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Werner, Niels and Language

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."

Ludwig Wittgenstein

 

In their remarkable collaboration, Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr considered the critical role of language in establishing the parameters of quantum mechanics.

From Bohr's perspective, the ability to describe experimental observations using concepts from classical physics was essential, even though this contradicts quantum theory's paradoxical nature.  On one hand, quantum mechanics establishes laws that diverge from classical ones, while on the other, all observations rely on Newtonian physics.

It is here where Heisenberg sets forth the Uncertainty Principle, which posits that any theoretical description of quantum phenomena must distinctly separate the phenomenon from the observer (or its apparatus).

The demarcation line can be chosen, but observers are obligated to use the language of classical physics and are subject to a reality described by classical mechanics.

Bohr argues that science is solely the observation of phenomena and that language, specifically communication to third parties, is responsible for verification. Agreement on the occurrence is necessary before a basis for understanding can be established.

Language can evoke mental images in listeners, influencing their actions with greater potency than the insights gained from thoughtful analysis.

As we have learned, not all scientists are created equal.

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