137 - Arthur I. Miller [137]
The puzzle of how we reason, how we think—of how we create knowledge from already existing knowledge and how we draw conclusions that go beyond the premises—cannot be solved by logic alone. Researchers in cognitive science have applied a cross-disciplinary approach. This includes simulating the mind on a digital computer; neurophysiology; notions from philosophy applied to the mind (philosophy of mind); linguistics (how metaphors arise and how they are used); and visual imagery (how visual images are generated and manipulated in problem solving). But they fail to include physics. And despite applying so much heavy intellectual machinery to the study of how the mind operates, they also omit data from the history of science in the form of testimonies, correspondence, and other biographical details of scientists themselves.
In this field Pauli’s application of Jung’s psychology to Kepler’s thinking is an exemplary work. Applying data from case histories of great scientists as grist for the mill of theories of psychology is an adventurous and fruitful route.
In turn, Jung’s psychology can throw light on how Pauli made his first great discovery of the exclusion principle: input from his conscious thinking energized the archetypes for three and four (constellated them, to use Jung’s terminology), which sparked his insight. Jung, too, found number archetypes essential in transforming the neuroses in his life into a creative force.
Which brings us to 137 and Pauli’s obsession with deriving the fine structure constant from quantum electrodynamics. Not only does this remain unsolved but the problem has widened. In Pauli’s day there were seven known fundamental constants. Now there are twenty-six. This is due to the increase in the number of known elementary particles, their fundamental interactions, and their properties. While Pauli was able to focus on the fine structure constant and quantum electrodynamics, physicists are now trying to derive all twenty-six from a theory that will encompass not only the electromagnetic force—which is controlled by the fine structure constant—but the strong and weak forces, and eventually the gravitational force as well. This is the ultimate ambition of string theorists, among others whose grand aim is to come up with a theory that explains the large and the small, the universe and the atom—a theory of everything.
Notes
Author’s Note
To avoid unnecessary duplication, I use abbreviations of the sort “Pauli (1952), p. 253,” which means the work listed in the Bibliography (pp. 311–320) under Pauli, dated 1952, with the quotation cited on p. 253.
Letters from PLC are cited according to the code “Pauli to Weisskopf, January 17, 1957: PLC7 [2445],” which is the letter Pauli wrote to Weisskopf on January 17, 1957. [2445] means it is the 2,445th letter in Pauli’s published correspondence and also stands for the letter’s catalogue number in PLC7, which is the volume containing Pauli’s correspondence from 1957.
The correspondence between Pauli and Jung in P/J is cited according to the code “P/J [76P], August 5, 1957.” [76P] designates the 76th letter written by Pauli [P] to Jung, dated August 5, 1957.
Unless indicated otherwise, all use of italics in quotations occurs in the original text.
Prologue
“difficult transition from three to four”: Pauli to Fierz, October 3, 1951: PLC4 [1286].
“against the rationalism of the eighteenth century”: Sommerfeld (1927), p. 195.
“connects with the old mystic elements”: Pauli to Hertha Pauli, October 11, 1957: PLC7 [2707].
“with his Prism and silent Face”: William Wordsworth, The Prelude,