| Pauli occupied himself in the 1950's with problems centring on
symmetry in the laws of particle physics. In 1954 he formulated a so-called
"CPT Theorem" that postulated the general invariance of the product CPT (charge
symmetry, parity and time inversion). At the beginning of 1957, measurements
showed that during beta decay, parity is not conserved. This violation of
parity came unexpectedly for Pauli and gave him a shock. In the last year of
Pauli's life, there was also a vehement argument with Heisenberg. They planned
a publication together on the theory of the elementary particles, which was
intended to make headlines as the "World Formula". However, because of
criticism primarily from the younger physicists, Pauli withdrew from the common
undertaking, and it went no farther than an unpublished manuscript. |
Obituary notice written by Wolfgang Pauli: "It is our sad duty to make known that our dear friend of many years, PARITY, passed softly away on 19th january 1957 after a short period of suffering during further experimental operations. For the bereaved: e, µ, v".
Appendix to a letter from W. Pauli to V. Weisskopf
İ CERN, Geneva |
Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli
İ Archive of History of the Max-Planck-Society |
In the last year of Pauli's life, there was also a
vehement argument with Werner Heisenberg. They
planned a publication together on the theory of the elementary particles, which
was intended to make headlines as the "World Formula". However, because of
criticism primarily from the younger physicists, Pauli withdrew from the common
undertaking, and it went no farther than an unpublished manuscript. |
