B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S S U M M E R 2 0 2 3 10 "RANKS AMONG THE HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF 20TH-CENTURY SCIENCE": 1928 FIRST EDITION OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE "DIRAC EQUATION" 10. DIRAC, P.A.M. The Quantum Theory of the Electron. IN: Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A, Vol. 117, No. A778, pp. 610-24. London: Royal Society, February 1, 1928. Octavo, original gray paper wrappers. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box. $9500 First edition of the discovery of the "Dirac Equation," in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society where it originally appeared. "When the equation appeared in print at the beginning of February [1928], it was a sensation… the consensus was that Dirac had done something remarkable, the theorists' equivalent of a hole in one" (Farmelo, The Strangest Man). Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was an English theoretical physicist and one of the founders of quantum mechanics. "Dirac's outstandingly signi!cant achievement was his relativistic wave equation for the electron, published early in 1928… Sir Nevill Mott has described it as 'the most beautiful and exciting piece of theoretical physics that I have seen in my lifetime—comparable with Maxwell's deduction that the displacement current, and therefore electromagnetism, must exist.' An even more remarkable prediction from Dirac's equation was the existence of an 'anti-electron,' as Dirac termed it in 1931, with the same mass value as the electron but opposite charge. It was !rst observed in the cosmic radiation in 1932 and was later named the 'positron.' It was the !rst of the many antiparticles which later became well established. "The relativistic wave equation of the electron ranks among the highest achievements of 20th-century science" (Pais, Inward Bound, 290). While the paper was in press, "Dirac wrote to Max Born in Göttingen, not mentioning his new equation except in a ten-line postscript, where he spelt out the reasoning that had led to it. Born showed these words to his colleagues, who regarded the equation as 'an absolute wonder.' Jordan and Wigner, who were working on the problem that Dirac had solved, were "abbergasted. Jordan, seeing his rival walk o# with the prize, sank into depression. When the equation appeared in print at the beginning of February, it was a sensation. Though most physicists struggled to understand the equation in all its mathematical complexities, the consensus was that Dirac had done something remarkable, the theorists' equivalent of a hole in one." (Farmelo, The Strangest Man, 143-44). "Dirac's relativistic wave equation marked the end of the pioneering and heroic phase of quantum mechanics, and also marked the beginning of a new phase" (Kragh, Quantum Generations, 167). Expert repair to spine head. Near-!ne condition in the original wrappers.
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