A Biography of Werner Heisenberg a German Theoretical Physicist Essay

Werner Heisenberg and the Heisenberg Uncertainty PrincipleWerner Heisenberg, born in the dawn of the twentieth century became oneof its greatest physicists he is also among its most controversial.While still in his early twenties, he was among the handful of bright,young men who created quantum mechanics, the basic physics of the atom,and he became a leader of nuclear physics and elementary particleresearch. He is best known for his uncertainty principle, a componentof the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of the meaning, and uses ofquantum mechanics.Through his successful life, he lived through two lost World Wars,Soviet Revolution, military occupation, two republics, political unrest,and Hitler s Third Reich. He was not a Nazi, and like most scientistsof his day he tried not to become involved in politics. He played aprominent role in German nuclear testing during the World War II era.At age twenty-five he received a full professorship and won the NobelPrize in Physics in 1932 at the age of thirty-two. He climbed quicklyto the top of his field beginning at the University of Munich when hisinterest in theoretical physics was sparkedHeisenberg was born the son of August Heisenberg in W rzburg, Germanyon December 5, 1901. August Heisenberg was a professor of Greek at theUniversity of Munich. His grandfather was a middle-class craftsman who shard work paid enough to afford a good education for August Heisenberg.The successfulness of August Heisenberg allowed him to support hisfamily well. The professorship at the University of Munich put them inthe upper middle-class elite, and was paid three times the salary ofskilled workers.Through his life Werner Heisenberg was pestered with health problems.At the age of five, he nearly died with a lung infection which helpedhim get a little preferential treatment from his parents. During hisearly years, Werner was in constant competition with his brother Erwinwhich caused friction. The Heisenberg family were accomplishedmusicians. Every evening they would sit and practice together. Augustwas on the piano, Erwin played the violin, and Werner played the cello.Their mother insisted...