Editing Pauli effect

{{Short description|Superstition that equipment only fails in the presence of certain people}}
[[File:Wolfgang Pauli.jpg|thumb|250px|Wolfgang Pauli, {{Circa|1924}}]]

The '''Pauli effect''' or '''Pauli's device corollary''' is the supposed tendency of technical equipment to encounter critical failure in the presence of certain people &mdash; originally, [[Austria]]n physicist [[Wolfgang Pauli]]. The Pauli effect is not related to the [[Pauli exclusion principle]], which is a [[good faith|bona fide]] physical phenomenon named after Pauli. However the Pauli effect was humorously tagged as a second Pauli exclusion principle, according to which ''a functioning device and Wolfgang Pauli may not occupy the same room''.<ref name=eth>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethistory.ethz.ch/besichtigungen/objekte/paulieffekt/ |title=Der "Pauli-Effekt" |publisher=ETHistory |access-date=14 August 2014|language=de}}</ref>

==Anecdotal evidence==
Since the 20th century, the work in some subfields of [[physics]] research has been divided between theorists and experimentalists. Those theorists who lack an aptitude or interest in experimental work have on occasion earned a reputation for accidentally breaking experimental equipment.

An incident occurred in the physics laboratory at the [[University of Göttingen]]. An expensive measuring device, for no apparent reason, suddenly stopped working, although Pauli was in fact ''absent''. [[James Franck]], the director of the institute, reported the incident to his colleague Pauli in Zürich with the humorous remark that at least this time Pauli was innocent. However, it turned out that Pauli had been on a railway journey to Zürich and had switched trains in the Göttingen rail station at about the time of the failure. The incident is reported in [[George Gamow]]'s book ''Thirty Years That Shook Physics'',<ref>Thirty Years That Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory, 1966, Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-24895-X}}.</ref> where it is also claimed the more talented the theoretical physicist, the stronger the effect.

R. Peierls describes a case when at one reception this effect was to be parodied by deliberately crashing a chandelier upon Pauli's entrance. The chandelier was suspended on a rope to be released, but it stuck instead, thus becoming a real example of the Pauli effect.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Peierls, R. |title=Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, 1900-1958 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume=5 |year=1960 |pages=174–192 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.1960.0014 |s2cid=62478251 }}</ref>

In 1934, Pauli saw a failure of his car during a honeymoon tour with his second wife as proof of a real Pauli effect since it occurred without an obvious external cause.<ref>Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel mit Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg u. a, Band 3 von Wolfgang Pauli, Karl von Meyenn, Herausgeber Karl von Meyenn, Verlag Birkhäuser, 1993, {{ISBN|0-387-54911-0}}, P. 763</ref>

In February 1950, when he was at [[Princeton University]], the [[cyclotron]] burnt, and he asked himself if this mischief belonged to such a Pauli effect, named after him.<ref>{{cite book |title=Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel mit Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg, u.a. |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin |first=Wolfgang |last=Pauli |others=ed. Karl von Meyenn |year=1996 |volume=4/I |page=37 |isbn=3-540-59442-6 |oclc=36847539|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

==Reactions==
For fear of the Pauli effect, experimental physicist [[Otto Stern]] banned Pauli from his laboratory located in [[Hamburg]] despite their friendship.<ref>Enz (2009), p. 152.</ref>

Pauli was convinced that the effect named after him was real.<ref name="Enz2002-150">Enz (2002), p. 150.</ref> He corresponded with [[Carl Jung]] and [[Marie-Louise von Franz]] about the concept of [[synchronicity]]. He also corresponded with [[Hans Bender]], lecturer at Freiburg university Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene and the only [[parapsychology]] chair in Germany.<ref>Hans Bender und die Gründung des "Instituts für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene"Eberhard Bauer, September 1997. published in Jahnke, J., Fahrenberg, J., Stegie, R., & Bauer, E. (Hrsg.): Psychologiegeschichte: Beziehungen zu Philosophie und Grenzgebieten (Passauer Schriften zur Psychologiegeschichte; Bd. 12). München; Wien: Profil, 1998.</ref>

