertainty relations and physical features of correlated-coherent states) Teor. Matem. Fiz. 132 449 (2002) [Theor. Math. Phys. 132 1277 (2002)]

© 1918–2024 Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk
Email: ufn@ufn.ru Editorial office contacts About the journal Terms and conditions