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Ideas of Werner Heisenberg, by Text

[German, 1901 - 1976, The great physicist, joint developer of quantum mechanics in 1926.]

1937 Ancient Thought in Modern Physics
p.119 p.111 You can only explain the qualities of large objects using entities which lack those qualities
1958 Physics and Philosophy
02 p.21 An atom's stability after collisions needs explaining (which Newton's mechanics can't do)
02 p.23 Radiation interference needs waves, but radiation photoelectric effects needs particles
02 p.29 A 'probability wave' is a quantitative version of Aristotle's potential, a mid-way type of reality
02 p.30 If it can't be expressed mathematically, it can't occur in nature?
03 p.37 Position is complementary to velocity or momentum, so the whole system is indeterminate
03 p.43 Quantum theory does not introduce minds into atomic events
04 p.51 Energy is that which moves, and is the substance from which everything is made
04 p.51 Energy is an unchanging substance, having many forms, and causing all change
04 p.54 So-called 'empty' space is the carrier of geometry and kinematics
04 p.57 Basic particles have a mathematical form, which is more important than their substance
05 p.70 Quantum theory shows that exact science does not need dogmatic realism
06 p.83 Maxwell introduced real fields, which transferred forces from point to point
06 p.86 Seven theories in science: mechanics, heat, electricity, quantum, particles, relativity, life [PG]
06 p.95 We give a mathematical account of a system of natural connections in order to clarify them
07 p.99 It was formerly assumed that electromagnetic waves could not be a reality in themselves
07 p.103 In relativity the length of the 'present moment' is relative to distance from the observer
07 p.107 We can retain the idea of 'substance', as indestructible mass or energy