LOOKING into the story of Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli has taken me on a journey into ways of exploring the cosmos that transcend psychology and physics and transported me to areas to which I had never before given serious thought. A supposedly rational physicist and historian, I found myself investigating alchemy, mysticism, and the Kabbalah.
I owe an enormous debt to my friend and colleague Karl von Meyenn who opened many doors to me in my study of Pauli’s life. For over thirty years Karl has worked on editing Pauli’s vast correspondence, now published in eight splendid volumes. He was extremely generous in sharing unpublished insights and documents for which I am hugely appreciative.
Early in my research I had the good fortune to meet Carl Jung’s grandson, Andreas Jung. He graciously received me at 228 Seestrasse, Küsnacht, near Zürich, once his grandfather’s house. He gave me a guided tour, showing me Jung’s small study and large library crammed with esoteric books as well as the dining room, which Jung considered the center of the house. It was in these rooms that Pauli sat as Jung’s patient and then as esteemed colleague and co-worker.
Information collected in archives is indispensable for historical work. I am grateful to Anita Hollier, the archivist at CERN who oversees La Salle Pauli where Pauli’s physics papers and personal books are stored. She patiently guided me through it as well as the magnificent CERN Document Server and Pauli Photo Archive.
Thanks to Gabriele Veneziano, chair of the Pauli Committee at CERN, for his kind assistance in my research and for many good conversations on the nature of things. I would also like to take this occasion to express my gratitude to the Pauli Committee for their kind considerations of my requests for access to archival materials.
Important archival material relating to Jung and Pauli is housed at the ETH-Bibliothek Archive. Michael Gasser, head of Archives and Private Collections, Rudolf Mumenthaler, and Yvonne Voegeli facilitated my access to this collection. A special thank-you for their splendid hospitality.
I found enlightening information on Pauli’s sister, Hertha, at the Manuscripts Division at the New York Public Library, which I thank for their assistance. Thanks to Susanne Blumesberger, Ursula Gabel, Christian Gastberger, and Charles Enz, Pauli’s last assistant, for informative conversations on Hertha.
Interviews with Igal Talmi, at the Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv, and T. D. Lee at Columbia University, New York City, broadened my knowledge of Pauli the man.
Ullrich Müller-Herold and Norbert Straumann took me on several enjoyable strolls around Zürich and filled me in on the scientific milieu there during the last years of Pauli’s life.
Helmut Rechenberg told me a great deal about Pauli’s time in Munich as a student and his relationship with Heisenberg.
Sonu Shamdasani generously made available to me some of Jung’s unpublished lectures and informed me about recent developments in Jung scholarship. Another Jung scholar, Angela Graf-Nold, helped me navigate Jung material at the ETH-Bibliothek and provided me with new Jung sources and information about his professional life in Zürich. My thanks to both.
At the May 2007 symposium on Jung and Pauli, in scenic Ascona in Switzerland, I was fortunate enough to meet a number of “Jungians” who have been extremely helpful as well as becoming friends. Special thanks to Reinhard Nesper, Harald Atmanspacher, and Suzanne Gieser. Suzanne’s scholarship has been enormously helpful to me.
I appreciate informative exchanges with Finn Aaserud and Herbert van Erkelens.
In Jerusalem Josef Dan, one of the world’s foremost experts on the Kabbalah, gave me valuable insights into the subject.
Thanks to Hans-Joachim Braun and Karin Reich for wonderful historical tours of the University of Hamburg, where Pauli held his first professorship.
John Barrow, Jan Munch Pederson, and Simon Singh kindly replied to questions about “strange numbers.”
Thanks to Chiara Ambrosio for her assistance in gathering source materials and for chats about creativity.
Conversations with Jeremy Bernstein, Freeman J. Dyson, and T. D. Lee were valuable for my investigation of events surrounding Pauli’s 1958 lecture at Columbia University, for which I am grateful.
For perceptive comments on the manuscript, I thank Mike Brady, Karl von Meyenn, and Sonu Shamdasani. I am especially grateful to Gary Steigman for his insightful and detailed critiques, which were immensely helpful.
As always, my agent and good friend Peter Tallack of The Science Factory has been a pillar of support and enthusiasm, providing sagacious advice and comments on successive drafts.
I am hugely grateful to my editor at W. W. Norton, Angela von der Lippe, for her encouragement and for her many valuable criticisms. I could not have written this book without her help. Thanks too to Erica Stern for easing me through production hurdles.
Unless indicated otherwise, all translations are mine.
My primary interest has always been in studying the creative process. The interaction between Jung and Pauli is a powerful example. To unravel the equations of the soul, they embarked on a path that led them deep into the psychology of the unconscious, which Jung called the “darkest hunting ground of our times.” To tell their story I have spun a scenario based on available information. In this way I hoped to look into their minds and understand better who these men really were.
Chapters 8 and 9 explore Jung’s analysis of Pauli’s dreams. We cannot know exactly what transpired between them in the privacy of Jung’s study. I have inferred the scenario in these chapters on the basis of the in-depth descriptions Jung made soon afterward and Pauli’s biographical details.
For all this I bear full responsibility. Any errors that remain are my own.
Many thanks to those who provided me with photographs and who helped me locate them as well as their copyright owners. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders; if any have been missed, I would appreciate them contacting me.
My wife, Lesley, as always full of good cheer and love, provided me with peace of mind and indispensable encouragement. She is also a fount of invaluable advice on how to turn out a readable book. I am indebted to her for all this and for much else. This book is dedicated to her.