Award winning biographer

By Hamish Johnston

It was our book of the year and now Graham Farmelo’s The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius has taken the 2009 Costa Biography Award.

The judges had this to say about the book: “The extraordinary mind and achievements of Britain’s Einstein are rendered here in the most compelling biography of the year.”

Last year Farmelo gave the inaugural Physics World online lecture about the life of Paul Dirac — you can watch it here.

This morning Farmelo was interviewed about his award on BBC Radio 4 — you can listen to the interview here — just scroll down to “0720”.

And if you’re interested in a physicist’s opinion of the book, you can read John Enderby’s review, which we published in April, 2009.

Farmelo — along with 2009 Costa winners in fiction, poetry and children’s literature — is now in the running for the Costa Book of the Year, which will be announced later this month.