Natural science, does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves.
WERNER HEISENBERGNatural science, does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves.
WERNER HEISENBERGWith all this information available, at least to privileged persons, I cannot understand why it is generally held in the United States that we completely missed the basic principle of the bomb until after Hiroshima.
WERNER HEISENBERGEvery word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability.
WERNER HEISENBERGI would like to mention astrophysics; in this field, the strange properties of the pulsars and quasars, and perhaps also the gravitational waves, can be considered as a challenge.
WERNER HEISENBERGI think that if a United States of Europe were to be formed, it would be in our interests to fight for it, as all our old traditions would remain in such a united Europe, whereas if we were to start now as part of the Russian Empire, everything that had ever been in Germany would disappear.
WERNER HEISENBERGThe uncertainty relation does not refer to the past; if the velocity of the electron is at first known and the position then exactly measured, the position for times previous to the measurement may be calculated.
WERNER HEISENBERGAlthough the theory of relativity makes the greatest of demands on the ability for abstract thought, still it fulfills the traditional requirements of science insofar as it permits a division of the world into subject and object (observer and observed) and, hence, a clear formulation of the law of causality.
WERNER HEISENBERGThe single life is bearable to me only through my work in science, but for the long term, it would be very bad if I had to make do without a very young person next to me.
WERNER HEISENBERGIn 1924, I became a Dozent in Gottingen and worked out the quantum mechanics during a holiday stay on Heligoland.
WERNER HEISENBERGIf we made atomic bombs, we would bring about a terrible change in the world. Who knows what would happen from this?
WERNER HEISENBERGI believe this uranium business will give the Anglo-Saxons such tremendous power that Europe will become a bloc under Anglo-Saxon domination. If that is the case, it will be a very good thing. I wonder whether Stalin will be able to stand up to the others as he has done in the past.
WERNER HEISENBERGCertainly, in the course of time, the splendid things will separate from the hateful.
WERNER HEISENBERGThe solution of the difficulty is that the two mental pictures which experiment lead us to form – the one of the particles, the other of the waves – are both incomplete and have only the validity of analogies which are accurate only in limiting cases.
WERNER HEISENBERGThe problems of language here are really serious. We wish to speak in some way about the structure of the atoms. But we cannot speak about atoms in ordinary language.
WERNER HEISENBERGIt is generally believed that our science is empirical and that we draw our concepts and our mathematical constructs from the empirical data.
WERNER HEISENBERGIf this were the whole truth, we should, when entering into a new field, introduce only such quantities as can directly be observed, and formulate natural laws only by means of these quantities.
WERNER HEISENBERG