37+ Wolfgang Pauli Quotes On Friendship, World And Physics And Philosophy

Wolfgang Pauli was an Austrian physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945 for his discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also known as the Pauli Principle. He is also known for his strong criticism of the theories of other physicists, which earned him the nickname "the conscience of physics". Following is our collection on famous quotes by Wolfgang Pauli on love, friendship, life.

Top 10 Wolfgang Pauli Quotes

1. If speculative ideas can not be tested, they're not science; they don't even rise to the level of being wrong.
2. Physics is very muddled again at the moment; it is much too hard for me anyway, and I wish I were a movie comedian or something like that and had never heard anything about physics!
3. How can one avoid despondency if one thinks of the anomalous Zeeman effect?
4. Well, our friend Dirac, too, has a religion, and its guiding principle is "God does not exist and Dirac is His prophet."
5. I refuse to believe that God is a weak left-hander.
6. One shouldn't work on semiconductors, that is a filthy mess; who knows whether any semiconductors exist.
7. The fact of the existence of two theories [causal and acausal] that contradict each other in Jung ... corresponds psychologically to the vascillation between 3 and 4.
8. This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.
9. This isn't right. It's not even wrong.
10. It is always the older that emanates the new one.

Wolfgang Pauli Short Quotes

• Aristotle was by far a less able thinker than Plato ... he was completely overwhelmed by Plato.
• I have done a terrible thing, I have postulated a particle that cannot be detected.
• If I understand Dirac correctly, his meaning is this: there is no God, and Dirac is his Prophet.
• Everything comes to him who knows how to wait.
• You know, what Einstein has just said isn't so stupid.
• God made the bulk; the surface was invented by the devil.

Wolfgang Pauli Quotes About Wrong

After reading a paper by a young theoretical scientist, Pauli, shaking his head sadly, commented: That is not even wrong. — Wolfgang Pauli

That theory is worthless. It isn't even wrong! — Wolfgang Pauli

That's not right. That's not even wrong. — Wolfgang Pauli

It isn't right. It isn't even wrong. — Wolfgang Pauli

It is not only not right, it is not even wrong. — Wolfgang Pauli

Wolfgang Pauli Famous Quotes And Sayings

What really matters for me is ... the more active role of the observer in quantum physics ... According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator. — Wolfgang Pauli

A colleague who met me strolling rather aimlessly in the beautiful streets of Copenhagen said to me in a friendly manner, "You look very unhappy"; whereupon I answered fiercely, "How can one look happy when he is thinking about the anomalous Zeeman effect?". — Wolfgang Pauli

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. — Wolfgang Pauli

There can never be two or more equivalent electrons in an atom, for which in a strong field the values of all the quantum numbers n, k1, k2 and m are the same. If an electron is present, for which these quantum numbers (in an external field) have definite values, then this state is 'occupied.' — Wolfgang Pauli

Later, however, I came to recognize the objective nature of these dreams or fantasies ... Thus it was that I gradually came to acknowledge that such fantasies or dreams are neither meaningless nor purely arbitrary but rather convey a sort of "second meaning" of the terms applied. — Wolfgang Pauli

This is to show the world that I can paint like Titian. [A big drawing of a rectangle] Only technical details are missing. — Wolfgang Pauli

From the point of view of logic, my report on 'Exclusion principle and quantum mechanics' has no conclusion. I believe that it will only be possible to write the conclusion if a theory will be established which will determine the value of the fine structure constant and will thus explain the atomistic structure of electricity, which is such an essential quality of all atomic sources of electric fields actually occurring in nature. — Wolfgang Pauli

For quite a while I have set for myself the rule if a theoretician says 'universal' it just means pure nonsense. — Wolfgang Pauli

The fact that the author thinks slowly is not serious, but the fact that he publishes faster than he thinks is inexcusable. — Wolfgang Pauli

The natural scientist is concerned with a particular kind of phenomena ... he has to confine himself to that which is reproducible ... I do not claim that the reproducible by itself is more important than the unique. But I do claim that the unique exceeds the treatment by scientific method. Indeed it is the aim of this method to find and test natural laws. — Wolfgang Pauli

Einstein has a feeling for the central order of things. He can detect it in the simplicity of natural laws. We may take it that he felt this simplicity very strongly and directly during his discovery of the theory of relativity. Admittedly, this is a far cry from the contents of religion. I don't believe Einstein is tied to any religious tradition, and I rather think the idea of a personal God is entirely foreign to him. — Wolfgang Pauli

It seems significant that according to quantum physics the indestructibility of energy on one hand which expresses its timeless existence and the appearance of energy in space and time on the other hand correspond to two contradictory (complementary) aspects of reality. In fact, both are always present, but in individual cases the one or the other may be more pronounced. — Wolfgang Pauli

The best that most of us can hope to achieve in physics is simply to misunderstand at a deeper level. — Wolfgang Pauli

To us ... the only acceptable point of view appears to be the one that recognizes both sides of reality-the quantitative and the qualitative, the physical and the psychical-as compatible with each other, and can embrace them simultaneously ... It would be most satisfactory of all if physis and psyche (i.e., matter and mind) could be seen as complementary aspects of the same reality. — Wolfgang Pauli

I confess, that very different from you, I do find sometimes scientific inspiration in mysticism ... but this is counterbalanced by an immediate sense for mathematics. — Wolfgang Pauli

Although I have no objection to accepting the existence of relatively constant psychic contents that survive personal ego, it must always be born in mind that we have no way of knowing what these contents are actually like "as such." All we can observe is their effect on other living people, whose spiritual level and whose personal unconscious crucially influence the way these contents actually manifest themselves. — Wolfgang Pauli

Life Lessons by Wolfgang Pauli

1. Wolfgang Pauli's work on quantum mechanics and the exclusion principle has taught us that certain particles cannot occupy the same quantum state at the same time.
2. His contributions to the understanding of the structure of matter have shown us the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to science.
3. His concept of the "Pauli Effect" has highlighted the importance of considering the human factor in scientific research and the potential for psychological influences to affect results.