Werner Heisenberg

German scientist who, as an atomic physicist, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1932 for his creation of quantum mechanics and was acknowledged as "the greatest German theoretical physicist." He was known for developing matrix mechanics which was the mathematical formulation of his theory of quantum mechanics. He was also known for the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which contributed heavily to the development of quantum mechanics and influenced modern philosophical thought as well. (Einstein took issue with the basis of the uncertainty principle, and it was over this and related theories that he issued one of his most famous quotes, "God does not play dice with the universe," though this may have been directed more at a group of physicists than to Heisenberg in particular.) Heisenberg taught physics at Copenhagen in 1926, Leipzig from 1927-1941, and the University of Berlin in 1942. He was associated early in his career with Nobel prize winners Niels Bohr and Max Born.