ar X iv : h ep - t h / 03 03 24 1 v 1 2 7 M ar 2 00 3 Pascual Jordan , Glory and Demise and his legacy in contemporary local

After recalling episodes from Pascual Jordan’s biography including his pivotal role in the shaping of quantum field theory and his much criticized conduct during the NS regime, I draw attention to his presentation of the first phase of development of quantum field theory in a talk presented at the 1929 Kharkov conference. He starts by giving a comprehensive account of the beginnings of the new quantum theory and then passes to his recent discovery of quantization of “wave fields” and problems of gauge invariance. The most surprising aspect of Jordan’s presentation is however his strong belief that his field quantization is a transitory not yet optimal formulation of the principles underlying causally localizable quantum physics. The expectation of a future more radical change coming from the main architect of field quantization already shortly after his discovery is certainly quite startling. I try to answer the question to what extend Jordan’s 1929 expectations have been vindicated. The larger part of the present essay consists in arguing that Jordan’s plea for a formulation without “classical correspondence crutches”, i.e. for an intrinsic approach without the classical parallelism called quantization, is successfully addressed in past and recent publications on local quantum physics. 1 Pascual Jordan, glory and demise There are not many physicists in whose biography the contradictions of human existence, the proximity of glorious scientific achievements and disturbing human weaknesses in the face of the great catastrophies of the 20ieth century, are as starkly reflected as in the personality of Pascual Jordan.