Wolfgang Pauli
The Pauli Effect, which should not be confused with the Pauli Exclusion Principle, is an anecdotal phenomenon associated with Pauli. Supposedly, Pauli’s presence was able to cause all sorts of malfunctions, especially in physics laboratories, such as glass breaking, machines ceasing to run, and similar events [1]. Otto Stern, a physicist and acquaintance of Pauli, forbade Pauli to enter his institute to try to avoid the Pauli effect [2].
Apparently, the Pauli effect was once parodied at a reception Pauli was attending. A chandelier had been suspended by a rope, and was released when Pauli entered. The chandelier should have crashed to the ground, however the rope got wedged between a pulley and nothing happened [3].
Another supposed example of the Pauli effect occurred in Professor J. Franck’s lab in Göttingen. One day, a complicated apparatus, which had been working just fine, collapsed. Franck wrote to Pauli about the event, joking that Pauli couldn’t be blamed for the incident. Pauli replied that on the day the apparatus failed he had been traveling to visit Neils Bohr. At the time of the mishap, Pauli’s train had stopped in Gottingen at the railway station [4].
Works Cited
[1] The
Pauli Effect, Anecdotes. ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology Zurich)
[2] The
Pauli Effect, Anecdotes. ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology Zurich)
[3] Peierls, R. E. Wolfgang Ernst
Pauli.
[4] Gamow, George. Thirty Years that Shook
Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory.