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Birth and Early Years
Werner Heisenberg was born in Bavaria to August and Annie Heisenberg. August was a professor with a high social standing. Werner was raised to achieve excellence in everything he did, whether it was academics, athletics or any other pursuit of a young boy at that time. He spent many of his tender years during the First World war and the tumultuous times just after, but during the times of peace, he was well educated and grew to be a fine student in mathematics and the sciences. (Cassidy) -
Breakthrough Paper Establishing the Field of Quantum Mechanics
In June of this year Heisenberg was taking some time off from rigorous research when a new idea occurred to him. He was able to define certain features of the behavior of subatomic particles that did not behave in the way mathematics claimed they should. His resulting paper ushered in Quantum Mechanics.(American Institute of Physics) -
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
"The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known." - Werner Heisenberg. Heisenberg concludes that when measuring either the position or the momentum of a subatomic particle that there will be uncertainty in one feature directly proportional to the precision that can be measured in the other feature. Neither can be measured with precision simultaneously. https://youtu.be/TQKELOE9eY4 (American Institute of Physics) -
Nobel Prize in Physics
Along with having been awarded the Max Planck Medal by Planck himself, Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "For the creation of quantum physics" (Cassidy) -
German Science under the Third Reich
During the rise and establishment of the Nazi party, Heisenberg attempted to remain out of politics and continue his academic career. He taught a great deal of theoretical physics originating from Jewish scientists. This earned him trouble from the SS. He was persecuted by the Nazis, but eventually pressed into service researching the science of the atom for Nazi Germany.(Cassidy)
