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)
Einstein's theory is elegant.
Heisenberg's uncertainty is fundamental.
Bohr's model is a step forward.
Dirac's equation predicts the positron.
Fermi's statistics apply to fermions.
The hydrogen atom spectrum is explained by quantum mechanics.
Spin-orbit coupling is important.
The Zeeman effect is magnetic.
General relativity curves space-time.
The cosmological constant is a mystery.
Black holes are theoretical.
The big bang is singular.
Entropy increases in closed systems.
The second law is statistical.
Boltzmann's constant is fundamental.
Maxwell's equations unify electricity and magnetism.
Lorentz transformations preserve the interval.
The twin paradox is resolved by relativity.
Time dilation is real.
Gravitational lensing is predicted.
Contemporaries of Wolfgang Pauli
Other Physicss born within 50 years of Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958).