Editing Paul Dirac (section)

==Death and tributes==
[[File:Nima visits dirac.jpg|thumb|The tombstone of Dirac and his wife in Roselawn Cemetery, [[Tallahassee, Florida]]. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Dirac, who died 20 January 2007, is buried next to them.]]
[[File:Dirac's commemorative marker.jpg|thumb|The commemorative marker in [[Westminster Abbey]]]]

In 1984, Dirac died in [[Tallahassee, Florida]], and was buried at Tallahassee's Roselawn Cemetery.<ref name="Newton">{{cite web |url=http://www.fsu.edu/~fstime/FS-Times/Volume1/Issue1/Dirac.html |title=Dirac takes his place next to Isaac Newton |publisher=Florida State University |access-date=4 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970427191316/http://www.fsu.edu/~fstime/FS-Times/Volume1/Issue1/Dirac.html |archive-date=27 April 1997 }}</ref> Dirac's childhood home in [[Bishopston, Bristol]] is commemorated with a [[blue plaque]],<ref>Fells, M., ''Bristol Plaques'' ([[Cheltenham]]: [[The History Press]], 2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ezJIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT40 p. 40].</ref> and the nearby Dirac Road is named in recognition of his links with the city of [[Bristol]]. A commemorative stone was erected in a garden in [[Saint-Maurice, Switzerland]], the town of origin of his father's family, on 1 August 1991. On 13 November 1995 a commemorative marker, made from Burlington green [[slate]] and inscribed with the [[Dirac equation]], was unveiled in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name = "Newton" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dirac.ch/PaulDirac.html |title= Paul Dirac |publisher=Gisela Dirac |access-date=4 April 2013}}</ref> The [[Dean of Westminster]], [[Edward Carpenter (priest)|Edward Carpenter]], had initially refused permission for the memorial, thinking Dirac to be anti-Christian, but was eventually (over a five-year period) persuaded to relent.<ref>{{harvnb|Farmelo|2009|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-TT_z4llWoIC&pg=PA414 414–415]}}.</ref>

===Honours===
Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize for physics with [[Erwin Schrödinger]] "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory".<ref name =nobel/> He was the youngest ever theoretician to win the prize, at the age of 31, until [[Tsung-Dao Lee|T. D. Lee]] in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farmelo |first=Graham | author-link=Graham Farmelo |date=2008 |title=Paul Dirac: The Mozart of Science |url=https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2008/farmelo-on-dirac |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=www.ias.edu |language=en}}</ref> Dirac was also awarded the [[Royal Medal]] in 1939 and both the [[Copley Medal]] and the [[Max Planck Medal]] in 1952. He was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1930,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-bio.html |title=Nobel Bio |publisher=Nobel Foundation |access-date=27 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="frs"/> a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1938,<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Paul+Dirac&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> an Honorary Fellow of the [[American Physical Society]] in 1948, a member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1949,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paul A. Dirac |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/46802.html |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1950,<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 February 2023 |title=Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/paul-adrien-maurice-dirac |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref> and an Honorary Fellow of the [[Institute of Physics]], London in 1971. He received the inaugural [[J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize]] in 1969.<ref>{{cite book| title= Winners, the blue ribbon encyclopedia of awards | url= https://archive.org/details/winnersblueribbo0000walt | url-access= registration |last=Walter |first=Claire |year=1982 |page= [https://archive.org/details/winnersblueribbo0000walt/page/438 438]|publisher=Facts on File Inc.|isbn=9780871963864 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Dirac Receives Miami Center Oppenheimer Memorial Prize |journal=Physics Today |volume=22 |issue=4 |date=April 1969 |page=127 |doi=10.1063/1.3035512 }}</ref> Dirac became a member of the [[Order of Merit]] in 1973, having previously turned down a [[knight]]hood as he did not want to be addressed by his first name.<ref name="mckie"/><ref>{{harvnb|Farmelo|2009|pp=403–404}}</ref>

After his death, two organisations of professional physicists established annual awards in Dirac's memory. The [[Institute of Physics]], the United Kingdom's professional body for physicists, awards the [[Dirac Medal (IOP)|Paul Dirac Medal]] for "outstanding contributions to theoretical (including mathematical and computational) physics".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iop.org/about/awards/gold/dirac/page_38427.html |title=The Dirac Medal | publisher=[[Institute of Physics]] | access-date=24 November 2007}}</ref> The first three recipients were [[Stephen Hawking]] (1987), [[John Stewart Bell]] (1988), and [[Roger Penrose]] (1989). Since 1985, the [[International Centre for Theoretical Physics]] awards the [[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal of the ICTP]] each year on Dirac's birthday (8 August).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/prizes-awards/the-dirac-medal.aspx |title=The Dirac Medal |publisher=International Centre for Theoretical Physics |access-date=4 April 2013}}</ref>

