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Work with Max Born
Heisenberg studied with Max Born in Gottingen. While in Gottingen, Heisenberg developed his theory of quantum mechanics as mathematical matrices. (Buckley and Peat 4)
- PAUL BUCKLEY, F. DAVID PEAT, Bohm, Dirac, Heisenberg, Pattee, Penrose, Prigogine, Rosen, Rosenfeld, Somorjai, Weizsäcker, & Wheeler. (2015). Werner Heisenberg. In A Question of Physics (p. 4). University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/j.ctt15jjc3t.4 -
The Founders of Quantum Mechanics
Heisenberg took his theory to his friend and colleague Max Born. Born, along with Pascaul Jordan, refined the theory into a closed mathematical scheme. Erwin Schrodinger released his paper on wave mechanics January 1926, and the two theories were at odds until Schrodinger showed proof the theories were equal. (Lustig 475)
Lustig, Harry. “The Life and Times of Werner Heisenberg.” Physics in Perspective, vol. 12, no. 4, SP Birkhäuser Verlag Basel, 2010, pp. 470–96, doi:10.1007/s00016-010-0034-5. -
The Uncertainty Principle
Heisenberg realized the formulations of quantum theory can't be interpreted using classic intuitive notions of space/time or cause and effect; but are connected by these same notions. He surmised to keep the notions but reduce their application. These limits are expressed in mathematical form, known as the Uncertainty Principle. (Capra 26-27) Capra, Fritjof. “HEISENBERG: Explorer of the Imagination.” Resurgence & Ecologist, no. 298, 2016, pp. 25–28.
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Werner Heisenberg - Nobel Laureate
In 1932 Werner Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his uncertainty principle and his development of quantum mechanics. Interestingly, He did not receive the award until 1933, the same year that his contemporaries Erwin Schrodinger and Paul Dirac received the Nobel Prize for their contributions to atomic theory (Encyclopedia of Physical Science 325-326).
“Heisenberg, Werner (1901–1976) German Physicist.” Encyclopedia of Physical Science, 2-Volume Set, vol. 1, 2010, pp. 324–26.