Copenhagen..what was that all about ?

[NYMets]

Just saw the play ....contained many layers.
Did it play in Melbourne?
Does one as a physicist have the moral right to work on the practical exploitation of atomic energy? Can one who collaborated with the Nazis and (either consciously or not) stopped them developing the bomb (thus killing no-one) take the moral high ground over an escaped Jew who helped the Americans launch one (thus killing thousands)? :confused:

[London Dave]

The physicists concerned were Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, Bohr the Dane and Heisinberg in charge of the Nazi effort. (Apologies for spellings...)The conversations took place in 1943 I think, saw the play on the West End a year or so ago, thought it was pretty good. Heisenbergs family still insist he deliberately sabotaged the nazi bomb program by 'miscalculating' the amount of U238 (or plutonium, can't recall which) needed for a bomb, thus taking on the roll of the 'good German'. Others insist he just got his calculations wrong, and the 'deliberate' bit was added after the war in order to rehabilitate him. He was an ex student of Bohrs, and one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of all time. Bohr allegedly kept notes on the conversation, and his family is still in possession of a letter that apparently proves once and for all whether Heisenberg was a 'good' German or dedicated Nazi...apparantly in can be opened x years after his or Heisenbergs death.....

Quite a few of the scientists working on the Manhattan project were pretty horrified as to what they had done, Oppenheimer was pretty active in the disarmament, as were guys like Feynman too. The scientists who gave the secrets to the Soviets allegedly did so not for communist beliefs but as a hedge against the americans being the sole nuclear power.

The morality of the scientists position is as double edged as Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, you are damned if you do and damned if you dont......but I once heard a very wise man state...If its the only thing that's stopping war, then thank god for the bomb!

[NYMets]

Hmmmm...I actually knew the basics and thought it was going to be a typical black and white case of Jewish Scientist vs Nazis and was intrigued how complex an issue it becomes when you examine the layers. Equating it to Hissenburg's uncertainty theories and illustrating how everything (or person) has an effect on each other by having the actors move in "molecular motion" made you examine the same seemingly mundane scene over and over....very clever. Did Bohr really change history by "bumping into H in Copenhagen?

How we in the "West" can dismiss the Manhattan Project as necessary and condemn and punish seemingly lesser evils by other countries has always baffled me.

also don't you love Feynman?, surely he's joking.

We had Colin Friels (married to Judy Davis, Water Rats) give a really animated portrayl of Hiesenberg..his dialogue came out faster than the chain-reactions- words tumbling over each other.
Who was in the London Performance?

[London Dave]

I'll see if i can dig out the program, my wife collects em from the shows we go to. Can't remember anyone who was in it off the top of my head, but it was a very good production I thought...


Feynman was a very funny man, that's for sure.