Picture of Werner Heisenberg
The Bettmann Archive

Werner Heisenberg

Werner Heisenberg was a German physicist who lived between 1901-1976. He developed new theories in quantum mechanics about the behavior of electrons which agreed with the results of previous experiments.

Heisenberg is most famous for his "uncertainty principle", which explains the impossibility of knowing exactly where something is and how fast it is moving. However, this principle is only significant for tiny particles such as electrons.

Heisenberg also wrote the plans for the first nuclear reactor in Germany and promoted such peaceful uses of nuclear energy.


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