Pauli Lectures on Physics: Volume 4, Statistical Mechanics

by Wolfgang Pauli, S. Margulies (Translator), H. R. Lewis (Translator)

These lectures covering topics basic to classical and modern physics were given by Pauli at the Zurich Federal Institute, where they were transcribed by his collaborators. They have now been translated and edited for English publication, and are introduced by Victor Weisskopf, who writes as

"It is often said that scientific texts quickly become obsolete. Why are the Pauli lectures brought to the public today, when some of them were given as long as twenty years ago? The reason is Pauli's way of presenting physics is never out of date. His famous article on the foundations of quantum mechanics appeared in 1933 in the German encyclopedia Handbuch der Physik. Twenty-five years later it reappeared practically unchanged in a new edition, whereas most other contributions to this encyclopedia had to be completely rewritten. 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 today; they demand so much skill and training that most of the effort of writing and learning is devoted to the acquisition of this skill 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, Reference

121 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.

Reviews

[Akshay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very good

[Ida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those treasured physics books which read like a novel, a rather interactive one, where you have to walk with the author, trying to understand not only the characters in the story and their motives, but also the author's intentions of taking you on this particular adventure. I experienced moments of pure adrenalin and felt the growing need to find out how the book ends.

A beautiful work.