Both matter and radiation possess a remarkable duality of character, as they sometimes exhibit the properties of waves, at other times those of particles. Now it is obvious that a thing cannot be a form of wave motion and composed of particles at the same<\/p>\n
Every word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability.<\/p>\n
Natural science, does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves.<\/p>\n
The most difficult problem – concerning the use of the language arises in quantum theory. Here we have at first no simple guide for correlating the mathematical symbols with concepts of ordinary language: and the only thing we know from the start is the fa<\/p>\n
The problems of language here are really serious. We wish to speak in some way about the structure of the atoms. But we cannot speak about atoms in ordinary language.<\/p>\n
The solution of the difficulty is that the two mental pictures which experiment lead us to form – the one of the particles, the other of the waves – are both incomplete and have only the validity of analogies which are accurate only in limiting cases.<\/p>\n
The violent reaction on the recent development of modern physics can only be understood when one realises that here the foundations of physics have started moving; and that this motion has caused the feeling that the ground would be cut from science.<\/p>\n
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.<\/p>\n