Wolfgang Pauli and Gregor Wentzel

Wolfgang Pauli and Gregor Wentzel studied together in Munich before taking up posts as professors of theoretical physics in Zurich in 1928: Pauli at the ETH and Wentzel at the university.

: Zoom (PNG, 658 KB); The following quote is from a (joking) letter: Pauli tried to make the job more appealing to his future assistant, writing: “Your task would be, to contradict me with detailed reasons every time I say something.' To the left of Pauli sits his assistant, Markus Fierz. (Image: CERN, Pauli archive).

In 1925, Pauli developed the Pauli exclusion principle, a fundamental rule of quantum mechanics stating that two fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945. The Pauli principle explains the structure of atoms and their chemical properties. He conducted research at the ETH until his death in 1958.

Gregor Wentzel succeeded Erwin Schrödinger and remained at the University of Zurich until 1948. He was involved in developing an approximation method for solving the Schrödinger equation, known as the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin method, which is used in atomic and nuclear physics.

: Zoom (PNG, 699 KB); Script by Wentzel on the introduction to quantum theory. Image: ZB Zurich, Gregor Wentzel Nachlass

Portrait of Pauli and Wentzel by Irina Morell

What holds the world together at its core – Zurich and the birth of quantum mechanics

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Wolfgang Pauli and Gregor Wentzel

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