Reminiscence of Wolfgang Pauli

I thoroughly enjoyed Valentine Telegdi’s review ( Physics Today, November 2003, page 67 ) of the Wolfgang Pauli biography No Time to Be Brief, written by Charles P. Enz. It brought back memories of my time as a graduate student in Zürich from 1949 to 1953. I first met Telegdi when my friend Hans Mollet invited me to go with him and Telegdi to a Louis Armstrong concert in 1949.

Mollet and I were graduate students at the Physical Chemistry Institute at the University of Zürich, and our mentor was Klaus Clusius. In the institute’s seminars, I usually sat with Wolfgang Pauli Sr, who knew professionally both my father and grandfather. Pauli Sr was a most pleasant and kind gentleman, and both my father and Clusius pointed out the contrast between his personality and that of Pauli Jr.

Our group of graduate students often wandered to the physics colloquia at ETH Zürich. Pauli usually sat in the first row. I witnessed his strong objections during a colloquium by Ralph de Laer Kronig. I also have vivid memories of Pauli’s approving nods during Victor Weisskopf’s presentation. For each of two colloquia that I presented, I was very relieved that Pauli didn’t start shaking his head, criticize me, or walk out.

After reading the review, I picked up the book, which I read with great interest.