Albert Einstein or Paul Dirac?

Question by Over the Edge: Albert Einstein or Paul Dirac?
Who had a greater impact on physics in the 20th century?

I remember the name Paul Dirac from physics classes many, many years ago, but only the other day learned the extent of his contributions.

“Dirac is widely regarded as one of the greatest physicists of all time. He was one of the founders of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, and some physicists, among them Antonino Zichichi, consider Dirac the greatest physicist of the 20th century.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac

“Without understanding the origin of spin, and the Dirac statistics, you wouldn’t have mobile phones, computers or anything else that runs on electronics.” — John Enderby, vice-president of the Royal Society.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2094374.stm

“Antonino Zichichi argues that the discoveries made by Paul Dirac had a much bigger impact on the science of the 20th century than those of Albert Einstein.”

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/726
julius923 — I know of Einstein’s letter and his views on war. What I was asking is comparing contributions to pure physics.

Best answer:

Answer by julius923
I think one of the more siginifcant things that Einstein did were his written letters to President Roosevelt in warning him against the possibility of Nazi Germany aquiring the bomb. Things may have been a lot different without his warning. It certainly helped end the war with Japan sooner.

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