Pauli Lectures on Physics: Volume 2, Optics and the Theory of Electrons

by Wolfgang Pauli

Lectures on optics that serve as a concise and rewarding introduction to the topic. These lectures covering topics basic to classical and modern physics were given by Wolfgang Pauli at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The lectures on optics serve as a concise and rewarding introduction to the topic. From the introduction by Victor "Pauli's way of presenting physics is never out of date... The reason for this remarkable fact lies in Pauli's style, which is commensurate to the greatness of its subject in its clarity and impact. Style in scientific writing is a quality that today is on the point of vanishing. The pressure of fast publication is so great that people rush into print with hurriedly written papers and books that show little concern for careful formulation of ideas. Mathematical and instrumental techniques have become complicated and difficult; most of the effort of writing and learning is devoted to the acquisition of these techniques instead of insight into important concepts. Essential ideas of physics are often lost in the dense forest of mathematical reasoning. This situation need not be so. Pauli's lectures show how physical ideas can be presented clearly and in good mathematical form, without being hidden in formalistic expertise."

Genres: Physics

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Dr. Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Ph.D. (Ludwig-Maximilians University, 1921), was a theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics, for which he was awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics. His paper on Einstein's theory of relativity, written two months after receiving his doctorate, remains a standard reference on the subject to this day. In the field of quantum theory, the "Pauli exclusion principle" is named for him; he also developed the theory of nonrelativistic spin.

In 1928, Pauli was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He held visiting professorships at the University of Michigan in 1931, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1935. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1931.

At the end of 1930, shortly after his postulation of the neutrino and immediately following his November divorce, Pauli had a severe breakdown. He consulted psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung who, like Pauli, lived near Zurich. Jung immediately began interpreting Pauli's deeply archetypal dreams, and Pauli became one of the depth psychologist's best students. He soon began to criticize the epistemology of Jung's theory scientifically, and this contributed to a certain clarification of the latter's thoughts, especially about the concept of synchronicity. A great many of these discussions are documented in the Pauli/Jung letters, today published as Atom and Archetype . Jung's elaborate analysis of more than 400 of Pauli's dreams is documented in Psychology and Alchemy .

The German annexation of Austria in 1938 made Pauli a German citizen, which became a problem for him in 1939 after the outbreak of World War II. In 1940, he tried in vain to obtain Swiss citizenship, which would have allowed him to remain at the ETH. Pauli moved to the United States in 1940, where he was employed as a professor of theoretical physics at the Institute for Advanced Study. In 1946, after the war, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States and subsequently returned to Zurich, where he mostly remained for the rest of his life. In 1949, he was granted Swiss citizenship.

In 1958, Pauli was awarded the Max Planck medal. In that same year, he fell ill with pancreatic cancer.