Atom and Archetype - The Pauli-Jung Letters 1932-1958

In 1932, world-renowned physicist Wolfgang Pauli had already done the work that would win him the 1945 Nobel Prize. He was also suffering after a series of troubling personal events. He was drinking heavily, quarrelling frequently, and experiencing powerful, disturbing dreams. Pauli turned to C. G. Jung for help, forging an extraordinary intellectual conjunction not just between a physicist and a psychologist but between physics and psychology. As their acquaintance developed, Jung and Pauli discussed the nature of dreams and their relation to reality, finding surprising common ground between depth psychology and quantum physics and profoundly influencing each other's work.This portrait of an incredible friendship will fascinate readers interested in psychology, science, creativity, and genius. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wolfgang Pauli, world-renowned physicist, turned to Carl Jung for help, setting a standing appointment for Mondays at noon. Thus bloomed an extraordinary intellectual conjunction. Eighty letters, written over twenty-six years, record that friendship, and are published here in English for the first time.Through the association of these two pioneering thinkers, developments in physics profoundly influenced the evolution of Jungian psychology. And many of Jung's abiding themes shaped how Pauli - and, through him, other physicists - understood the physical world. Atom and Archetype will appeal not only to those interested in the life of Pauli or Jung, but also to the educated general reader.