![]() ![]() Some of these studies have made it clear how Heisenberg’s life might be instructive to think over general themes such as the moral responsibility of scientists, the relevance of science policy in an increasingly technological world, and the broader role of science in the cultural and political spheres. Cassidy played with this double sense by entitling what might be considered Heisenberg’s definitive biography Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg). ![]() Heisenberg’s scientific and human trajectory has been at the centre of many attentive studies, which have underlined how the name of the quantum principle he discovered could be applied to the difficulties in interpreting Heisenberg’s actions in their historical context. Heisenberg assumed various positions of responsibility in the organization of the research system and in the reconfiguration of its connection to the political sphere (e.g., as director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics), which made him an important actor in the shaping of the network of scientific institutions and scientific advisory bodies in West Germany until the early 1970s. In the aftermath of World War II, Heisenberg became a central figure in the complex process of cultural and political (re-)construction of West Germany. ![]() Heisenberg’s decision to stay in his home country under Hitler’s rule and his wartime participation in the Uranverein (Uranium Club)-as the German nuclear weapon project was informally called-are still cause of deep disagreement between commentators and historians. The Prize was actually awarded in 1933, the same year in which the German National Socialist Workers’ Party came to power in Germany. Heisenberg’s foundational contributions to the formulation of matrix mechanics in his 1925 paper “Quantum-theoretical re-interpretation of kinematic and mechanical relations,” (“Über die Quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematischer und mechanischer Beziehungen”) and his 1927 formulation of the uncertainty principle that bears his name (also called indeterminacy principle) gained Heisenberg the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics. An extremely brilliant student in late Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany, already in his twenties he made path-breaking contributions to the formulation, development and physical interpretation of quantum mechanics. Werner Heisenberg is arguably one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of 20th century physics. "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen". ![]()
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