Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was one of the twentieth century's leading theoretical physicists. Instrumental in developing quantum mechanics , the theoretical study of atomic structure and properties, and quantum electrodynamics, the study of the electrical interactions between atomic particles, Dirac also postulated the existence of the positron, a positive-charge electron, which led to later discoveries concerning antimatter. For his work on the development of quantum mechanics, Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics with Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger .

Dirac was born in Bristol, England, on August 8, 1902. His father, Charles Adrien Ladislas Dirac, was a Swiss immigrant, and his mother, Florence Hannah (Holten) Dirac, was British. Charles Dirac took a position as a teacher of French at the Merchant Venturer's Technical College, where young Dirac enrolled for his early schooling. After graduating in 1918, Dirac entered Bristol University, where he majored in electrical engineering and received his bachelor's degree...