Uncertainty principle

“... Heisenberg's main work — his wonderful work — on the uncertainty principle ... Some very important people — like Einstein — did not like this. ... His remark was, "I can believe that God governs the world with any set of laws, but I cannot believe that He is playing at dice. ..." ... Einstein's statement — his remark — was really something to the effect: "I cannot imagine any science without causality ..."”

“If quantum mechanics is right, there is no way to get around the uncertainty principle. The reason that the electron’s probability wave spread so much after we confined it, Heisenberg would argue, is that its momentum became almost completely indeterminate. In a manner of speaking, it headed off in all directions.”

“Relativity principles require us to associate mass with the energy of radiation, and it is reasonable to suppose... an exchange of ... [T]he exchange of momentum between free electrons and radiation is very similar to the exchange... when two particles collide. ...[A] beam of light should be considered as an assembly of "units", each or which [using light (\”

“[T]he laws of physics need not break down at the origin of the universe. The state of the universe and its contents, like ourselves, are completely determined by the laws of physics, up to the limit set by the uncertainty principle. So much for free will.”

“Instead of Newtonian certainty and determinism, quantum theory answers our questions with probability and statistics. Classical physics told us precisely where Mars was to be found. Quantum theory sends us to the gambling table to locate an electron in an atom. Then there's Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which places an ultimate limit on our knowledge of the microworld and tells us that we can make no measurment without affecting the result.”