Natural science, does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves Werner Heisenberg More Quotes by Werner Heisenberg More Quotes From Werner Heisenberg Thus, the more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known, and conversely. Werner Heisenberg uncertainty-principlemomentumdetermined The incomplete knowledge of a system must be an essential part of every formulation in quantum theory. Quantum theoretical laws must be of a statistical kind. To give an example: we know that the radium atom emits alpha-radiation. Quantum theory can give us an indication of the probability that the alpha-particle will leave the nucleus in unit time, but it cannot predict at what precise point in time the emission will occur, for this is uncertain in principle. Werner Heisenberg incomplete-knowledgelawscience Nature is made in such a way as to be able to be understood. Or perhaps I should put it-more correctly-the other way around, and say that we are made in such a way as to be able to understand Nature. Werner Heisenberg understandingnaturescience By getting to smaller and smaller units, we do not come to fundamental or indivisible units. But we do come to a point where further division has no meaning. Werner Heisenberg divisionfundamentalsscience We will have to abandon the philosophy of Democritus and the concept of elementary particles. We should accept instead the concept of elementary symmetries. Werner Heisenberg acceptingshouldphilosophy Science no longer is in the position of observer of nature, but rather recognizes itself as part of the interplay between man and nature. The scientific method ... changes and transforms its object: the procedure can no longer keep its distance from the object. Werner Heisenberg distancenaturescience Nonsense. Space is blue and birds fly through it. Werner Heisenberg spacebluebird Quantum theory provides us with a striking illustration of the fact that we can fully understand a connection though we can only speak of it in images and parables. Werner Heisenberg illustrationconnectionsfacts Whether we electrons, light quanta, benzol molecules, or stones, we shall always come up against these two characteristics, the corpuscular and the undular. Werner Heisenberg moleculeslighttwo Every word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability. Werner Heisenberg rangeclearmay The world thus appears as a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole. Werner Heisenberg texturetissuesdifferent The physicist may be satisfied when he has the mathematical scheme and knows how to use for the interpretation of the experiments. But he has to speak about his results also to non-physicists who will not be satisfied unless some explanation is given in plain language. Even for the physicist the description in plain language will be the criterion of the degree of understanding that has been reached. Werner Heisenberg plain-languageunderstandingphilosophy I think that the discovery of antimatter was perhaps the biggest jump of all the big jumps in physics in our century. Werner Heisenberg discoverysciencethinking Modern physics has changed nothing in the great classical disciplines of, for instance, mechanics, optics, and heat. Only the conception of hitherto unexplored regions, formed prematurely from a knowledge of only certain parts of the world, has undergone a decisive transformation. This conception, however, is always decisive for the future course of research. Werner Heisenberg disciplinescienceknowledge The violent reaction on the recent development of modern physics can only be understood when one realises that here the foundations of physics have started moving; and that this motion has caused the feeling that the ground would be cut from science Werner Heisenberg moving-oncuttingfeelings Both matter and radiation possess a remarkable duality of character, as they sometimes exhibit the properties of waves, at other times those of particles. Now it is obvious that a thing cannot be a form of wave motion and composed of particles at the same time - the two concepts are too different Werner Heisenberg differentcharactertwo The problems of language here are really serious. We wish to speak in some way about the structure of the atoms. But we cannot speak about atoms in ordinary language. Werner Heisenberg atomswishordinary Can quantum mechanics represent the fact that an electron finds itself approximately in a given place and that it moves approximately with a given velocity, and can we make these approximations so close that they do not cause experimental difficulties? Werner Heisenberg velocitycausesmoving The solution of the difficulty is that the two mental pictures which experiment lead us to form - the one of the particles, the other of the waves - are both incomplete and have only the validity of analogies which are accurate only in limiting cases. Werner Heisenberg waveanalogiestwo If nature leads us to mathematical forms of great simplicity and beauty - by forms I am referring to coherent systems of hypothesis, axioms, etc. - to forms that no one has previously encountered, we cannot help thinking that they are "true," that they reveal a genuine feature of nature... You must have felt this too: The almost frightening simplicity and wholeness of relationships which nature suddenly spreads out before us and for which none of us was in the least prepared. Werner Heisenberg etcsimplicitythinking
