Portrait of Werner Heisenberg

Birthday profile

Werner Heisenberg

Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976)

Born
December 5, 1901
Died
February 1, 1976
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1901

About Werner Heisenberg

Werner Karl Heisenberg (; German: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈhaɪzn̩bɛʁk]; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II. Heisenberg published his Umdeutung paper in 1925, a major reinterpretation of old quantum theory. In the subsequent series of papers with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, during the same year, his matrix formulation of quantum mechanics was substantially elaborated. He is known for the uncertainty principle, which he published in 1927. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics". Heisenberg also made contributions to the theories of the hydrodynamics of turbulent flows, the atomic nucleus, ferromagnetism, cosmic rays, and subatomic particles. He introduced the concept of a wave function collapse. He was also instrumental in planning the first West German nuclear reactor at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, together with one in Garching at the Technische Hochschule München, in 1957 (both were research reactors). Following World War II, Heisenberg was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, which soon thereafter was renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics. He was director until it was moved to Munich in 1958. He was Director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics from 1960 to 1970. Heisenberg was also President of the German Research Council, Chairman of the Commission for Atomic Physics, Chairman of the Nuclear Physics Working Group, and President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Werner Heisenberg timeline

  1. Heisenberg published his Umdeutung paper in 1925, a major reinterpretation of old quantum theory.
  2. He is known for the uncertainty principle, which he published in 1927.

The world when Werner Heisenberg was born

Werner Heisenberg was born in 1901. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1901

  • Best-selling book"The Crisis" – Winston Churchill

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst American League season
  • Top headlinePresident McKinley assassinated — Roosevelt becomes president
  • Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic radio signal by Marconi
  • World population~1.61B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWilliam McKinley / Theodore Roosevelt
  • U.S. population77.6M

1901 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Werner Heisenberg's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19012026
Population77.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.