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Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...

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198 CHAPTER 43. COPENHAGEN PLAY<br />

Bohr knew how to make the calculation <strong>and</strong> did it. Heisenberg probably<br />

knew how to make it, but did not do it.<br />

When history was written after the war, Bohr came out as the good guy<br />

who constructed the bomb that saved the free world, while Heisenberg on<br />

the other side was the bad guy who did not construct the bomb that would<br />

have killed the free world.<br />

This is the most basic Faustian drama <strong>of</strong> all: What is the responsibility<br />

<strong>of</strong> the scientist? To science, to society, to freedom <strong>of</strong> thought. What is the<br />

scientists responsibility for a bomb which can save his country, <strong>and</strong> maybe<br />

the world?<br />

Figure 43.1: Play <strong>of</strong> Atoms.

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