Werner
Heisenberg was born in Wurzburg, Germany,
in 1901. He studied in Munich and in 1923 began working with Max
Born in Gottingen. The following year he joined Niels
Bohr at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen.
Heisenberg
was involved in trying to developing a mathematical system that
explained the atom. With the help of Max Born
and Niels Bohr Heisenberg was able to
present in 1925 a system called matrix mechanics. This is now regarded
as the beginning of quantum mechanics.
In
1927 Heisenberg became professor of physics at Leipzig. In the 1930s
scientists working in this field such as Lise
Meitner and Otto Frisch left the
country after Adolf Hitler came to power.
In his
book, Nationalsocialismus und Wissenschaft
(1934) Johannes Stark argued that
the scientist's first duty was to the nation. He denounced theoretical
physics and stressed the need for research to be carried out that
would help industry and arms production. Stark also argued that
leading scientific positions in Nazi
Germany should only he held by ethnic Germans.
Johannes
Stark was particularly critical of Jewish
scientists such as Albert
Einstein. When Heisenberg
defended Einstein and his theory of relativity Stark wrote an article
in the Nazi journal Das Schwarze Korps,
where he described Heisenberg as a "White Jew".
Despite
these attacks Heisenberg remained in Nazi
Germany and in 1940 was appointed head the German team trying
to develop nuclear weapons. However, they were many months behind
the team working on the Manhattan Project
in
the United States.
In
April, 1945, Allied forces arrested German scientists such as Heisenberg,
Otto Hahn, Carl
von Weizsacker, Max von Laue, Karl
Wirtz, and Walter Gerlach. These
men were now taken to England where they were questioned to see
if they had discovered how to make atomic
weapons.
When
he was released Heisenberg returned to Germany
where he became director of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement
of Science. Werner Heisenberg, the author
of Physics and Philosophy
(1962) and Physics and Beyond
(1971) died in West Germany in 1976.
(1)
Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond (1971)
The immediate prewar years, or rather what part of them I spent
in Germany, struck me as a period of unspeakable loneliness. The
Nazi regime had become so firmly entrenched that there was no longer
the slightest hope of a change from within. At the same time, Germany
became increasingly isolated, and it was obvious that resistance
abroad was gathering momentum. A gigantic arms race had started,
and it seemed only a question of time before the two camps clashed
in open battle, a battle which international law, Geneva conventions
and moral inhibitions would all go completely by the board.
In
Germany itself this situation was aggravated further by the isolation
of the individual. Communication became increasingly difficult -
only the most intimate friends dared to speak their minds to one
another; otherwise you resorted to the kind of language that hid
far more than it revealed. I found life in this stifling atmosphere
of distrust quite unbearable, and the certainty that it was bound
to lead to the total destruction of Germany.
(2)
In the summer of 1939 Werner Heisenberg met Enrico
Fermi in Gottingen.
"Whatever makes you stay on in Germany?" he asked.
"You can't possibly prevent the war, and you will have to do,
and take the responsibility for, things which you will hate to do
or to be responsible for. If so much anguish might produce the least
bit of good, then your remaining there might be understandable.
But the chances of this happening are extremely remote. Here you
could make a completely fresh start. You see, this whole country
has been built up by Europeans, by people who fled their homes because
they could not stand the petty restrictions, continuous quarrels
and recriminations among small nations, the repression, liberation
and revolution and all the misery that goes with it. Here, in a
larger and freer country, they could live without being weighed
down by the heavy ballast of their historical past. In Italy I was
a great man; here I am once again a young physicist, and that is
incomparably more exciting. Why don't you cast off all that ballast,
too, and start anew? In America you can play your part in the great
advance of science. Why renounce so much happiness?"
"I
don't think I have much choice in the matter" I replied. "I
firmly believe that one must be consistent. Every one of us is born
into a certain environment very early in life, he will feel most
at home and do his best work in that environment. Now history teaches
us that, sooner or later, every country is shaken by revolutions
and wars; and whole populations obviously cannot migrate every time
there is a threat of such upheavals. People must learn to prevent
catastrophes, not to run away from them. Perhaps we ought even to
insist that everyone brave what storms there are in his own country,
because in that way we might encourage people to stop the rot before
it can spread."
(3)
Werner Heisenberg had a long
discussion with Carl von Weizsacker
in 1939 about the morality of scientific research.
If Einstein had not discovered relativity theory, it would have
been discovered sooner or later by someone else, perhaps by Poincare
or Lorentz. If Hahn had not discovered uranium fission, perhaps
Fermi or Joliot would have hit upon it in a few years later. I don't
think we detract from the great achievement of the individual if
we express these views. For that very reason, the individual who
makes a crucial discovery cannot be said to bear greater responsibility
for its consequences than all other individuals who might have made
it. The pioneer has simply been placed in the right spot by history,
and has done no more than perform the task he has been set.
(4)
While in England the captured German scientists were secretly taped
to discover how much they knew about atomic weapons. This included
Otto Hahn, Werner Heisenberg, Carl
von Weizsacker, Max von Laue and
Karl Wirtz.
Otto Hahn: If the Americans have a uranium bomb then you're
all second-raters.
Werner
Heisenberg: Did they use the word uranium in connection with this
atomic bomb?
Otto
Hahn: No.
Werner
Heisenberg: Then it's got nothing to do with atoms, but the equivalent
of 20,000 tons of high explosive is terrific. All I can suggest,
is that some dilettante in America knows it has the equivalent of
20,000 tons of high explosive and in reality, it doesn't work at
all.
Otto
Hahn: At any rate Heisenberg, you're just second-raters, and you
may as well pack up.
Werner
Heisenberg: I quite agree. I am willing to believe that it is a
high pressure bomb and I don't believe that it has anything to do
with uranium but that it is a chemical thing where they have enormously
increased the whole explosion.
Karl
Witz: I'm glad we didn't have it.
Carl
von Weizsacker: I think it's dreadful of the Americans to have done
it. I think it is madness on their part.
Werner
Heisenberg: One can't say that. One could equally well say, "That's
the quickest way of ending the war."
Otto
Hahn: That's what consoles me.
Werner
Heisenberg: I believe the reason we didn't do it was because all
the physicists didn't want to do it, on principle. If we had all
wanted Germany to win the war we could have succeeded.
Otto
Hahn: I don't believe that, but I am thankful we didn't succeed.
(5)
Werner Heisenberg, 'Research in Germany on the Technical Applications
of Atomic Energy', Nature Magazine (August, 1947)
It (producing nuclear weapons) could not have succeeded on technical
grounds alone: for even in America, with its much greater resources
in scientific men, technicians and industrial potential, and with
an economy undisturbed by enemy action, the bomb was not ready until
after the conclusion of the war with Germany. In particular, a German
atomic bomb project could not have succeeded because of the military
situation. The immediate production of armaments could be robbed
neither of personnel nor or raw materials, nor could the enormous
plants required have been effectively protected against air attack.
The
(Nazi government) expected an early decision of the war, even in
1942, and any major project which did not promise quick returns
was specially forbidden. To obtain the necessary support, the experts
would have been obliged to promise early results, knowing these
promises could not be kept. Faced with this situation, the experts
did not attempt to advocate with the supreme command a great industrial
effort for the production of atomic bombs.
