The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory

By Werner Heisenberg, Carl Eckart, F C Hoyt

Book Overview

"The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory" is a foundational work in modern physics written by Nobel Laureate Werner Heisenberg. Based on a series of lectures delivered by the author, this treatise provides a definitive explanation of the mathematical and physical developments of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg, one of the primary architects of the field, offers a rigorous exposition of the concepts that revolutionized our understanding of the atomic and subatomic world.

The text is renowned for its lucid discussion of the uncertainty principle and the transition from classical physics to quantum theory. It explores the wave-corpuscle duality of light and matter, the statistical interpretation of the wave function, and the formal mathematical apparatus of quantum mechanics. By focusing on the conceptual framework and experimental foundations of the theory, Heisenberg clarifies the philosophical implications and physical realities of quantum phenomena.

This work remains an essential resource for students and professional physicists alike. It serves as a historical and intellectual milestone, capturing the pivotal era when the fundamental laws of nature were being redefined. Readers will find a comprehensive treatment of the matrix mechanics and the principles of complementarity that continue to shape the landscape of theoretical physics today.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you may see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1025335279
• ISBN13: 9781025335278
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Tradd Street Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Good Hard Read

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It uses technical language (which can at times can become difficult), to express the physical context surrounding the development of Quantum mechanics, and deal with the matter at hand (pardon the pun). Quantum theory has a reputation as being difficult, confronting and unbelievable. However this book expresses logically and in detail, the physical principles of the Quantum theory, by the great Werner Heisenberg himself. A great book if your thought needs provoking...

Heisenberg's motivation

Not really for beginners in spite of appearances, this book sketches Heisenberg's path in discovering the canonical commutation rules of quantum mechanics. After trying unsuccessfully for years to quantize the helium atom via the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rules (which attempt Einstein had already explained in 1917 to be hopeless, because the classical 3-body problem is nonintegrable), Heisenberg was finally motivated by the example of relativity (where absolute time had to be abandoned) to give up the assumption that the position and momentum of a point particle are simultaneously predictable. To follow Heisenberg's reasoning the reader must first understand action-angle variables in classical mechanics. With Einstein's 1917 paper in hindsight, the three body problem representing the helium atom energy spectrum was finally approximated semi-clasically around 1990 based on a path-integral approximation to a chaotic Hamiltonian system.

A classic in quantum mechanics

This book is the standard introduction to - well, to the physical principles underlying the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics. While it is dated in terms of that mathematical formalism, it has never been superseded in its analyses. Every serious student of quantum physics will encounter it, sooner or later, in the original or in paraphrases in newer monographs on quantum theory.

Quantum theory is really misterious !!

This really helping me to understand more about the Quantum Theory, I think this book is need to be read by everyone who study physic or by someone who interested by physical theory. I have been read this book for several times and I stil never feel bored. I think this book is really interesting. Thank's

A book to answer the questions of life

This book answerrs all the questions you`ve wanted to know it tells you about relativity and quantum theory, and also the most puzzling of all questions how did the universe start? This book is definity a must buy.