Title: Albert Einstein Biography: Quantum Theory | SparkNotes
Headings: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Biography
Quantum Theory

Content: Matrix mechanics was far more mathematically abstract and involved those elements of chance and uncertainty that Einstein found so philosophically troubling. In 1928, Heisenberg, Bohr, and Born developed the "Copenhagen interpretation," which joined the matrix and wave mechanical formulations into one theory. The Copenhagen interpretation relies on Bohr's complementarity principle, the idea that nature encompasses fundamental dualities and observers must choose one side over another in making observations. The interpretation is also based on Heisenberg's uncertainty relations, which state that certain basic properties of an object, such as the position and momentum of a subatomic particle, cannot be measured simultaneously with total accuracy. Thus the Copenhagen interpretation explained that while quantum mechanics provides rules for calculating probabilities, it cannot provide us with exact measurements. Following the formulation of this new interpretation, Born and Heisenberg proclaimed that the "quantum revolution" had come to an end: quanta were a mere means of calculating probablilities, but did not account for phenomena as they actually occur. However, Einstein could not accept a probabilistic theory as the final word. As he saw it, the very goal of physics was at stake: he yearned to produce a complete, causal, deterministic description of nature.