Wigner Memorial Lecture. Held in Goslar, Germany on July 16, 1996

摘要

Born on November 17, 1902, Eugene Wigner died on January 1, 1995. Since hisdeath, this is the first Wigner medal award ceremony. It is befitting to commemorate this very great physicist now. An excellent way, may be the best, to commemorate a scientist is to publish a collection of his works. The first volume of the Complete Scientific Works of Eugene Wigner appeared more than three years ago, the eighth and last volume will appear probably next year. These volumes include unpublished papers from the Manhattan project and many scattered philosophical papers on the nature, the meaning and the role of science. Some of the latter had already been gathered by Wigner in 'Symmetries and Reflections'. Wigner's complete works are so vast and so deep that an eight-day colloquium would be necessary for a real memorial. In a half-hour lecture the author can only speak about one domain of his activity and that only briefly.