Niels Bohr Quotes on Nature
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to atomic theory and quantum mechanics. This page collects quotes attributed to Niels Bohr on the topic of nature, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.”
As quoted in Meeting the Universe Halfway (2007) by Karen Michelle Barad, p. 254, with a footnote citing The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr (1998). | Variants: Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum mechanics cannot possibly have understood it. Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it. Anyone who is not sho -
“We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.”
In his first meeting with Werner Heisenberg in early summer 1920, in response to questions on the nature of language, as reported in Discussions about Language (1933); quoted in Defense Implications of International Indeterminacy (1972) by Robert J. Pranger, p. 11, and Theorizing Modernism : Essays in Critical Theory (1993) by Steve Giles, p. 28 -
“In his first meeting with Werner Heisenberg in early summer 1920, in response to questions on the nature of language, as reported in Discussions about Language (1933); quoted in Defense Implications of International Indeterminacy (1972) by Robert J. Pranger, p. 11, and Theorizing Modernism : Essays in Critical Theory (1993) by Steve Giles, p. 28”
We must be clear that when it comes to atoms , language can be used only as in poetry . The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images and establishing mental connections. -
“Even the mathematical framework helps nothing, I would first like to understand how Nature avoids the contradictions. (1927)”
Quoted in Werner Heisenberg: Die Sprache der Atome (2010) by H. Rechenberg, p. 564. -
“Niels Bohr , "Atomic Physics and the Description of Nature" (1934)”
The great extension of our experience in recent years has brought light to the insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the foundation on which the customary interpretation of observation was based. -
“Atomic Physics and the Description of Nature" (1934)”
Isolated material particles are abstractions , their properties being definable and observable only through their interaction with other systems .