Copenhagen: A Meeting Between Heisenberg and Bohr

Author: Frayn
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: In 1941, German physicist Werner Heisenberg made a strange trip to Copenhagen to visit his Danish friend Niels Bohr. They were not only old friends but also close colleagues. Their work in quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle brought revolutionary changes to atomic physics in the 1920s. However, the world had completely changed by then, and they belonged to the two major opposing camps of World War II. Their meeting was filled with dangerous awkwardness and led to disastrous consequences. Why did Heisenberg go to Copenhagen? What did he want to say to Bohr? Since that meeting, historians have been troubled by such questions. In Frayn's play, Heisenberg will join Bohr and his wife to explore the answers to these questions. "Copenhagen" premiered in London's Royal Court Theatre in the UK in May 1998 and was later performed in New York in April 2000. This book is a play that attempts to unfold a "mystery" in the history of modern science. It is called "not very big" because it directly involves only two people; yet it is "not small" because these two are great scientists of the 20th century, and the issues they discuss may greatly affect the fate of all humanity. The structure of the play is also very special. There are only three characters in the play, the "souls" of three deceased people—the Danish scholar Niels Bohr, his wife Margrethe Bohr, and the German physicist Werner Heisenberg. Though they have passed away and their past grievances are no longer relevant to them, the author brings them together to explore a meeting they had when they were alive. Since its publication, the book has sparked considerable academic response.