Werner Heisenberg* (1901-1976)

12/2/1901, Born, Wurzburg, Germany, oldest of two sons.
Father, Dr. August Heisenberg, Professor of Middle and Modern Greek, U. Munich.
Mother, daughter of Gymnasium principal
1905, began elementary school in Wurzburg
1910, moved to Munich and finished last year of elementary school.



1911-1920, Maximilian Gymnasium, a 9-year college preparatory school.   Was gifted in math and science and completed much independent study in math. Graduated top of his class.  Also studied music and was an accomplished pianist.
During WWI, school was interrupted several years to harvest crops in Bavaria.
Post WWI became active in Democratic Socialist forces, which overthrew Communist government in Bavaria.
Became active in Youth Corps to renew German life and culture.  Participation lasted until 1933.
1920-23, U. Munich (Sommerfeld, Wein, Pringsheim, Rosenthal)
1922-23, (Winter) U. Gottingen (Born, Hilbert, Franck). Sommerfeld in U.S. on lecture tour.
1923, Ph.D. U. Munich. Barely passed orals.
1922-26, U. Gottingen, Assistant to Max Born
1925, Formulation of Matrix Mechanics
1926, U. Copenhagen, Lecturer, Theor. Physics
1927, Development of the Exclusion Principle
9/1927-1941, U. Leipzig, Professor, Theor. Physics
1932, Nobel Prize “Creation of Quantum Mechanics”
At Leipzig, at age 25, was the youngest professor in Germany.  Was director of Institute of Theoretical Physics, a subsection of the Physics Institute, headed by Peter Debye, an experimentalist.
1933-37. Physicists led by Johannes Stark* characterized relativity and quantum mechanics as “Jewish Physics” and Heisenberg came under attack by the SS as a “White Jew” and was threatened with internment.  Remaining German physicists were not trusted by the Nazi regime.

1939-45, Fission research began through the German Army Weapons Bureau in Berlin.  Heisenberg headed a small reactor research group in Leipzig and consulted with a larger group in Berlin.  In later years, headed the entire effort creating many basic errors and with dismal results.
1941-45, U. Berlin, Professor of Physics and Director, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics.
5/1945-1/1946, Prisoner of War, England with 10 other nuclear scientists who were debriefed.
1946-55, Director, KWI, Gottingen. Returning to Germany, Heisenberg reconstructed the Institute as a science research center and to revive research in West Germany
1949, Convinced the government to establish the German Research Council that included 15 leading scientists of which Heisenberg was president.
1955, Germany was granted sovereignty and the ban on fission research was lifted.  Heisenberg ‘s efforts led to the creation of a cabinet level Nuclear Energy Ministry.
1955, KWI renamed Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astro-Physics and moved to Munich.
1958, U. Munich, Visiting Professor of Physics in addition to Director of MPI.
After WWII, Heisenberg’s scientific pursuits were in the area of a unified theory of elementary particles of which nothing of consequence was produced.
1970, Retired




2/1/1976, Died, cancer, Munich (75)
Heisenberg was best known as one of the founders of quantum mechanics and especially for the Uncertainty Principle in quantum theory.  He was also known for his questionable and controversial role as leader of Germanys nuclear fission effort in WWII.  After the war he was active in particle physics and in German and European science policy and programs.

Paul A. M. Dirac* (1902-1984)

8/8/1902, Born, Bristol, England, middle child of three
Father, Charles, Swiss, teacher of French in a Bristol technical college.
Mother, daughter of an English sea captain
Raised in a dysfunctional household with almost no communication or semblance of family.
1908-14, Bishop Road Primary School, Bristol






1914-18, Merchant Venturer Technical College, Bristol, a highly regarded technical school.  Excelled in mathematics.



1918-21, Bristol U., Grad. B.Sc. Electrical Eng.


1921, Could not find an engineering job.
1921-23, Bristol U., Mathematics, 2 yr. scholarship
1923-26, St. Johns College, Cambridge, research student in math (Fowler)
1926, Ph. D. “Quantum Mechanics”
1926-27, Us. Copenhagen, Gottingen, Leiden
1926, Development of Transformation Theory
1927, St. Johns College, Fellow, 1929 Praelector,
1928, Relativistic Theory of Electrons, Dirac Eq.
Introduced Relativity into Schrodinger Eq.
1931, Theory of Holes, Prediction of Positron.              
1932-1969, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Cambridge U (Chair held by Isaac Newton).
1933, Nobel Prize, shared with E. Schrodinger “For the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory”

1935, 1947, 1958, Institute for Advance Studies
1937, Married Eugene Wigner’s sister and had a very successful Victorian marriage.



As a brilliant mathematical physicist who was compelled by the need for beauty and simplicity in physical theory and the ability to translate these theories into equations, Dirac became a major contributor to the formation of quantum mechanics and quantum theory during the revolution of the 1920-30s. .  As opposed to Rutherford, Bohr and Born, he created no school or following and worked by himself like Einstein and Schrodinger.  He was a poor lecturer and teacher and had no interest in academic administration or production of PhDs.  He lived an ascetic life style and shunned publicity and honors.