It seems sensible to discard all hope of observing hitherto unobservable quantities, such as the position and period of the electron... Instead it seems more reasonable to try to establish a theoretical quantum mechanics, analogous to classical mechanics, but in which only relations between observable quantities occur.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes focusing on observable phenomena rather than unobservable quantities in quantum mechanics.
Werner Heisenberg's quote highlights a fundamental principle in quantum mechanics, suggesting that rather than attempting to directly measure unobservable properties like the exact position or momentum of subatomic particles, scientists should concentrate on understanding the relationships between measurable quantities. This observation points to the essence of quantum theory, where indeterminacy and statistical relations replace classical notions of certainty.
In practice
This quote can be used in a lecture discussing the principles of quantum mechanics.
Although the theory of relativity makes the greatest of demands on the ability for abstract thought, still it fulfills the traditional requirements of science insofar as it permits a division of the world into subject and object (observer and observed) and, hence, a clear formulation of the law of causality.
It was about three o'clock at night when the final result of the calculation [which gave birth to quantum mechanics] lay before me ... At first I was deeply shaken ... I was so excited that I could not think of sleep. So I left the house ... and awaited the sunrise on top of a rock.
It is generally believed that our science is empirical and that we draw our concepts and our mathematical constructs from the empirical data. If this were the whole truth, we should, when entering into a new field, introduce only such quantities as can directly be observed, and formulate natural laws only by means of these quantities.
When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity ? And why turbulence ? I really believe he will have an answer for the first.
The end of the First World War had thrown Germany's youth into great turmoil. The reins of power had fallen from the hands of a deeply disillusioned older generation, and the younger ones drew together in larger and smaller groups to blaze new paths or, at least, to discover a new star to steer by.
The Same organizing forces that have shaped nature in all her forms are also responsible for the structure of our minds.
We only have to capture 1/10,000th of the solar energy landing on earth to completely satisfy all our energy needs.
When a coil is operated with currents of very high frequency, beautiful brush effects may be produced, even if the coil be of comparatively small dimensions. The experimenter may vary them in many ways, and, if it were nothing else, they afford a pleasing sight.
Science - or the products of science like technology - is just a way of achieving something real, something that happens, something that works.
Mathematics deals exclusively with the relations of concepts to each other without consideration of their relation to experience.
I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.
To invoke the origin of the DNA/protein machine by invoking a supernatural Designer is to explain precisely nothing - for it leaves unexplained the origin of the Designer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.