# quantum mechanics history question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298 "2009-04-16T16:10:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298/21 "2009-04-17T13:23:10Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > Paul Dirac was a man of few words, who chose his words carefully. One of my favorite Dirac quotations concerns the difference between science and poetry: > “In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.” A nice quotation that, even given its utter falsity. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298/22 "2009-04-17T16:05:14Z")
Yes, in saying “one good idea”, I was being jocular. I’d be thrilled to have that kind of productivity. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298/23 "2009-04-17T23:24:45Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > That’s a shame, **bonzer**. It seems like more than once I’ve read a textbook that started with “The history of quantum mechanics is a fascinating one, and one that every student ought to familiarize themselves with. Unfortunately, that is beyond the scope of this book. Anyway, here’s the Schrödinger equation. :p” > > Although in fairness, the author usually doesn’t actually _type_ “:p”. All too true. Of course, I’m absolutely the last person to discourage anyone from diving into the history of the subject. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298/24 "2009-04-18T02:21:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Although the delta function is credited to Dirac, I have always believed that Oliver Heaviside was using something very like it in the 19th century. That would make sense, since the delta function is the derivative of the Heaviside step function. However I think Dirac was the first to apply it to quantum mechanics. (According to wikipedia Heaviside had died not long before, in 1925.) I’m guessing the use of the symbol delta was also a convention invented by Dirac. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298/25 "2009-04-18T02:32:00Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > A nice quotation that, even given its utter falsity. Yeah, I don’t really believe that poetry seeks to take widely known truths and make them incomprehensible, but it’s an amusing sentiment. More so because of how Dirac encoded it in the first sentence and then extracted it with the brief second sentence. There’s a lot I could say about that, but I have a horrible tendency to over-analyze humor until it’s not funny anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quantum-mechanics-history-question/493298.md?page=1)