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Quote by Wolfgang Pauli

“... it should be remembered that the atomicity of electric charge has already found its expression in the specific numerical value of the fine structure constant, a theoretical understanding of which is still missing today.”

Quote by Wolfgang Pauli

Book:Theory of Relativity
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Theory of Relativity

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Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Pauli

Wolfgang Pauli was a distinguished physicist born on April 25, 1900, and died on December 15, 1958. He is recognized for his substantial contributions to quantum mechanics, especially for the formulation of the Pauli exclusion principle. Pauli was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945 for his work on the explanation of the fine structure of atomic spectra. more

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“The fine-structure constant is ubiquitous throughout physics. I’ve already noted its connection to the electromagnetic interaction. In atomic physics, the binding energy, fine-structure splitting, and Lamb shift are all proportional to powers of α. In condensed matter physics, α characterizes Josephson junction oscillations and quantum Hall resistance steps. In addition, α is an important component of our system of fundamental constants. [Physics Today]”

SciencePhysicsHistory Of ScienceFine Structure ConstantFundamental Constants
Author:Gerald Gabrielse
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“There is a most profound and beautiful question associated with the observed coupling constant, e - the amplitude for a real electron to emit or absorb a real photon. It is a simple number that has been experimentally determined to be close to 0.08542455. (My physicist friends won't recognize this number, because they like to remember it as the inverse of its square: about 137.03597 with about an uncertainty of about 2 in the last decimal place. It has been a mystery ever since it was discovered more than fifty years ago, and all good theoretical physicists put this number up on their wall and worry about it.) Immediately you would like to know where this number for a coupling comes from: is it related to pi or perhaps to the base of natural logarithms? Nobody knows. It's one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding by man. You might say the "hand of God" wrote that number, and "we don't know how He pushed his pencil." We know what kind of a dance to do experimentally to measure this number very accurately, but we don't know what kind of dance to do on the computer to make this number come out, without putting it in secretly!”

Fine Structure Constant
Book:QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
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“Today alpha equals 1/137.0359 or so. Regardless, its value makes the periodic table possible. It allows atoms to exist and also allows them to react with sufficient vigor to form compounds, since electrons neither roam too freely from their nuclei nor cling too closely. This just-right balance has led many scientists to conclude that the universe couldn’t have hit upon its fine structure constant by accident.”

UniverseExistencePhysicsAlphaFine Structure Constant
Book:The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
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“Realizing its fundamental importance in understanding spectral lines, in atomic physics and in the theory of how light and electrons interact, quantum electrodynamics, Pauli and Heisenberg were determined to derive it from quantum theory rather than introducing it from the start. They believed that if they could find a version of quantum electrodynamics capable of producing the fine structure constant, it would not contain the infinities that marred their theories.”

SciencePhysicsQuantum TheoryFine Structure ConstantHeisenbergPauli
Book:Deciphering the Cosmic Number: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung
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“Alpha sets the scale of nature -- the size of atoms and all things made of them, the intensity and colors of light, the strength of magnetism, and the metabolic rate of life itself. It controls everything that we see. ... In 137, apparently, science had found Nature's PIN Code.”

SciencePhysicsFine Structure Constant
Book:The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe
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