Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohrwas a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research...
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth7 October 1885
CityCopenhagen, Denmark
nature thinking tasks
When asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, 'There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature.'
independent judgement tasks
Physics is to be regarded not so much as the study of something a priori given, but rather as the development of methods of ordering and surveying human experience. In this respect our task must be to account for such experience in a manner independent of individual subjective judgement and therefore objective in the sense that it can be unambiguously communicated in ordinary human language.
ideas our-words tasks
What is that we human beings ultimately depend on? We depend on our words. We are suspended in language. Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others.
essence way tasks
Our task is not to penetrate the essence of things, the meaning of which we do not know anyway, but rather to develop concepts which allow us to talk in a productive way about phenomena in nature
expert mistakes narrow
An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made but in a very narrow field.
danish future physicist prediction
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. – Niels Bohr,1885-1962, Danish Physicist
prediction
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.
absurd contrast fact father favorite maxims obviously opposite opposites profound recognized sorts truth truths
One of the favorite maxims of my father was the distinction between the two sorts of truths, profound truths recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth, in contrast to trivialities where opposites are obviously absurd
energy
Must have something to do with the zero-point energy.
merely quotes
You are not thinking. You are merely being logical.
fact obviously opposites profound recognized sorts
Two sorts of truth: trivialities, where opposites are obviously absurd, and profound truths, recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth.
expert knows mistakes narrow quotes worst
An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field.
opposites truth-is truth-and-falsehood
You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth.
dizzy mechanic quantum
Anyone who can contemplate quantum mechanics without getting dizzy hasn't understood it.