125 years of quantum mechanics: Heisenberg's breakthrough changes physics!

125 years of quantum mechanics: Heisenberg's breakthrough changes physics!

Göttingen, Deutschland - In 2025, the quantum mechanics became 100 years old, a milestone that was initiated by the groundbreaking article "About quantum theoretical reinterpretation of kinematic and mechanical relationships" by Werner Heisenberg on July 29, 1925 in the "Journal of Physics". Heisenberg, only 23 years old and assistant at the Göttingen Institute for Theoretical Physics, revolutionized the understanding of the nuclear world. According to the German Physical Society (DPG), this work was the first step into a consistent theory that should fundamentally change our knowledge of the smallest building blocks of matter while classic laws increasingly failed. The DPG emphasizes that quantum mechanics are a "mysterious process" in the history of science because it is not based on a single discovery, but was the result of collective efforts.

The emergence of quantum mechanics

The theory developed by Heisenberg was not immediately understandable. A comparison with a football game illustrates this: While the river of the ball is visible in a normal game, Heisenberg's approach remains in the dark, as the ball gets into the goal. His theory circulating fundamental terms of classic mechanics and focused on measurable variables such as frequency and intensity of the spectral lines, which is crucial for quantum physics. Together with his colleagues Max Born and Pascual Jordan, Heisenberg formulated a complex mathematical structure in the famous "three -man work", which formed the basis for quantum mechanics.

The theories initiated by Heisenberg let other outstanding physicists, such as Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. While Einstein spoke of "witchinemein" to criticize the complexity and unfoundinity of Heisenberg's approach, Louis de Broglie presented his wave hypothesis that revolutionized the nature of the electron. Also in the following years, significant progress was made, for example by the Schrödinger equation, which the wave mechanics founded and confirmed the mathematical applicability of quantum mechanics.

Heisenberg’s teachings still have a significant impact on the basics of modern physics, even if quantum mechanics are still considered mysterious in its nature. Physicists worldwide build on the concepts of quantum mechanics and use them in areas such as quantum computers and cryptography, which are called the second quantum revolution. These technologies based on the rules of quantum mechanics have the potential, comparable social upheavals to cause the first quantum revolution with the development of transistors and lasers. According to Nature , the quantum mechanics remain one of the best tested and at the same time most puzzling theories of physics.