Charles P. Enz - Böcker

This book retraces the life of the physicist Wolfgang Pauli, analyses his scientific work, and describes the evolution of his thinking. Pauli spent 30 years as a professor at the Federal Institute of Technology ETH in Zurich, which occupies a central place in this biography. It would be incomplete, however, without a rendering of Pauli's sarcastic wit and, most importantly, of the world of his dreams. It is through the latter that quite a different aspect of Pauli's life comes in, namely his association with the psychology of C.G. Jung and his school.

This book retraces the life of the physicist Wolfgang Pauli, analyses his scientific work, and describes the evolution of his thinking. Pauli spent 30 years as a professor at the Federal Institute of Technology ETH in Zurich, which occupies a central place in this biography. It would be incomplete, however, without a rendering of Pauli's sarcastic wit and, most importantly, of the world of his dreams. It is through the latter that quite a different aspect of Pauli's life comes in, namely his association with the psychology of C.G. Jung and his school.

Paulis Kindheit. Frühwerk über Relati'Oitä'tstheorie Wolfgang Pauli kam in einem intellektuellen Milieu Wiens am 25. April 1900 zur Welt. Sein aus Prag stammender Vater Wolfgang Joseph war Arzt und machte an der Universität Wien eine akademische Karriere. Dort wurde er Professor und später Direktor eines neuen Instituts für medizinische Kolloidchemie. Dort auch hatte sein berühmter Freund, der positivistische Philosoph und Physiker Ernst Mach seit 1895 eine neue Professur für .. Philosophie, insbesondere Geschichte und Theorie der in­ duktiven Wissenschaften" inne. Mach wurde Taufpate des Sohnes Wolfgang, der als zweiten Vornamen denjenigen Machs erhielt. während ein dritter Vorname seinem Großvater mütterlicherseits, Friedrich Schütz, zu Ehren gewählt wurde. Der junge .. Wolfi" hing sehr an seiner Mutter Bertha, welche Mitarbeiterin bei der Neuen Freien Presse war. Und im Familienkreise genoß er eine wohlumsorgte Kind­ heit, die bis zum 9. Lebensjahr dauerte, als durch die Geburt seiner Schwester Hertha eine schwerwiegende Störung eintrat. Mach hatte einen großen Einfluß sowohl auf den Vater wie auf den heranwachsen­ den Sohn, welcher im Gymnasium mit wissenschaftlicher Lektüre unterstützt wurde. Viel später noch beschrieb der Sohn Wolfgang diesen Einfluß mit folgenden 5 Worten : Unter meinen Büchern befindet sich ein etwas verstaubtes Etui, in die­ sem ist ein Silber becher im Jugendstil und in diesem wiederum ist eine Karte ... Dieser Becher nun ist ein Taufbecher, und auf der Karte steht in altmo­ disch verschnörkelten Buchstaben: Dr. E. Mach, Professor an der Universität Wien.

Like Bohr, Einstein and Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli was notonly a Nobel laureate and one of the creators of modernphysics, but also an eminent philosopher of modern science.This is the first book in English to include all his famousarticles on physics and epistemology. They were actuallytranslated during Pauli's lifetime by R. Schlapp and are nowedited and annotated by Pauli's former assistant Ch. Enz.Pauli writes about the philosophical significance ofcomplementarity, about space,time and causality, symmetryand the exclusion principle, but also about therole of theunconscious in modern science. His famous article on Kepleris included as well as many historical essays on Bohr,Ehrenfest,and Einstein as well as on the influence of theunconscious on scientific theories.The book addresses not only physicists, philosophers andhistorians of science, but also the general public.

Like Bohr, Einstein and Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli was notonly a Nobel laureate and one of the creators of modernphysics, but also an eminent philosopher of modern science.

The essays selected for this book comprise ideas presented in oral or written form between 1972 and 2000, some of them originally in German or French. They are preceded by a biographical and topical introduction.As the title suggests, attention is directed on the one hand toward the material world which is viewed in its extreme spatial extensions of the universe and of the elementary particles. In particular, the fascinating notion of the void and its fluctuating energy is the subject of various discussions, as is the subdivision of material bodies and its limits. The latter as well as the limit of gravitational stability are depicted in a diagram leading to the ultimate point of the Planck mass and length.The other topic of the title is the spiritual realm which, as in the Introduction, is based on reflections and quotations from religious texts. This rather personal aspect is also apparent in the frequent mention of the author's teacher Wolfgang Pauli, who on the psychological side is associated with C G Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz and on the physical side with Albert Einstein and the author's colleague Ernest Stueckelberg.