Star Trek: 10 Things You Need To Know About Transporters

The Heisenberg Compensator is part of the transporter that specifically deals with Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. In quantum mechanics, the principal is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities that place a limit on the accuracy that certain pairs of physical quantities of a particle can be accurately predicted.

So, what does this mean in English?

First published in 1927, German physicist Heisenberg posited that the more precisely an object's location can be determined, the less likely it is to predict its momentum after initial findings. This theory was then put into the make-up of the transporter in Star Trek. In the episode Realm of Fear, Barclay and O'Brien are seen examining the 'Heisenberg Compensator', which is shown to be a component of the overall device. This is their workaround for Heisenberg's theory.

Now it goes without saying that the compensator is an entirely fictional invention, while the transporter itself does have a basis in reality - more on that later. The compensator also became a handy plot point - something that the crew could look to when there was an issue with a transport that was either out of their control or an easy scapegoat when trying to stall the Moriarty hologram in Ship In A Bottle.