Werner Heisenberg is perhaps best known for his Uncertainty paper published in 1926 which states that the more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in that instant, and vice versa.
Werner Heisenberg was born on December 5, 1901 in the city of Würzburg, Germany. Heisenberg was the son of Dr. August Heisenberg, a professor of Greek philosophy at the University of Munich and Anna Wecklein. Heisenberg had one older brother, Erwin, who became a chemist.
At the age of five Werner Heisenberg entered elementary school and in 1911, just short of his 10th birthday he entered the Maximilians-Gymnasium where his maternal grandfather was principle. A Gymnasium is a 9 year preparatory school where students intent on professional careers are sent to prepare them for university.
During the time that Heisenberg attended the Gymnasium the main classes were in classical Greek and Latin. Heisenbergs best marks were in mathematics, physics, and religion, which at the time were considered minor subject areas. In 1914, with the start of the First World War, the Gymnasium was occupied by German troops and classes had to be arranged elsewhere. As a result of this Heisenberg undertook his own independent studies which were to help him later on in life. During the was, in addition to attending classes Heisenberg was part of a volunteer organization that sent young men and boys to work on farms in order to provide food for the country. After the was ended in 1918 there were various parties trying to take control of Germany by force and Heisenberg participated in the military suppression of Bavarian Soviet forces.
In 1920 Heisenberg wrote his Abitur examination and was one of 11 students to receive a scholarship from the Maximilianeum Foundation. In the fall of 1920 Heisenberg entered the University of Munich with the intention of studying pure mathematics. However after an interview with one of the math professors Heisenberg turned to theoretical physics. At the time, the professor of theoretical physics was Arnold Sommerfeld who, in recognition of Heisenberg’s talents admitted him to his advanced seminar. It was shortly after this that Heisenberg published his first paper, a contribution to the quantum theory of the atom.
By his 2nd semester of university Heisenberg had enrolled in all of Sommerfeld’s courses, in addition to the required courses in experimental physics and planned to undertake a research into the theory of relativity. At this time however he was advised by Wolfgang Pauli (who was working on his own survey of relativity) that much work needed to be done on the atomic structure as the theory and experimental data did not agree. It was therefore here that Heisenberg turned his attention.
Heisenberg received his Ph.D. in 1922 at the age of 21 in the record time of 3 years and became Germany’s youngest professor at the age of 25 when he was appointed professor of theoretical physics in Leipzig. In 1922 Heisenberg went to Gottingen to study with Born while Sommerfeld was away in America and in 1924visited the Neils Borh institute where he met Einstein for the first time. From 1924-1925 he worked with Neils Bohr in Gottingen Heisenberg’s most famous contribution to physics came in 1927 when he published his uncertainty paper. The most succinct description of his theory is as follows: The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa. Also in 1927 Heisenberg attended the Solvay Conference in Brussels. In 1932 Heisenberg received a Nobel prize for his 1927 uncertainty paper.
In 1935, the Nazi party introduced a law that required all professors over 65 had to retire. At this time Sommerfeld was 66 and recommended as his replacement Heisenberg. Heisenberg was married in 1937 in Elizabeth Schumacher and arrived in Munich that summer to take up his appointment to Sommerfeld chair. However Heisenberg’s appointment was blocked by the Nazi’s as his thinking was “to Jewish” and Heisenberg was frequently attacked in the press as being of “Jewish style”.
During the 2nd World War Heisenberg headed the unsuccessful German nuclear program. Their goal was to create both a nuclear reactor and nuclear bomb, but what the cause of their failure was is unclear. Following the far Heisenberg, and other leading German scientists, were arrested and was interned at Farm Hall in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire, England but returned to Germany in 1946 when he was appointed director of the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen. When the institute moved to Munich in 1958 Heisenberg remained its chair until his retirement in 1970. Heisenberg died on February 1, 1976.
Mathematical representation of Heisenberg’s theory: ∆p ∆q > h / 4π ∆E ∆t > h / 4π
Excerpt of an August 29, 1967 Interview with Heisenberg: http://www.haigerloch.de/stadt/atomkeller/heisenberg.html
American Institute of Physics Biography of Werner Heisenberg http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/ http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Heisenberg.html
Google Search “Werner Heisenberg”: 191,000 Bison Search (Author): 21
Bohr’s unsent letters to Heisenberg http://www.nbi.dk/NBA/papers/introduction.htm