Saturday, April 25, 2009

It is, it is not . . .

A Happy Birthday salute to Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (April 25, 1900 – December 15, 1958), physicist, oft referred to as “the conscience of physics” and fondly remembered for the Pauli effect.

Wolfgang Ernst Pauli is known for his work on spin theory and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1945 for his discovery in 1925 of the Pauli exclusion principle. It basically states that in an atom no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. This principle clearly relates the quantum theory to the observed properties of atoms.

"What really matters for me is … the more active role of the observer in quantum physics … According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator." - Wolfgang Pauli

"I confess, that very different from you, I do find sometimes scientific inspiration in mysticism … but this is counterbalanced by an immediate sense for mathematics." - Wolfgang Pauli

"This isn't right. This isn't even wrong." - Wolfang Pauli

Pauli stamp image source (1)

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