University of San Carlos of Guatemala

Faculty of Engineering
Technical Language 1
Inga. Nathalie Lopez
Section N

Werner Karl Heisenberg

Name
Javier Bmaca Valle
Jorge Estuardo Alonzo
Jorge Pumay

ID
2012-13551
2009 15485
2012-13421

Guatemala June 21, 2016

Introduction

Objetives

Werner Karl Heisenberg

Werner Heisenberg was born on 5th December, 1901, at Wrzburg. He was the
son of Dr. August Heisenberg and his wife Annie Wecklein.
His father later became Professor of the Middle and Modern Greek languages in
the University of Munich. It was probably due to his influence that Heisenberg
remarked, when the Japanese physicist Yukawa discovered the particle now
known as the meson and the term "mesotron" was proposed for it, that the Greek
word "mesos" has no "tr" in it, with the result that the name "mesotron" was
changed to "meson".
Heisenberg went to the Maximilian school at Munich until 1920, when he went to
the University of Munich to study physics under Sommerfeld, Wien, Pringsheim,
and Rosenthal. During the winter of 1922-1923 he went to Gttingen to study
physics under Max Born, Franck, and Hilbert. In 1923 he took his Ph.D. at the
University of Munich and then became Assistant to Max Born at the University of
Gttingen, and in 1924 he gained the venia legendi at that University.
From 1924 until 1925 he worked, with a Rockefeller Grant, with Niels Bohr, at the
University of Copenhagen, returning for the summer of 1925 to Gttingen.
In 1926 he was appointed Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of
Copenhagen under Niels Bohr and in 1927, when he was only 26, he was
appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Leipzig.
In 1929 he went on a lecture tour to the United States, Japan, and India.
In 1941 he was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of Berlin and
Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics there.
At the end of the Second World War he, and other German physicists, were taken
prisoner by American troops and sent to England, but in 1946 he returned to
Germany and reorganized, with his colleagues, the Institute for Physics at
Gttingen. This Institute was, in 1948, renamed the Max Planck Institute for
Physics.
In 1948 Heisenberg stayed for some months in Cambridge, England, to give
lectures, and in 1950 and 1954 he was invited to lecture in the United States. In the
winter of 1955-1956 he gave the Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews,
Scotland, these lectures being subsequently published as a book.
During 1955 Heisenberg was occupied with preparations for the removal of the
Max Planck Institute for Physics to Munich. Still Director of this Institute, he went
with it to Munich and in 1958 he was appointed Professor of Physics in the

University of Munich. His Institute was then being renamed the Max Planck
Institute for Physics and Astrophysics.
Heisenberg's name will always be associated with his theory of quantum
mechanics, published in 1925, when he was only 23 years old. For this theory and
the applications of it which resulted especially in the discovery of allotropic forms of
hydrogen, Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1932.
His new theory was based only on what can be observed, that is to say, on the
radiation emitted by the atom. We cannot, he said, always assign to an electron a
position in space at a given time, nor follow it in its orbit, so that we cannot assume
that the planetary orbits postulated by Niels Bohr actually exist. Mechanical
quantities, such as position, velocity, etc. should be represented, not by ordinary
numbers, but by abstract mathematical structures called "matrices" and he
formulated his new theory in terms of matrix equations.
Later Heisenberg stated his famous principle of uncertainty, which lays it down that
the 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.
From 1957 onwards Heisenberg was interested in work on problems of plasma
physics and thermonuclear processes, and also much work in close collaboration
with the International Institute of Atomic Physics at Geneva. He was for several
years Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee of this Institute and
subsequently remained a member of this Committee.
When he became, in 1953, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation,
he did much to further the policy of this Foundation, which was to invite scientists
from other countries to Germany and to help them to work there.
Since 1953 his own theoretical work was concentrated on the unified field theory of
elementary particles which seems to him to be the key to an understanding of the
physics of elementary particles.
Apart from many medals and prizes, Heisenberg received an honorary doctorate of
the University of Bruxelles, 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). He is a member of the Academies of Sciences of Gttingen, Bavaria,
Saxony, Prussia, Sweden, Rumania, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands, Rome

(Pontificial), the German Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (Halle), the

Accademia dei Lincei (Rome), and the American Academy of Sciences. During
1949-1951 he was President of the Deutsche Forschungsrat (German Research
Council) and in 1953 he became President of the Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation.
One of his hobbies is classical music: he is a distinguished pianist. In 1937
Heisenberg married Elisabeth Schumacher. They have seven children, and live in
Munich.
Werner Heisenberg died on February 1, 1976.

Contributions
Heisenberg , one of the first theoretical physicists in the world , made his most
important contributions to the theory of atomic structure. In 1925 he began to
develop a system of quantum mechanics , called matrix mechanics , in which the
mathematical formulation was based on the frequencies and amplitudes of the
radiation absorbed and emitted by the atom and the atomic energy levels of the
system. The uncertainty principle played an important role in the development of
quantum mechanics and the progress of modern philosophical thought

Works

The physical principles of quantum theory 1930.

Cosmic Radiation 1946.
Physics and Philosophy 1958.
Introduction to the Unified Theory of Elementary Particles 1967.

Uncertainty Principle
In quantum mechanics, principle that it is impossible to accurately measure
simultaneously the position and momentum of a particle, for example, an electron.

The principle , also known as the principle of indeterminacy , also states that if it is
determined more accurately one of the amounts accuracy will be lost in the
measure of the other , and that the product of both uncertainties can never be less
than the Planck constant , named after the German physicist Max Planck .
Uncertainty is very small and is negligible in classical mechanics. However, in
quantum mechanics accurate predictions of classical mechanics you are replaced
by calculations of probabilities.
The uncertainty principle was formulated in 1927 it was very important for the
development of quantum mechanics. The philosophical implications of the
uncertainty created a strong current of mysticism among some scientists, who
interpreted the concept toppling the traditional idea of cause and effect. Others,
including Albert Einstein , considered the uncertainty associated with the
observation does not contradict the existence of laws that govern the behavior of
particles , or the ability of scientists to discover those laws.

Conclusiones

Bibliography

Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922-1941, Elsevier Publishing Company,

Amsterdam, 1965

Annexes