In 1931 he began his studies in Göttingen, where he listened to the lectures of prolific academics including Hermann Weyl.

In 1933 he returned to Zurich and studied physics at ETH under Wolfgang Pauli and Gregor Wentzel.

In 1936 he earned a doctoral degree with his thesis on the infrared catastrophe in quantum electrodynamics.

In 1959 he led the theoretical physics department at CERN in Geneva for one year and in 1960 he became the successor of his teacher Pauli at ETH.

In 1940 he married Menga Biber; they became acquainted through making music (he played the violin).