The Life and Works of Werner Heisenberg - Essay Example

? The Life and Works of Werner Heisenberg The Life and Works of Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who lived between 1901 and 1976. He is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century.1 He was one of the main authors of quantum mechanics – a branch of physics that is now being widely used by scientists, engineers, students, and educators all around the world for various applications. But his work focused on the uncertainty principle in quantum theory that had become the basis for his own philosophy. In 1932, Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his “creation of the quantum physics.”2 Heisenberg also made significant contributions to many other subjects in Physics such as hydrodynamics of the turbulent flows, ferromagnetism, cosmic rays, and subatomic particles. In 1925, he described the matrix formulation of quantum mechanics together with Max Born and Pascual Jordan.3 Subsequent to World War II, Heisenberg was selected as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics – now called the Max Planck Institute for Physics. He is also extensively famous as the key person to spearhead the nuclear fission research in Germany during the World War II. At the conclusion of the war, Heisenberg concentrated on elementary particle physics. Early Life and Education Werner Karl Heisenberg was born on the 5th of December 1901 in Wurzburg, Germany. He was the son of Dr. August Heisenberg, a high school teacher of classical languages, and Anna Wecklein Heisenberg.4 He had a brother named Erwin who was a chemist. Werner showed early interest in mathematics and physics and in 1920, he enrolled at the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitat Munchen under the supervision of Arnold Sommerfeld and Wilhelm Wien; however, during the winter of 1922-1923, Wilhelm went on to study at University of Munich in which he studied physics with Max Born and James Franck, and studied mathematics with David Hilbert. In 1923, he finally received his doctorate degree at the University of Munich under the guidance of Arnold Sommerfeld.5 At school, Heisenberg showed an extraordinary level of self-confidence and willingness to excel, as commented by one school teacher who had seen his potential.6 Another school teacher observed that Heisenberg is “more developed toward the side of rationality than a fantasy and imagination”7 – a quality that is common among scientists. But these qualities seemed to have been suppressed initially by Heisenberg as he tended to be “shy and sensitive at first.”8 However, as the school year progressed, he turned out to become more self-confident than ever. Heisenberg’s father would always set up a competition between him and his brother, which continued as they grew older. Obviously, it is one reason why Werner tops his class, particularly in mathematics and physics.9 Sommerfeld noticed Heisenberg’s interests in Niels Bohr’s theories in atomic physics so he took the initiative to bring Heisenberg to the Bohr’s Festival in 1922. For the first time, Heisenberg was able to see and hear Niels Bohr in person as Bohr gave a series of lectures about atomic physics. That encounter flared up Heisenberg’s interest in discovering more about the mysteries of physics.10 Early Career Between the years 1924 and 1925, Werner had the chance to work with probably one of his greatest influences, Niels Bohr, at the University of Copenhagen under a Rockefeller grant. In 1925, Werner went back to Gottingen. In 1926, Werner was designated to his first teaching position as a theoretical physics lecturer at the University of Copenhagen under the direction of Niels Bohr.11 In the following year, Werner received another teaching position as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Leipzig when he was only 26 years old.12 His latest tenure as a Professor of Theoretical Physics would allow him to set off a lecture tour to the United States, Japan, and India in 1929. Later on in his life in 1941, Werner was chosen to become Professor of Physics at the University of Berlin and Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics there.13 Werner had the biggest participation in the re-establishment of the Max Planck Institute of Physics at Gottingen. At the conclusion of the World War II in, a large number of German physicists were taken captive by the American soldiers and dispatched to England; nevertheless, Werner returned to Germany in 1946 to restructure the then Institute for Physics at Gottingen. After two years, in 1948, Werner received several invitations to conduct lectures in physics England and the United States, as well as the Gifford Lectures that he had given at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in the winter of 1955-1956.14 Quantum Physics and Nobel Prize Werner’s paper establishing the philosophy of quantum physics had bewildered many physicists and historians.15 One particular reason for how puzzling Werner’s paper is attributable to the methods that he used in describing his theories. His approaches supposed that the reader has profound knowledge of the Kramers-Heisenberg transition probability calculations.16 His paper can be considered as a work of a genius considering that it was published when Werner was only 23 years old. This theory has made significant contributions to physics and led to many discoveries including the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen.17 In 1932, Werner Heisenberg received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his creation of the quantum physics. His theory is solely based on what can be evaluated against the empirical methods, that is, what can be observed on the “radiation emitted by the atom.”18 Werner contended that it is not possible for us to always assign to an electron “a position in space at a given time, nor follow it in its orbit”19, the reason why we cannot presume that that the terrestrial course of the planets proposed by Niels Bohr exists in reality. He further argued that mechanical quantities including but not limited to position and velocity “should be represented not by ordinary numbers but by abstract mathematical structures called matrices20, and then devised his own theory based on matrix equations. It was quite long later that Werner confirmed his well-known principle of uncertainty, which dictates that “determination of the position and momentum of a mobile particle necessarily contains errors the product of which cannot be less than the quantum constant h and that, although these errors are negligible on the human scale, they cannot be ignored in studies of the atom.”21 Years later, Weber became interested in the study of plasma physics and thermonuclear processes, which he carried out in connection with the International Institute of Atomic Physics in Geneva. He held several leadership positions including a chairmanship of the Scientific Policy Committee of the Institute and a Presidency of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1953.22 From 1953 onwards, Heisenberg’s theoretical works in physics focused on the “unified field theory of elementary particles”23, which he believe as something that will provide an profound knowledge and comprehension on the physics of elementary physics. Awards Throughout his entire career, Werner Heisenberg raked manifold awards, recognizing his remarkable creation of the quantum physics and his immense contribution to physics and entire scientific community. Apart from the medals and awards that he received, he is also a recipient of many honorary degrees conferred by the following institutions: University of Bruxelles24, of the Technological University Karlsruhe, and recently (1964) of the University of Budapest; he is also recipient of the Order of Merit of Bavaria, and the Grand Cross for Federal Services with Star (Germany). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and a Knight of the Order of Merit (Peace Class). Other Interests Apart from physics and mathematics, Heisenberg likewise showed interests in classical music. As a matter of fact, he is a “distinguished pianist.”25 Endnotes Read More