Série CERN-ARCH-PMC - Pauli Manuscript Collection

776 items, 1 metre, 10 boxes

After Pauli's death in 1958, Mrs. Franca Pauli, his widow, assisted by Pauli's last assistant, Charles Enz, started to sort and administer Wolfgang Pauli's scientific legacy. The collection mostly contained only letters Pauli had received, but not those he had sent. Franca Pauli, with Victor F. Weisskopf (one of Pauli's former assistants and Director-General of CERN from 1961 to 1965) and Ralph de Laer Kronig, sent out a circular letter inviting friends and colleagues of Wolfgang Pauli to send their copies or originals of his imposing correspondence. Niels Bohr and R. Oppenheimer from Princeton supported the whole operation.
On the 25th August 1960 Mrs. Pauli made a first Deed of Gift of part of her late husband's estate to CERN, represented by the Director-General
In 1965, Weisskopf's mandate as Director-General of CERN came to an end and he returned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He continued to be an advisor to Mrs. Pauli. The new Director-General, Bernard P. Gregory, became the first ex-officio member of the Pauli Committee, created in 1965. A mandate to look after the collection was entrusted to Alfred Günther, who was at that time the head of the Scientific Information Service.
Mrs. Pauli made a second Deed of Gift on the 5th November 1971.
After Mrs. Pauli's death in 1987, CERN inherited all author rights for the scientific work of Wolfgang Pauli.

Pauli, Franca

The Pauli Manuscript Collection contains drafts of some of Pauli's works, as well as notes, preparation of lectures and calculations on various subjects, reflecting the scientific activities of Wolfgang Pauli. This collection gives an overview of how Wolfgang Pauli was working.

Nothing was destroyed.

A few further items may be collected.

The arrangement was made by Pauli himself. Documents are arranged by subject.

• allemand

• anglais

Most of the material is written in German and English.

Description prepared by Marc Reymond. Revised in 2023 by Sandrine Reyes. Date(s) of description: Geneva, May to August 2002.