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SYFA: Symposium Foundational Aspects of Quantum Theory

SYFA 1: Foundational Aspects of Quantum Theory

SYFA 1.3: Hauptvortrag

Montag, 8. September 2025, 12:05–12:45, ZHG010

Heisenberg's Operational Program — •Reinhard Werner — Leibniz Universität Hannover

To build the new quantum theory just on observable quantities was an important guideline for Heisenberg's early work. In the Uncertainty Paper (1927) he tried to make this the principle of theory construction, in close analogy to Einstein's critical evaluation of simultaneity, which turned out to be the core of relativity theory. Heisenberg declares success of this program, although in hindsight one has to admit that he failed miserably, with the famous microscope thought experiment the only surviving bit of that chapter. I will retrace his arguments, and put them in the context of operational thinking in physics before and after Heisenberg. Indeed, operational ideas were current in Born's group quite independently of Heisenberg. On the other hand, modern quantum mechanics, especially quantum information theory, is much more radical than Heisenberg in its operational stance