Wolfgang Ernst Pauli ( 25 April 1900 â `` 15 December 1958 ) was an Austrian theoretical physicist known for his work on spin theory , and for the discovery of the pauli exclusion principle , which is important for the structure of matter and the whole of chemistry . Wolfgang Ernst Pauli ( 25 April 1900 â `` 15 December 1958 ) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics . In 1945 , after being nominated by Albert Einstein , he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his `` decisive contribution through his discovery of a new law of Nature , the exclusion principle or Pauli principle , '' involving spin theory , underpinning the structure of matter and the whole of chemistry .