Wolfgang Pauli - Studies in Munich

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Studies in Munich
In the autumn of 1918, Wolfgang Pauli moved to Münich and began to study physics at the university under Arnold Sommerfeld. He concluded his studies after six semesters with a doctorate. Arnold Sommerfeld was concerned with the then new problems of relativity and quantum theory and created a theory of "multiple quantization" on the basis of Bohr's model of the atom. An outstanding teacher, Sommerfeld inspired a continuously growing circle of students, to which Werner Heisenberg, Peter Debye and Gregor Wentzel belonged. In 1919 Sommerfeld published the work "Atombau und Spektrallinien", which in a long series of new editions played a major part in the development of quantum theory.	Entries on Wolfgang Pauli in the student’s card index of the University of Munich. © Universitätsarchiv Munich

Wolfgang Pauli with his teacher and mentor Arnold Sommerfeld at the "Metallkongress" (conference on physics of metals) in Geneva, October 1934. © CERN, Geneva	Still in his first semester, Wolfgang Pauli gave his first talk in Sommerfeld's famous "Wednesday Colloquium". The professor was so impressed with the capabilities of his student that he entrusted Pauli with the preparation of an article on relativity theory for the "Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften". The "Encyclopedia Article", which finally assumed the volume of a 250-page book, was published in 1921. Today's physicists still consider it to be a thorough, well researched and comprehensive representation of the subject matter. Albert Einstein himself said he was most impressed.	Wolfgang Pauli as a pupil at secondary school in Vienna. © CERN, Geneva