Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was born in 1900, in Vienna, in what was then Austria-Hungary. His father was Wolfgang Joseph Pauli, a medical doctor and biochemist who later became a professor at the University of Vienna. His mother was the former Bertha Schültz, an author. In 1918, Pauli entered the University of Münich. He chose Münich because it was the home of German theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, then one of the greatest teachers of theoretical physics alive. Pauli excelled, earning his Ph.D. in the shortest time allowed by the university.

After receiving his degree, Pauli was offered a job as assistant in theoretical physics at the University of Göttingen. There he came into contact not only with English physicist Max Born, professor of theoretical physics, but also with Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who was guest lecturer at Göttingen in 1922. It...