On Modern Physics

132 Pages·1962·7.142 MB·English

by  Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Erwin Schrodinger, Pierre Auger

Four of the world’s greatest physicists discuss, in non­
technical language, the ways we see and think about the
world in the age of nuclear physics.
Werner Heisenberg (1901- ) won the Nobel Prize in
1932 for his development of quantum mechanics. He is
best known for his formulation of the Uncertainty Prin­
ciple, which states the impossibility of simultaneous, ac­
curate determination of both the position and the velocity
of a particle. During World War II, he was director of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin. At present,
he is director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics and
Astrophysics in Munich.
Max Born (1882- ) was co-winner of the 1954
Nobel Prize for his statistical studies on wave functions.
He is also well-known as a writer on science for the lay­
man. Bom in Breslau, he taught physics at Göttingen,
Berlin, and Frankfurt-am-Main until he fled Germany in
1933. He taught at Cambridge and Edinburgh, became a
British citizen in 1939 and presently resides in Bad
Pyrmont, Germany.
Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) was co-winner of the
Nobel Prize in 1933 for his work on wave mechanics and
its application to atomic structure. He was bom and edu­
cated in Vienna and succeeded Max Planck as professor
of physics at the University of Berlin in 1927. He taught
in Dublin in 1940 and returned to Vienna in 1956.
Pierre Auger (1899- ) has headed the French Com­
mittee on Space Research since 1960 and is the general
secretary of the European Center for Space Research.
From 1948 to 1958 he was director of the Natural Sci­
ences Department of UNESCO. He has written on X-rays,
neutrons, and cosmic rays and on the philosophy of
science.
HEISENBERG, BORN, SCHRODINGER
and AUGER
C O L L IE R B O O K S
NEW YORK, N. Y.
This Collier Books edition is published by arrangement with
Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.
Collier Books is a division of The Crowell-Collier Publishing
Company
First Collier Books Edition 1962
Originally published by Paolo Boringhieri Editore, Turin
English translation by M. Goodman and J. W. Binns
Copyright © 1961 by Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York
All Rights Reserved
Hecho en los E. E. U. U.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
1 Planck’s Discovery and the Philosophical Prob­
lems of Atomic Physics Werner Heisen­
berg 9
2 Discussion of the Lecture of Werner Heisenberg 29
3 Our Image of Matter Irwin Schrödinger 45
4 Reflections of a European Man of Science Max
Born 67
5 The Methods and Limits of Scientific Knowledge
Pierre Auger 93
5

On Modern Physics