“An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them.”

— Werner Heisenberg , book The Part and The Whole

Ein Fachmann ist ein Mann, der einige der gröbsten Fehler kennt, die man in dem betreffenden Fach machen kann, und der sie deshalb zu vermeiden versteht.
Der Teil und das Ganze. Gespräche im Umkreis der Atomphysik (1969); also in "Kein Chaos, aus dem nicht wieder Ordnung würde", Die Zeit No. 34 (22 August 1969); as translated in Physics and Beyond : Encounters and Conversation (1971)

Original

Ein Fachmann ist ein Mann, der einige der gröbsten Fehler kennt, die man in dem betreffenden Fach machen kann und der sie deshalb zu vermeiden versteht.

Mitgeteilt von Werner Heisenberg in: "Der Teil und das Ganze. Gespräche im Umkreis der Atomphysik". R. Piper & Co., München, 1969, http://www.zeit.de/1969/34/kein-chaos-aus-dem-nicht-wieder-ordnung-wuerde/komplettansicht
Variant: Ein Fachmann ist ein Mann, der einige der gröbsten Fehler kennt, die man in dem betreffenden Fach machen kann, und der sie deshalb zu vermeiden versteht.

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Werner Heisenberg 42

German theoretical physicist 1901–1976

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