Birth of Wolfgang Pauli

Wolfgang Pauli was born on 25 April 1900 in Vienna. An Austrian-born Swiss theoretical physicist, Pauli was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics. In 1925 he formulated the exclusion principle, which states that two identical fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state, and which explains the structure of the periodic table and the stability of matter. He also proposed the existence of the neutrino in 1930 to account for missing energy in beta decay, and the particle was detected a quarter of a century later. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945. Known for his sharp wit and his fierce criticism of poor work, he was a friend of Carl Jung.

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