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The Pauli Effect, Anecdotes |
| Numerous anecdotes are in circulation about Wolfgang Pauli that
demonstrate the humour of the physicist. His correspondence is also full of
jokes, but sometimes of sarcastic remarks, allusions and teasing as well. Pauli
himself signed letters with "The Scourge of God". Between him and Paul
Ehrenfest there broke out a veritable war of jokes, in which each tried to
outdo the other with witty remarks. |
In: "Thirty Years That Shook Physics"
by George Gamow. Garden City, N.Y., 1966 |
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Wolfgang Pauli as "Buddha"
private ownhership Armin Thellung |
Special mention must be made of a phenomenon that was greatly
feared among Pauli's colleagues, particularly the experimental physicists: the
"Pauli Effect". The latter manifested itself in that technical installations
would unexpectedly fail in the presence of Pauli: experiments were
unsuccessful, machines gave up the ghost, apparatus was broken. Otto Stern is
said to have forbidden Wolfgang Pauli to enter his institute for fear of such
malfunctions. Pauli himself was conscious of this peculiar talent and was
delighted with such comic events. |
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