-
Birth
Werner Heisenberg was born on 5th December, 1901, at Würzburg. He was the son of Dr. August Heisenberg and his wife Annie Wecklein. His father later became Professor of the Middle and Modern Greek languages in the University of Munich. -
Period: to
Known as one of the greatest scientific minds of the 20th century. (Video)
-
Education
Heisenberg entered the University of Munich in 1920, an expert on atomic spectroscopy and exponent of the quantum model of physics. Heisenberg finished his formal work for a doctorate in 1923 with a dissertation on hydrodynamics. In 1924 Heisenberg completed his habilitation, the qualification to teach at the university level in Germany. -
Founding Of Quantum Mechanics
In 1925, after an extended visit to Bohr’s Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, Heisenberg tackled the problem of spectrum intensities of the electron taken as an anharmonic oscillator (a one-dimensional vibrating system). -
Noble Prize
Heisenberg embarked on a research program to create a quantum field theory, uniting quantum mechanics with relativity theory to comprehend the interaction of particles and (force) fields. Heisenberg also worked on the theory of the atomic nucleus following the discovery of the neutron in 1932, developing a model of proton and neutron interaction in an early description of what decades later came to be known as the strong force. Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 physics prize -
Heisenberg and The Nazi Party
Nazi policies excluding “non-Aryans” or the politically “unreliable” from the civil service meant the dismissal or resignation of many professors and academics. Heisenberg’s response was mostly quiet interventions within the bureaucracy rather than overt public protest, guided by a hope that the Nazi regime or its most extreme manifestations would not last long. -
World War II
Heisenberg was drafted to work for the Army Weapons Bureau on the problem of nuclear energy. Heisenberg took on a leading role in Germany’s nuclear research. Heisenberg bicycled from there to his family’s vacation house in Bavaria, where was captured by an American military intelligence team, and eventually he was interned with several other German physicists in England. -
Postwar Years
Heisenberg was released by the British authorities in January 1946. Heisenberg took on a variety of roles as an administrator of and spokesman for German science within West Germany, a shift to a more overtly political role that was in some contrast to his more apolitical stance before 1945. -
The President of The German Research Council
In 1949 Heisenberg became the first president of the German Research Council, a consortium of the Max Planck Society and the various West German academies of science. -
Heisenberg Goal
In 1958 Heisenberg also finally achieved the goal of an academic position in Munich, as the Max Planck Institute for Physics moved there in that year. -
Heisenberg Death
He died of cancer of the kidneys and gall bladder on February 1, 1976. Heisenberg was 74 years old. -
Resources
“Heisenberg and the Nazi Party.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Web. 01/24/202
www.britannica.com/biography/Werner-Heisenberg/Heisenberg-and-the-Nazi-Party.
“Home.” Famous Scientists, 2021, Web. 01/24/2021
www.famousscientists.org/werner-heisenberg/. -
Heisenberg's Theory Uncertainty Principle
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle states that there is inherent uncertainty in the act of measuring a variable of a particle. Commonly applied to the position and momentum of a particle, the principle states that the more precisely the position is known the more uncertain the momentum is and vice versa.
