Dirac posters Who is Dirac? Paul Dirac (1902-1984) was a great British physicist and mathematician. He is most famous for predicting the anti-electron, the positron - a particle with the same mass but opposite charge (positive) to the electron (negative charge). Stuff such as ourselves and the Sun are made up of atoms. Atoms are made up of particles called protons, neutrons and electrons: Anti-matter The positron was detected shortly after Dirac's prediction, from the study of particles arriving from space (cosmic rays). In the following years, other anti- particles were predicted and detected. Anti-particles are known collectively as anti-matter. The posters The Institute has designed six posters to celebrate the centenary of Dirac's birth in 2002. The posters tell us about Dirac's life and how his prediction of anti-matter has revolutionised modern life and what we can expect in the future from his discovery. The high resolution posters are now available to download. Click on each poster to download (Word '97) onto your computer for printing. Alternatively, a full set of posters can be ordered from the Public Relations Department, email public.relations@iop.org If you want to find out more about Dirac and the physics on these posters, visit physics.org, the Institute's comprehensive web-based database of handpicked and refereed resources. Here are a few websites about Dirac to start you off: Paul Dirac: the purest soul in physics (Physics World article) Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (biography from University of St. Andrews, Scotland) Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac - Biography (Nobel Prize website) Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902-1984) (American Institute of Physics) Anti-matter: Mirror of the Universe Life, the Universe and the electron