Werner Heisenberg

5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976

Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the principal creators of quantum mechanics. He published the first formulation of quantum mechanics in 1925, stated the uncertainty principle in 1927, and received the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics. During World War II he was a leading figure in Germany's nuclear research program, and after the war he directed the Max Planck Institute for Physics.

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Life events

Born in Würzburg, Germany
5 December 1901

Werner Karl Heisenberg was born in Würzburg, the son of August Heisenberg, a scholar of Byzantine studies.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Received doctorate in physics from the University of Munich
1923

He completed his doctorate under Arnold Sommerfeld with a thesis on turbulence in fluid flows.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published the breakthrough paper founding matrix mechanics
1925

His 1925 paper on quantum-theoretical reinterpretation of kinematics, developed further with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, provided the first consistent formulation of quantum mechanics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Formulated the uncertainty principle
1927

Working in Copenhagen with Niels Bohr, he published the principle that the position and momentum of a particle cannot both be known with arbitrary precision.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed professor of theoretical physics at the University of Leipzig
1927

At age 25 he became one of the youngest full professors in Germany, building Leipzig into a leading center for quantum physics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1932
1933

He received the prize, announced in 1933, for the creation of quantum mechanics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Elisabeth Schumacher
29 April 1937

The couple married in Berlin and had seven children.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Led theoretical work in Germany's wartime nuclear program
1939 – 1945

During World War II he was a principal scientist in the German nuclear research effort known as the Uranverein, work whose aims and conduct remain debated by historians.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics
1946 – 1970

After the war he led the renamed Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, serving as director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Göttingen and later Munich until his retirement in 1970.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Munich, Germany
1 February 1976

Heisenberg died of cancer at his home in Munich at the age of 74.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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