Deciphering the Cosmic Number: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung

365 Pages·2009·53.228 MB·English

by  Arthur I. Miller

Deciphering the
Coslllic N ulllber
The Strange Friendship of
Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung
Arthur I. Miller
W' W' Norton & Company New York London
Also by Arthur I. Miller
Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in
the Quest Jor Black Holes
Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc
Insights of Genius: Imagery and Creativity in Science and Art
Imagery in Scientijic Thought: Creating 20th-Century Physics

Deciphering the
Cosmic Number
Copyright © 2009 by Arthur I. Miller
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States ofA merica
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Arthur I.
Deciphering the cosmic number: the strange friendship ofWolfgang Pauli and
Carl jung I Arthur I. Miller.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-393-06532-9 (hardcover)
1. Pauli, Wolfgang, 1900-1958. 2. jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961.
3. Numerology. 4. Symbolism of numbers. 5. Physics-Philosophy. I. Title.
QC16.P37M55 2009
154.2-dc22
2008047775
WW Norton & Company, Inc.
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To Lesley
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue xvii
1 Dangerously Famous 3
2 Early Successes, Early Failures 18
3 The Philosopher's Stone 44
4 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 51
5 Intermezzo-Three versus Four: Alchemy, Mysticism,
and the Dawn of Modern Science 64
6 Pauli, Heisenberg, and the Great Quantum
Breakthrough 89
ix
X Contents
7 Mephistopheles 107
8 The Dark Hunting Ground "bf the Mind 124
9 Mandalas 148
10 The Superior Man Sets His Life in Order 158
11 Synchronicity 183
12 Dreams of Primal Numbers 208
13 Second Intermezzo-Road to Yesterday 227
14 Through the Looking Glass 233
15 The Mysterious Number 137 247
Epilogue: The Legacy of Pauli and Jung 273
Notes 277
Bibliography 311
Illustration Credits 321
Index 325
Acknowledgments'
LOOKING into the story of Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli has taken me
on a journey into ways of exploring the cosmos that transcend psychol
ogy and physics and transported me to areas to which I had never before
given serious thought. A supposedly rational physicist and historian, I
found myself investigating alchemy, mysticism, and the Kabbalah.
lowe an enormous debt to my friend and colleague Karl von Mey
enn who opened many doors to me in my study of Pauli's life. For
over thirty years Karl has worked on editing Pauli's vast correspondence,
now published in eight splendid volumes. He was extremely generous
in sharing unpublished insights and documents for which I am hugely
appreciative.
Early in my research I had the good fortune to meet Carl Jung's
grandson, Andreas Jung. He graciously received me at 228 Seestrasse,
Kusnacht, near Zurich, once his grandfather's house. He gave me a guided
tour, showing me Jung's small study and large library crammed with eso
teric books as well as the dining room, which Jung considered the center
of the house. It was in these rooms that Pauli sat as Jung's patient and then
as esteemed colleague and co-worker.
XI