Wave-particle & Uncertainty

 I've tremendous penchant for understanding basic science, rather better to say fundamental physics, although my training is in engineering. I'm fortunate that I've come across with eminent physicists of this country in general and scientists of Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, and Saha  Institute of Nuclear Physics, in particular. Both of these institutes under Dept. of Atomic Energy are located in the same campus in Salt Lake. Having spent 27 years of my service life within the campus I'd the opportunity to attend seminars, may be 100s of them, on  different branches of physics, the bearing being mostly on  nuclear physics. Sometimes Nobel laureates visited the campus and delivered talks. To judge my understanding I've closely interacted with many of my physics colleagues and then to justify my understanding I published a number of physics and computer related articles in vernacular in 'DESH' a popular magazine of Bengalees all over the world, published from the Anandabazar group. My idea was to disseminate my understanding in a lucid language to a wider group of non-scientist readers like typical homemakers. However, having received very positive response from varieties of readers my appetite for learning the subject grew more and I started questioning my physicists colleagues questions till they are exhausted. For some physicists, at yielding point they used to take shelter under difficult mathematics which was beyond my scope. But I drew one conclusion from these discussions that my queries were mostly relevant and I'm in the right track.

In our engineering master's course we learnt about nuclear physics including  the property of wave-particle duality, uncertainty priciple, etcetera etcetera. I'd very superficial knowledge, just enough to score in the exams and scoring marks in engineering is not as difficult as scoring high numbers in the main stream fundamental science like physics. 

After spending six years, mostly in Bombay, presently Mumbai, I was transferred to Kolkata way back in 1976. Here the scientific ambience was very congenial for interaction. By the way, one of my scientist friends advised me to read books of George Gamow, the other told me to read a magazine known as Scientific American. I must admit that I enriched myself profusely by reading these things. Great scientist have explained difficult concept using lucid language plucking examples from daily life. Before I read these things I was confused about many ideas. But having gone thru these materials and having listened to lectures from experts, I'm still confused but ON A MUCH HIGHER LEVEL, I must say. 

Two examples from two giants in the field  have opened my eyes and qualitatively I understand them much better than earlier. 

1. Property of wave particle duality:

W. L Bragg, the pioneer in X-ray diffraction,  gave a vivid interpretation of the wave-particle duality property. It says, " The dividing line between the wave and particle  nature of matter and radiation is the moment "NOW". As this moment steadily advances thru time, it coagulates a wavy future into a particle past....Everything in the future is wave everything in the past is a particle"

2. Uncertainty Principle as enumerated by the discoverer, Heisenberg himself saying:

"Uncertainty is NOT "I don't know." It is "I can't know". "I am uncertain" does not mean "I could be certain".