Separation of Lanthanides/ Lanthanides and Actinides
Werner heisenberg noe-bedoy
1. Werner Heisenberg
Dec. 5, 1901-----Feb. 1, 1976
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1932 for his work on
quantum mechanics. He led Germany's efforts in
World War II (1939 – 45) to develop an atomic bomb.
"The exact sciences also start from the assumption
that in the end it will always be possible to understand
nature, even in every new field of experience, but that
we may make no a priori assumptions about the
meaning of the word understand."
2. Personal Life
• Werner Heisenberg was born in Wurzburg, Germany. His father was
Dr. August Heisenberg and his mother was Annie Wecklein. His father
became Professor of the Middle and Modern Greek languages in the
University of Munich. Heisenberg went to the Maximilian school at
Munich until 1920, when he went to the University of Munich to study
physics. In 1923 he took his Ph.D. at the University of Munich.
• In January 1937 Heisenberg met Elisabeth Schumacher at a private
music recital. They were married on April 29, 1937. The fraternal
twins, Maria and Wolfgang, were born to them in January 1938. They
had five more children over the next 12 years: Barbara, Christine,
Jochen ,Martin , and Verena. Heisenberg enjoyed classical music, was
an accomplished pianist, and was an avid hiker. He was a Lutheran.
Heisenberg died of cancer of the kidneys and gall bladder at his home,
on February 1, 1976.
3. Education
• Heisenberg went to the Maximilian school at Munich until 1920,
when he went to the University of Munich to study physics under
Sommerfeld, Wien, Pringsheim, and Rosenthal. During the winter of
1922-1923 he went to Göttingen to study physics under Max Born,
Franck, and Hilbert. In 1923 he took his Ph.D. at the University of
Munich and then became Assistant to Max Born at the University of
Göttingen.
• From 1924 until 1925 he worked, with a Rockefeller Grant, with
Niels Bohr, at the University of Copenhagen, returning for the
summer of 1925 to Göttingen.
4. Positions
• From 1924 until 1925 he worked, with a Rockefeller Grant, with Niels Bohr, at the University
of Copenhagen, returning for the summer of 1925 to Göttingen. In 1926 he was appointed
Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen under Niels Bohr and in
1927, when he was only 26, he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the
University of Leipzig. In 1941 he was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of
Berlin and Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics there. At the end of the Second
World War he, and other German physicists, were taken prisoner by American troops and
sent to England, but in 1946 he returned to Germany and reorganized, with his colleagues,
the Institute for Physics at Göttingen. This Institute was, in 1948, renamed the Max Planck
Institute for Physics. During 1955 Heisenberg was occupied with preparations for the
removal of the Max Planck Institute for Physics to Munich. Still Director of this Institute, he
went with it to Munich and in 1958 he was appointed Professor of Physics in the University of
Munich. His Institute was then being renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics and
Astrophysics. From 1957 onwards Heisenberg was interested in work on problems of plasma
physics and thermonuclear processes, and also much work in close collaboration with the
International Institute of Atomic Physics at Geneva. He was for several years Chairman of the
Scientific Policy Committee of this Institute and subsequently remained a member of this
Committee. When he became, in 1953, President of the Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation, he did much to further the policy of this Foundation, which was to invite scientists
from other countries to Germany and to help them to work there. Heisenberg retired in
1970, although he continued to write on a variety of topics.
•
5. Contributions to Science
• In 1925 he solved the problem of how to account
for the stationary discrete energy states of an
anharmonic oscillator, a solution that launched the
development of quantum mechanics. In 1927 he
published his famous uncertainty principle. A few
years later he introduced a new quantum number
called isotopic spin. Heisenberg continued to
contribute to particle physics, introducing useful
computational techniques in the 1950s. He also
made important contributions to the theories of the
hydrodynamics of turbulence, the atomic nucleus,
ferromagnetism, cosmic rays, and subatomic
particles.
6. Honours and Awards
• Honorary Doctorates from the University of Bruxelles, the Technological
University of Karlsruhe, and the University of Budapest. Order of Merit of
Bavaria. Romano Guardini Prize. Grand Cross For Federal Service with
Star. Knight of the Order of Merit (Peace Class).Fellow of the Royal Society
of London. Member of the Academies of Sciences of Göttingen, Bavaria,
Saxony, Prussia, Sweden, Rumania, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands,
Rome (Pontifical), the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina
(Halle), the Accademia dei Lincei (Rome), and the American Academy of
Sciences. 1932– Nobel Prize for Physics, for the creation of quantum
mechanics. 1933–Max-Planck-Medaille of the Deutsche Physikalische
Gesellschaft.
