The astro-physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker was ever curious in his quest for an understanding of the universe. When it came to the topic of astrology he seemed to not have forgotten the admonition of his colleague and teacher Werner Heisenberg that physics could only be learned by doing it. In a radio interview in 1976 he retold the story how he took part in a seminar at the University in Strasbourg in 1943, at the Institute of Psychology, led by Prof. Hans Bender and the astrologer Thomas Ring. Having acquainted himself with the necessary skills he then drew up about 60 horoscopes, and when comparing his interpretation with what he knew about the persons whose chart he had cast he admitted to be impressed by the results and acknowledged that astrology seemed to be able to “perceive the gestalt of a person (‘Gestaltwahrnehmung’).”
He found empirical evidence but was at odds how to account for it theoretically. Physics and statistics were both incompatible to the subject, he insisted. As to claims of truth he was skeptical of the habit of physicists to hold only that for true what they have understood so far.
Süddeutscher Rundfunk, 7. Jan. 1976
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912 -2007)