What makes the theory of relativity so acceptable to physicists in spite of its going against the principle of simplicity is its great mathematical beauty. This is a quality which cannot be defined, any more than beauty in art can… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
Theoretical physicists accept the need for mathematical beauty as an act of faith... For example, the main reason why the theory of relativity is so universally accepted is its mathematical beauty. — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
What makes the theory of relativity so acceptable to physicists in spite of its going against the principle of simplicity is its great mathematical… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
When [Erwin Schrödinger] went to the Solvay conferences in Brussels, he would walk from the station to the hotel where the delegates stayed, carrying… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
I learnt to distrust all physical concepts as the basis for a theory. Instead one should put one's trust in a mathematical scheme, even… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
If you are receptive and humble, mathematics will lead you by the hand. Again and again, when I have been at a loss how to proceed, I have just had to wait until I have felt the mathematics led me by the hand. It has led me along an unexpected path, a path where new vistas open up, a path… — Paul Dirac Copy Share
It was not until some weeks later that I realized there is no need to restrict oneself to 2 by 2 matrices. One could go on to 4 by 4 matrices, and the problem is then easily soluable. In retrospect, it seems strange that one can be so much held up over such an elementary point. The resulting wave equation… — Paul Dirac Copy Share
If we are honest - and scientists have to be - we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
The only object of theoretical physics is to calculate results that can be compared with experiment... it is quite unnecessary that any satisfactory description… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
The shortage of buyers, which the world is suffering from, is readily understood, not as due to people not wishing to obtain possession of… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image
I do not see how a man can work on the frontiers of physics and write poetry at the same time. They are in… — Paul Dirac Copy Share Image