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Wikipedia states, that the spin degree of freedom was first formulated by Pauli in 1924:

In 1924 Wolfgang Pauli introduced what he called a "two-valued quantum degree of freedom" associated with the electron in the outermost shell.

However, there is no reference to this quote. Does someone know the publication where Pauli introduced this quantum number for the first time? The only paper I know this one, where he formulates his exclusion principle. But this is from 1925, so one year later.

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  • $\begingroup$ Maybe W.Pauli, Zur Frage der Zuordnung der Komplexstrukturterme in starken und schwachen äußeren Feldern, Z. Phys. 20, 371-387 (1924). $\endgroup$ Apr 5, 2018 at 11:49
  • $\begingroup$ The link to the paper at springerlink.com is broken. $\endgroup$ Jul 20, 2022 at 6:31

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According Charles Enz's W. Pauli's Scientific Work, into Jagdish Mehra (editor), The physicist's conception of nature, Reidel (1973), page 770-on (emphasis added):

The third paper on the anomalous Zeeman effect [Über den Einfluß der Geschwindigkeitsabhängigkeit der Elektronenmasse auf den Zeemaneffekt, Z. Phys. 31 (1925) 373-385], submitted on 2 December 1924, is of fundamental importance because it introduces, still in disguised form, the spin quantum number of the electron.

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    $\begingroup$ p. 385: eine eigentümliche, klassisch nicht beschreibbare Art von Zweideutigkeit. Confirmed and translated in Tomonaga (1997, p. 29: “a strange two-valuedness which cannot be described classically”) and Enz (2002, p. 106: “a peculiar, classically not describable kind of two-valuedness”). $\endgroup$ Apr 5, 2018 at 14:04
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    $\begingroup$ See also S. Richter, Wolfgang Pauli und die Entstehung des Spin-Konzepts (1976, pp. 256-257). $\endgroup$ Apr 5, 2018 at 14:23

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