The Dirac-Hellman Award at [[Florida State University]] was endowed by Bruce P. Hellman in 1997 to reward outstanding work in theoretical physics by FSU researchers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.physics.fsu.edu/undergrads/UndergraduateAwards.htm |title=Undergraduate Awards |publisher=Florida State University |access-date=4 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412191942/http://www.physics.fsu.edu/undergrads/UndergraduateAwards.htm |archive-date=12 April 2013 }}</ref> The Paul A.M. Dirac Science Library at Florida State University, which Manci opened in December 1989,<ref>{{cite web|title=Remodelled Dirac Science Library Opened at FSU|url=http://grahamfarmelo.com/remodelled-dirac-science-library-formally-opened-at-fsu/|publisher=Graham Farmelo|access-date=12 October 2015|date=22 February 2015}}</ref> is named in his honour, and his papers are held there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/MSS_1989-009 |title=Paul A.M. Dirac Papers |publisher=Florida State University |access-date=18 March 2021 }}</ref> Outside is a statue of him by Gabriella Bollobás.<ref>{{harvnb|Farmelo|2009|p=417}}</ref> The street on which the [[National High Magnetic Field Laboratory]] in Innovation Park of Tallahassee, Florida, is located is named Paul Dirac Drive. As well as in his hometown of Bristol, there is also a road named after him, Dirac Place, in [[Didcot]], Oxfordshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Dirac+Pl,+Didcot+OX11+8TL/@51.6019901,-1.2359636,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4876beade0b4889f:0xa7b8fb34ab4aaa78!8m2!3d51.6019901!4d-1.2337749|title=Dirac Place, Didcot OX11 8TL|publisher=Google Maps}}</ref> The Dirac-Higgs Science Centre in Bristol is also named in his honour.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/29/bristol-cotham-school-scores-exam-results-famous-alumni-peter-higgs-paul-dirac | title=Bristol's Cotham school scores exam results to outshine famous alumni | newspaper=The Guardian | date=29 January 2015 | last1=Weale | first1=Sally }}</ref>

The BBC named a [[video codec]], [[Dirac (codec)|Dirac]], in his honour. An [[5997 Dirac|asteroid]] discovered in 1983 was named after Dirac.<ref name="5997dirac">{{cite web |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=5997+Dirac |title= 5997 Dirac (1983 TH) | publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |access-date=9 January 2015}}</ref> The Distributed Research utilising Advanced Computing ([[DiRAC]]) and [[Dirac (software)|Dirac software]] are named in his honour.

=== Praise ===
Dirac is widely considered to be on par with [[Isaac Newton|Sir Isaac Newton]], [[James Clerk Maxwell]], and Einstein.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hey |first1=Tony |url=https://archive.org/details/quantumuniverse0000heya/mode/1up |title=The Quantum Universe |last2=Walters |first2=Patrick |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0521267441 |pages=124 |language=en |author-link=Tony Hey}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Close |first=Frank |date=20 May 2009 |title=Paul Dirac: a physicist of few words |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=459 |issue=7245 |pages=326–327 |doi=10.1038/459326a |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |bibcode=2009Natur.459..326C }}</ref>{{sfn|Kragh|1990|pp=ix, 12}} Einstein wrote that to Dirac "we owe the most logically perfect presentation of [quantum mechanics]."<ref>{{cite book| last=Pais| first=Abraham| title=[[Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein]]| year=1982| page=441}}</ref>

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Dirac's birth, [[Richard Dalitz]] wrote "The influence and importance of Dirac's work have increased with the decades, and physicists use daily the concepts and equations that he developed."<ref name="Cern Courier-2002" />

In [[Lev Landau]]'s [[Lev Landau#Landau's ranking of physicists|logarithmic scale]] of physicists from 0 to 5 based on productivity and genius, (0 being the highest and 5 the lowest) he ranked Dirac a 1, along with other fathers of quantum mechanics such as Schrödinger and [[Werner Heisenberg]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Jichao |last2=Yin |first2=Yian |last3=Fortunato |first3=Santo |last4=Wang |first4=Dashun |date=2019-04-18 |title=Nobel laureates are almost the same as us |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-019-0057-z |journal=Nature Reviews Physics |language=en |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=301–303 |doi=10.1038/s42254-019-0057-z |bibcode=2019NatRP...1..301L |issn=2522-5820}}</ref>

[[John Polkinghorne]] wrote: "Not only was Dirac the greatest theoretical physicist known to me personally, his purity of spirt and modesty of demeanour (he never emphasized in the slightest degree his own immense contributions to the fundamentals of the subject) made him an inspiring figure and a kind of scientific saint."<ref>{{cite book| last=Polkinghorne| first=John| author-link=John Polkinghorne| title=Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction| publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>{{rp|xii}}