Q 01/05

For which year was Heisenberg awarded his Nobel Prize, announced belatedly in November 1933?

A) 1932

B) 1934

C) 1936

D) 1938

Answer · why

A) 1932

Einstein had nominated him, together with Born and Jordan, back in 1928.

Q 02/05

Heisenberg's Nobel citation was 'for the creation of' what?

A) General relativity

B) Nuclear fission

C) Quantum mechanics

D) Wave mechanics

Answer · why

C) Quantum mechanics

It added that its application had led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen.

Q 03/05

In which German city was Heisenberg born in 1901?

A) Nuremberg

B) Wurzburg

C) Dresden

D) Cologne

Answer · why

B) Wurzburg

His son Martin later became a neurobiologist at the university there.

Q 04/05

Heisenberg's father held Germany's only full professorship in what subject?

A) Theoretical physics

B) Roman and canon law

C) Sacred church music

D) Medieval and modern Greek

Answer · why

D) Medieval and modern Greek

He had begun as a secondary-school teacher of classical languages.

Q 05/05

As a teenager Heisenberg read which Plato dialogue while hiking in the Bavarian Alps?

A) Republic

B) Symposium

C) Phaedo

D) Timaeus

Answer · why

D) Timaeus

He later said 'modern physics has definitely decided in favour of Plato': the smallest units of matter are forms, not objects.