The Principles of Quantum Mechanics

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958 8vo (24 cm), XII, 312 pp. Publisher's cloth with a gilt-lettered spine (binding slightly rubbed, spine faded). Fourth edition. English physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984) stands as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century. In 1933, alongside Erwin Schrödinger, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering new forms of atomic theory. Dirac is best known for his crucial and elegant contributions to the formulation of quantum mechanics and his quantum theory of the emission and absorption of radiation, which laid the foundation for quantum electrodynamics. Modern expositions of quantum mechanics often draw upon his masterpiece, "The Principles of Quantum Mechanics" (1930) [DSB XVII, p.224]. The second rewritten edition of the book was published in 1934, and the third edition in 1947 underwent significant revisions to incorporate various improvements. In this fourth edition, the chapter on quantum electrodynamics has been rewritten. The theory, initially conserving the number of charged particles, has been replaced by a quantum electrodynamics that includes the creation and annihilation of electron-positron pairs. A revised fourth edition was issued in 1967.