Professor Paul Dirac died in Florida, U.S.A., in
October 1984 at the age of 84. Recipient of the Nobel
Prize and many other awards, he was considered
after Newton and Einstein—the greatest scientist of
modern theory—in effect the physics of the smallest
part of the atom—and his effective prediction of
anti-matter before it had been experimentally
discovered. His “anti-matter” and “anti-universe”
became the leading physical ideas for explaining the
character and contents of the contemporary
universe, its origin and history. J.G. Crowther’s
obituary to Dirac in The Guardian (November 4,
1984) was fittingly given the headline “Prophet of
the Anti-universe.”
Dirac’s discovery of the first anti-particle, known as
a positron, revolutionized the world of nuclear
physics. Students were naturally interested to know
how he arrived at this world-shaking discovery. His
answers often proved somewhat disconcerting.
“When people asked him how he got his startling
ideas about the nature of sub-atomic matter,”
Crowther writes, “he would patiently explain that
he did so by lying on his study floor with his feet up
so that the blood ran to his head.”
Dirac’s answer might appear tongue-in-cheek, but
in fact what he said was quite true. Great
intellectual feats can only be accomplished by
letting all the blood of one’s body run to one’s
head—by channelling all one’s energy into the
intellectual pursuit one had undertaken.
Few people actually do this. They rather tend to
diversify their efforts. Their failure to concentrate
on a single goal renders all their efforts incomplete
and ineffective. Every worthwhile task demands all
the strength that an individual can muster. The only
way to be successful in one’s work is to give it all
one has.
Ref - The Moral Vision
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
