which caused friction. The Heisenberg family were accomplished.
musicians. Every evening they would sit and practice together. August.
was on the piano, Erwin played the violin, and Werner played the cello.
Their mother insisted that she had no musical talent as an excuse to not.
be involved in the male competition. Later Werner also learned the.
piano and used his musical talents as a social vehicle during the course.
of his life. This manly competition carried out in many other.
activities in the house. Sometimes August Heisenberg would make games.
out of difficult homework problems that the boys had. Werner once said.
when reflecting back on his childhood, "Our father used to play all.
kinds of games with [us] . And since he was a good teacher, he found.
that the games could be used for the educating the children. So when my.
brother had some mathematical problems in his schoolwork . he tried to.
use these problems as a kind of game and find out who could do them.
quickly, and so on. Somehow, I discovered that I could do that kind of.
mathematics rather quickly, so from that time on I had a special.
interest in mathematics." This constant competition caused many fights.
between the brothers. As they grew older the fights became more.
vicious. One time the fight became particularly bloody where they beat.
each other with wooden chairs. After this confrontation the brothers.
called a truce and hardly interacted with each other except for.
occasional family get togethers when they were adults.
In school, Werner began to show his amazing ability early on. He.
excelled through school and always received complementary remarks from.
his teachers. As a result from the competition with his brother he.
developed a hard work ethic and a strong drive to succeed. Even though.
Werner was not a good runner he would run around the track timing.
himself with a stopwatch trying to improve his running times. A teacher.
of his once said, "The pupil is also extraordinary, self-confident and.
