Niels Bohr Quotes on Nature
Niels Bohr (1885–1962) — the Danish physicist whose 1913 atomic model and subsequent contributions to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics earned him the 1922 Nobel Prize — gave twentieth-century philosophy of nature its most influential statement of the principle of complementarity. The central thesis is that the apparently incompatible classical descriptions of microphysical reality — wave and particle, position and momentum — are jointly necessary for a complete account of quantum phenomena, with the choice of measurement context determining which description applies and the resulting whole irreducible to either alternative on its own. The framework, developed through Bohr’s long engagement with Einstein and the broader Copenhagen circle, shaped the philosophical reception of quantum mechanics and continues to organize contemporary debate over realism, measurement, and the interpretation of physical theory.
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 .