Matrix mechanics (1925)
First formulation of quantum mechanics, developed further with Max Born and Pascual Jordan
Science · Physics
Werner Heisenberg
1901–1976 · German
Quantum mechanics; theoretical physics
Werner Heisenberg was the German physicist who created matrix mechanics in 1925, the first complete formulation of quantum mechanics, and in 1927 stated the uncertainty principle. He received the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics. During the Second World War he was a leading figure in Germany's nuclear programme, and his role and motives remain the subject of debate.
How to spot them
- ▸The uncertainty principle: position and momentum cannot both be known precisely
- ▸Matrix mechanics, worked out on the island of Heligoland in 1925
- ▸Leading figure in Germany's wartime uranium project; interned at Farm Hall in 1945
- ▸Walter White's alias in the TV series Breaking Bad
Key discoveries & works
The uncertainty principle (1927)
The more precisely position is known, the less precisely momentum can be, and vice versa
Isospin (1932)
Treated the proton and neutron as two states of one particle
Physics and Philosophy (1958)
Book on the philosophical meaning of quantum theory, from his Gifford Lectures
Physics and Beyond (Der Teil und das Ganze) (1969)
Memoir recalling conversations with Bohr, Einstein and others
Key ideas
- Only observable quantities should enter a physical theory
- Uncertainty: the product of the uncertainties in position and momentum can never be less than ħ/2, a fundamental limit rather than a flaw in measurement
- With Bohr, a chief architect of the Copenhagen interpretation
Quick-fire facts
- •Nobel Prize in Physics 1932 (awarded in 1933) 'for the creation of quantum mechanics'
- •Born in Würzburg in 1901; died in Munich in 1976
- •Conceived matrix mechanics on Heligoland, where he had gone to recover from hay fever
- •Attacked by Nazi supporters of 'Deutsche Physik' and called a 'white Jew' in the SS newspaper Das Schwarze Korps in 1937
- •Visited Bohr in occupied Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting dramatised in Michael Frayn's Copenhagen
- •After the war was interned with other German scientists at Farm Hall near Cambridge, where their conversations were secretly recorded
- •Became director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics
Drill it — 7 cards
1 / 7new card
Sources
- NobelPrize.org — Werner Heisenberg – Facts
- David C. Cassidy — Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg