Niels Bohr

Physics Danish 1885 – 1962 768 quotes

Pioneer of quantum theory and atomic structure

Most quoted

"The fact that religions through the ages have spoken in images, parables, and paradoxes means simply that there are no other ways of grasping the reality to which they refer. But that does not mean that it is not a genuine reality. And complementarity, by the way, is not a new invention of mine. It is, in fact, as old as language itself. We have to be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images and establishing connections."

— from Interview with Aage Petersen

"The fact that religions through the ages have spoken in images, parables, and paradoxes means simply that there are no other ways of grasping the reality to which they refer. But that does not mean that it is not a genuine reality. And the fact that this reality is not accessible to us in the same way as material reality makes it no less real."

— from Attributed

"The very nature of the quantum theory thus forces us to regard the space-time co-ordination and the claim of causality, the union of which characterizes the classical theories, as complementary but exclusive features of the description, symbolizing the idealization of observation and definition respectively."

— from Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature, 1929