|
Wolfgang Pauli was born on 25th April 1900 in Vienna. His father
Wolfgang Joseph, a well-known physician and professor of chemistry, was
descended from a Jewish family in Prague, but had his name changed and
converted to Catholicism. His mother Bertha, née Schütz, was a
freelance working for a Viennese newspaper. In 1906 she bore a daughter Hertha,
who later made a name for herself as a writer in the USA. Wolfgang Pauli was
baptised a Catholic. |
Wolfgang Joseph Pauli, his Father
© Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher, Halle |
Wolfgang Pauli with
his Mother Bertha Pauli, 1901
© CERN, Geneva |
Ernst Mach dedicates to the young Pauli the edition of his book "Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwicklung" (Mechanics in its development) of the year 1913.
© CERN, Geneva |
His godfather was the physicist and
philosopher Ernst Mach, whose son was a friend of
Pauli's father. In 1953 Pauli wrote in a letter that Mach probably had a
stronger personality than the Catholic priest, and that «the result
appears to be that in this way I was baptised an antimetaphysicist instead of a
Catholic». |
|
Pauli grew up in a highly stimulating intellectual atmosphere. His
great gift for mathematics and the natural sciences became evident at an early
age and was fostered by his father who engaged junior high school teacher and
later university lecturer Hans Adolf Bauer to give his son extra tuition in
mathematics. Bauer also introduced to him to Einstein’s general theory of
relativity. |
Already at an early age Wolfgang Pauli was eager to learn.
© CERN, Geneva |
The diploma class of 1918 of the
Döblinger Gymnasium
in Vienna,
called the "Class of geniuses".
Second row, on the left: Wolfgang Pauli.
© CERN, Geneva |
