COMMUNICATION 67 emits light quanta which in turn react with the electron itself producing a peculiar quantum ^aero-atom9, which is easily detectable with great precision. Thus the electron reveals itself without any microscopic method of detection. To understand the physical implications of the Uncertainty Prin" ciple, Bohr formulated the Complementarity Principle which states that the wave and particle aspects are mutually exclusive and only that which is being measured is capable of existence at a particular moment. In this understanding of ^wave-particle dualityJ, the dialectical unity and conflict of opposites are not understood. The unity of the corpuscular and wave properties is objective in the fact that the laws of quantum mechanics do not change for both wave and corpuscle aspects. It is also an inherent property as seen by the fact that the discontinuous (Planck's constant) and the continuous (frequency) are connected concretely. The contradiction is objective and concrete8. Instead, in the Copenhagen Interpretation, the wave and particle aspects are understood as external to each other and unrelated in a quantum object. Hence follows the statement that only that aspect exists which is being measured at a particular moment, which leads to a denial of objective reality. Thus what is only implied by Heisenberg in his Uncertainty Principle is stated strongly and more explicitly by Bohr in his Complementarity Principle. Though Theckadath has examined generally the idealist position arising from the Uncertainty Principle and the proposed 'unanalysability' of subject and object, he has neglected the Complementarity Principle in his attack on the idealist interpretation of quantum theory. The Complementarity Principle, as much as the Uncertainty Principle, is incapable of experimental verification. It is mainly a question of the philosophical interpretation of micro-phenomena, asJD Bernal was quick to recognize: . . ^idcas which were consciously or unconsciously in the minds of the experimenters who made the new discoveries and opened the new fields to scientific thought."4 Formalism to Understanding The lack of clarity about the exact nature of 'wave-particle duality^ and the mathematical structure of the quantum theory have led to further idealist distortions. The mechanical picture of a particle being made up of the superposition of a number of waves with very close frequencies (that is, a wave packet) is very insufficient. This picture breaks down when the case of the interference of the single particle is considered. Only a single spot is formed on the screen, and this is said to be due to a 'reduction^ of the wave packet, but this explanation does not say anything about what really happens. Further information about the particle in the course of reaching the screen is, according to the Copenhagen Interpretation, impossible. But having rejected the Copenhagen Interpretation, a more meaningful picture of 'wave-particle duality9 must be worked out. It is possible that individually they have particle properties whereas the wave aspect is manifest in the statistical behaviour of these particles.