FW: Pauli

Fri Jan 28 15:40:59 UTC 2011

I read the same book when I was twelve. And I remember the "googol" thing.
But he didn't attribute it to his nephew.

BTW, acc. to Google Books the passage doesn't exist.  Like the square root
of -1.

JL

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: FW: Pauli
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12:49 AM -0500 1/28/11, Seán Fitzpatrick wrote:
> >My father, who was a student of George Gamov at George Washington
> >University, told me of a time a student answered a query from Gamov in
> >class.  When Gamov looked at him silently, he added anxiously “…Isn’t that
> >right?”.  To which Gamov replied “Right!?!?  That isn’t even wrong.”  This
> >would have been in the late ‘40s or early ‘50s.
> >
> >
>
> Is that George Gamow of "googol" fame?  At least
> I recall first encountering "googol" and
> "googolplex" in Gamow's _One, Two, Three,
> Infinity_, where I recall he credited his young
> nephew for the term.  That was a while ago,
> though, so I may well be misremembering.
>
> LH
>
> >
> >It is perhaps relevant that though my father was a very honest man, one of
> >his favorite quips had to do with “never letting a slavish devotion to the
> >truth stand in the way of a good story”.
> >
> >
> >
> >Seán Fitzpatrick
> >Roses are #FF0000.  Violets are #0000FF.
> >
> >All of my base are belong to you.
> >
> >www.logomachon.blogspot.com
> >
> >  -----Original Message-----
> >From: Victor Steinbok [mailto:aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM]
> >Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 4:52 PM
> >Subject: Pauli
> >
> >
> >
> >Wolfgang Pauli usually gets credit for the quit, "That's not right--it's
> >
> >not even wrong!" (or something similar, depending on source). The common
> >
> >reference for this is from Rudolph Peierls's 1960 recollections (I can't
> >
> >really call it an obituary):
> >
> >
> >
> >Rudolph Peierls, "Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, 1900-1958." (Royal Society, GB)
> >
> >Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society 5:174-192 (1960)
> >
> >
> >
> >Wiki not only highlights the whole episode in the article on Pauli:
> >
> >
> >
> >>  Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig, es ist nicht einmal falsch! "Not only
> >
> >>  is it not right, it's not even wrong!"
> >
> >
> >
> >but even has a separate entry for "not even wrong":
> >
> >
> >
> >>  An argument that appears to be scientific is said to be not even wrong
> >
> >>  if it cannot be falsified (i.e., tested) by experiment or cannot be
> >
> >>  used to make predictions about the natural world. The phrase was
> >
> >>  coined by theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who was known for his
> >
> >>  colorful objections to incorrect or sloppy thinking. Rudolf Peierls
> >
> >>  writes that "a friend showed [Pauli] the paper of a young physicist
> >
> >>  which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted
> >
> >>  Pauli's views. Pauli remarked sadly, 'It is not even wrong.' "
> >
> >
> >
> >It may be impossible to either verify or reject the origin of the
> >
> >phrase--Pauli died in 1958, leaving a large number of anecdotes about
> >
> >his life, but not a lot of biographical material, and the quip was
> >
> >originally supposed to be in German. However, recognizing Pauli's sense
> >
> >of humor, it is possible that he might have been mocking a religious
> >
> >argument that relied on a strawman statement that needed a rebuttal, e.g.,
> >
> >
> >
> >http://goo.gl/2yadK
> >
> >Principles of the faith in relation to sin. By Orby Shipley. 1879
> >
> >>  Take three strict rules for guidance, in regard to devout jealousy
> >
> >>  against falling into little sins.
> >
> >>
> >
> >>  i. Never to allow self-indulgence in any known fault, however small.
> >
> >>
> >
> >>  People, in relation to this rule, may be heard to say, " Yes ; it is
> >
> >>  not right ; it is even wrong ; but, still, I do allow myself in such
> >
> >>  and such a liberty."
> >
> >
> >
> >My brief search revealed little useful information and the statement may
> >
> >well be original with Pauli. I thought I would throw it out into the
> >
> >ether and see if anyone has the stomach to check it out deeper (and
> >
> >perhaps check it out in German as well).
> >
> >
> >
> >      VS-)
> >
> >
> >
> >PS: I was wondering about the origin because Pauli's other famous quip,
> >
> >also cited in Wiki has an alternative origin.
> >
> >
> >
> >>  "Well, I'd say that also our friend Dirac has got a religion and the
> >
> >>  first commandment of this religion is 'God does not exist and Paul
> >
> >>  Dirac is his prophet'".
> >
> >
> >
>  >As Wiki suggests, a similar statement was made much earlier about Robert
> >
> >Green Ingersoll. Although it's impossible to judge whether Pauli was
> >
> >familiar with the previous quip, the likelihood of coincidence seems
> >
> >rather small.
> >
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