Words of Wisdom — December 5, 2013

Heisenberg on Observing Nature

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.”-Werner Heisenberg

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A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.”

-Werner Heisenberg

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A satellite orbits Earth against a backdrop of space. Below, the Earth's curvature and cloud formations are visible, making our planet seem even bigger.

Starts With A Bang

The one cosmic secret that demands a new particle collider

The observation that everything we know is made out of matter and not antimatter is one of nature’s greatest puzzles. Will we ever solve it?

Starts With A Bang

Why “incompleteness” matters in theoretical physics

Physicists just can’t leave an incomplete theory alone; they try to repair it. When nature is kind, it can lead to a major breakthrough.

Starts With A Bang

LIGO successfully squeezes quantum states, surpassing Heisenberg’s limits

There’s a quantum limit to how precisely anything can be measured. By squeezing light, LIGO has now surpassed all previous limitations.

An image of a pink spiral on a black background depicting uncertainty.

Starts With A Bang

How quantum uncertainty saved the atom

If nature were perfectly deterministic, atoms would almost instantly all collapse. Here’s how Heisenberg uncertainty saves the atom.

Three Egginton men are shown in front of a blue background.

13.8

A meeting of the greatest minds in science, philosophy, and literature

A new book envisions an encounter of minds between the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, the physicist Werner Heisenberg, and the philosopher Immanuel Kant.

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