Wolfgang Pauli
Formulated the exclusion principle
Most quoted
"When I was young, I thought I was the best formalist of my time. I thought I was a revolutionary. When the big problems would come, I would be the one to solve them. But then the great revolution came, it was Heisenberg and Dirac who made it. I was only a classicist."
— from Self-reflection
"The layman always means, when he says 'reality,' that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality."
— from Letter to Markus Fierz, 1954
"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
— from Attributed to Max Planck, but often quoted by Pauli in discussions of scientific change
All quotes by Wolfgang Pauli (673)
The electron is a simple particle, but its behavior is complex.
The beauty of physics lies in its simplicity.
One should never be afraid to admit one's mistakes.
The universe is a book written in the language of mathematics.
The role of the physicist is to observe and to describe, not to interpret.
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.
The world is full of wonders, and physics is the key to understanding them.
The true scientist is a dreamer, but also a realist.
The universe is a grand symphony, and we are just beginning to hear its music.
The most important tool in science is the human mind.
The pursuit of knowledge is a never-ending journey.
The greatest challenge in physics is to unify the seemingly disparate phenomena.
The beauty of a theory lies in its ability to explain a wide range of phenomena with a few simple principles.
The universe is a vast and mysterious place, and we are privileged to be a part of it.
This isn't right. This isn't even wrong!
God made the bulk; the surface was invented by the devil.
I don't mind if you think slowly, but I object when you publish more quickly than you think.
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
When I die, my first question to the Devil will be: What is the meaning of the fine-structure constant?
It is not enough to be wrong, one must also be polite.
Contemporaries of Wolfgang Pauli
Other Physicss born within 50 years of Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958).