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Paul Dirac, Antimatter, and You, by Robert A. Heinlein

Wed, 04/22/2009 - 16:25 — jclary
Category: 
Short Nonfictional Story
Synopsis: 

In this non-fiction work, Robert A. Heinlein portrays a rare image of a real scientist as someone it would be interesting and enjoyable to know. His subject, Paul Dirac, the revolutionary physicist, is a kind, soft-spoken, Lucasian professor of Mathematics at Cambridge where he lectures clearly and succinctly. He is always impeccably dressed, and, like Heisenberg, enjoys long walks. He married in 1937, and has four children. He created a formula that simplified the relation of spin and magnetism in electrons. He realized his new equation implied antimatter, which was proven several years later after photographic proof was obtained. He “retired” to a teaching position and put forth the theory that Newton’s gravitational constant is not a constant at all, which has since been verified using two other approaches. He then went on to merge Newtonian and quantum physics using mathematics, being of the sternest belief that pictures lie and are open to interpretation, which in mathematical proof lies truth. He also accomplished everything he did with a mental impairment: he was autistic. An award in his honor, The Dirac Medal, was first awarded to Stephen Hawking. His work on antimatter is discussed as potentially being the “new nuclear power”; is there really no way to handle it, or use it as a weapon the likes of which the world has ever seen? Keep in mind that at one point it was “inconceivable” that nuclear power would ever be utilized for destructive purposes.

Context for time depicted: 
Paul Dirac published his mathematics merging the theory of relativity with quantum theory in 1928, his treatise on antimatter in 1930, and it was proved in 1932. The next year he received the Nobel Prize, and was just 31 years old. He spent the wartime years at Cambridge, teaching physics, so it can be inferred that he is a pacifist. He spent much of his time traveling, and died in Florida in 1984. He laid the basis for quantum mechanics with his modern operator calculus, and calculated a way for each particle to have its own time to simplify quantum mechanics. His wave equation made quantum mechanics mainstream, since it provided a valid explanation for how things work in the real world, and his theory of antimatter launched him into the global spotlight as an equal to Newton and Einstein. He was the first ever to examine quantum electrodynamics, and paved the way for Richard Feynman and quantum field theory, and also had his equations used to promote string theory. He was not influenced by politics or the social scene, both of which he avoided at all costs, possibly due to his autism.
Context for time of production: 
The time of production was during the cold war and ensuing arms race, when many people questioned where the quest for new, more devastating weapons would end. This motivates the author to look with a skeptical eye at antimatter and its study. Heinlein was a staunch supporter of the soldier, but a vicious critic of the military and government that wasted their lives using “rogue science”. He approved of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan as he felt it “saved more lives than it cost”, but felt that with the world always five minutes away from nuclear annihilation, it seemed obvious to him that the US needed to reconcile its differences with the USSR for the benefit of all life on Earth. He did not support Communism, but he felt that the Cold War was pointless posturing that was only enriching the military suppliers at the expense of humanity, and that it wasn’t a cause worth losing American lives over.
Assessment: 
Paul Dirac worked primarily in the realm of mathematics, attempting to explain the phenomena that he observed. He was by all accounts a doting husband and attentive father, a good friend and instructor, and is all but worshipped by physicists to this day for his devotion to truth and stubborn refusal to enter the stage of politics. He was a scientist with peers the likes of Newton and Einstein, yet moral to a fault.
References: 

Heinlein, Robert A. “Paul Dirac, Antimatter, and You”, pages 471-494 of his anthology

“Expanded Universe”. 1980, Berkeley Publishing Group, New York, New York

Nobel Prizes, Paul Dirac. Accessed April 15, 2009, <http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-bio.html>

Physics World, Paul Dirac: The Purest Soul in Physics. Accessed April 15, 2009, <http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/1705>
How would this be used?: 
As a supplement to Copenhagen in terms of its depiction of real scientists and the complexities of physics. Heisenberg and Dirac were also close friends, though Dirac was a pacifist and more introverted than the boisterous Heisenberg. It could also be used with Mastermind, showing that most scientists are capable of being completely “normal”, and Fritz Haber is the exception, not the other way around. The antimatter section could be used to discuss scientific culpability and responsibility. It would also show that even mentally disabled people can accomplish extraordinary things while being perfectly respectable, which serves as a counterpoint with the mad scientist theme of mental and physical impairment.