I took quantum mechanics from our school's electrical engineering department. It was a grad level class designed for students working in device physics, thus it covered a lot of materials: from the basics (Schrodinger's equation, tunneling, the harmonic oscillator), to statistical physics (variational methods, Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Boltzmann distribution functions), as well as some solid state physics basics (simple models for metals, semiconductors).

I then went on to take solid state physics, which used Ashcroft&Mermin, and Lundstrom.

Now I no longer plan to work in device physics for my phD, but I still want to have a good understanding of QM and Solid state physics.

I was working through the Griffith text, hoping to graduate toward the Shankar text when I came across Dirac's book. It seemed really elegant and focuses on intuition first. I was wondering if anyone would recommend going through Dirac's text before going to Griffith's? It makes more sense to me but most curriculums never even touches Dirac's book.

What are the advantages of studying Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics?

Thanks, Al

I took quantum mechanics from our school's electrical engineering department. It was a grad level class designed for students working in device physics, thus it covered a lot of materials: from the basics (Schrodinger's equation, tunneling, the harmonic oscillator), to statistical physics (variational methods, Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Boltzmann distribution functions), as well as some solid state physics basics (simple models for metals, semiconductors).

I then went on to take solid state physics, which used Ashcroft&Mermin, and Lundstrom.

Now I no longer plan to work in device physics for my PhD, but I still want to have a good understanding of QM and Solid state physics.

I was working through the Griffith text, hoping to graduate toward the Shankar text when I came across Dirac's book. It seemed really elegant and focuses on intuition first. I was wondering if anyone would recommend going through Dirac's text before going to Griffith's? It makes more sense to me but most curriculums never even touches Dirac's book.

What are the advantages of studying Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics?

I took quantum mechanics from our school's electrical engineering department. It was a grad level class designed for students working in device physics, thus it covered a lot of materials: from the basics (Schrodinger's equation, tunneling, the harmonic oscillator), to statistical physics (variational methods, Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Boltzmann distribution functions), as well as some solid state physics basics (simple models for metals, semiconductors).

I then went on to take solid state physics, which used Ashcroft&Mermin, and Lundstrom.

Now I no longer plan to work in device physics for my phD, but I still want to have a good understanding of QM and Solid state physics.

I was working through the Griffith text, hoping to graduate toward the Shankar text when I came across Dirac's book. It seemed really elegant and focuses on intuition first. I was wondering if anyone would recommend going through Dirac's text before going to Griffith's? It makes more sense to me but most curriculums never even touches Dirac's book.

Thanks, Al

I took quantum mechanics from our school's electrical engineering department. It was a grad level class designed for students working in device physics, thus it covered a lot of materials: from the basics (Schrodinger's equation, tunneling, the harmonic oscillator), to statistical physics (variational methods, Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Boltzmann distribution functions), as well as some solid state physics basics (simple models for metals, semiconductors).

I then went on to take solid state physics, which used Ashcroft&Mermin, and Lundstrom.

Now I no longer plan to work in device physics for my phD, but I still want to have a good understanding of QM and Solid state physics.

I was working through the Griffith text, hoping to graduate toward the Shankar text when I came across Dirac's book. It seemed really elegant and focuses on intuition first. I was wondering if anyone would recommend going through Dirac's text before going to Griffith's? It makes more sense to me but most curriculums never even touches Dirac's book.

What are the advantages of studying Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics?

Thanks, Al