Jung and Pauli saw some parallels between physics and [[depth psychology]].<ref>Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene, Bibliothek, Frei122-Z60 Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie Band 4.1960/61, p.13</ref> Pauli was among the honored guests at the foundation festivities of the [[C.G. Jung Institute]] in [[Zürich]] in 1948. An example of the Pauli effect happened at the ceremony: As he entered, a china flower vase fell on the floor for no obvious reason. This incident caused Pauli to write his article "Background-Physics", in which he tries to find complementary relationships between physics and depth psychology.<ref name="meier2001-179">{{cite book |title=Atom and Archetype: the Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932-1958 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=[[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]] |author1=Pauli, Wolfgang |author2=Jung, C G |author2-link=Carl Jung |others=ed. C.A. Meier |year=2001 |pages=179–196 |isbn=0-691-01207-5 |oclc=45757717}}</ref>

==Cultural references==
[[Philip K. Dick]] makes reference to "Pauli's synchronicity" in his 1963 science fiction novel ''[[The Game-Players of Titan]]'', in reference to pre-cognitive [[psionics|psionic]] abilities being interfered with by other psionic abilities such as [[psychokinesis]]: "an acausal connective event."<ref>Dick, Philip K. (1963/1992). ''The Game-Players of Titan'', p.128. Vintage Books (New York) first edition, first published by Ace Books. {{ISBN|0-679-74065-1}}.</ref>

In the anime series ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens]]'', Tatsuhisa Kamijō is a self-proclaimed &quot;demon-embodied&quot; human who can randomly cause electronic devices such as phones and drones to malfunction or self destruct with his hands. The main character, Yuga Ohdo, attributes this to the Pauli Effect.<ref>Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens "The Man Who Possesses Evil". 2020. [film] Directed by T. Takeuchi. Japan: Bridge.</ref> 

The anime ''Amnesia: Fated Memories'' and the video game ''[[Signalis]]'' also reference the Pauli effect.

In the movie ''[[Babylon 5: The River of Souls]]'', Captain Lochley describes this effect to Lieutenant Corwin, drawing a parallel to how crises seem to emerge only when President Sheridan or ex-security chief Garibaldi are at the station.

==See also==
* [[Feynman sprinkler]]
* [[Gore effect]]
* [[Jinx]]
* [[Street light interference]]

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |title=No Time to be Brief: A Scientific Biography of Wolfgang Pauli |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=[[New York City|New York]] |first=Charles P |last=Enz |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-856479-1 |oclc=48753063}}
*{{cite book|last=Enz |first=Charles P. |year=2009 |orig-year=1995 |chapter=Rational and Irrational Features in Wolfgang Pauli's Life |title=Of Matter And Spirit: Selected Essays by Charles P. Enz |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-281-900-0}}
* Roth, Remo, F., ''Return of the World Soul, Wolfgang Pauli, C.G. Jung and the Challenge of Psychophysical Reality [unus mundus]''. Pari Publishing, 2011

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://paulijungunusmundus.eu/synw/pauli_parapsychology_p1.htm Wolfgang Pauli and Parapsychology]
* [http://paulijungunusmundus.eu/synw/pauli_fludd_flood_sync.htm#a1 The Pauli effect at the foundation of the C.G. Jung Institute, Zürich 1948]
* [http://www.contemporaryrhyme.com/the_pauli_effect.PDF The Pauli effect], a sonnet by Peg Duthie published in ''Contemporary Rhyme''
* [https://library.ethz.ch/en/locations-and-media/platforms/virtual-exhibitions/wolfgang-pauli-and-modern-physics/the-pauli-effect-anecdotes.html The Pauli effect anecdotes]

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[[Category:Technology folklore]]
[[Category:Experimental physics]]
[[Category:Telekinesis]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]