My Dear Li: Correspondence 1937?1946, by Werner Heisenberg and Elisabeth Heisenberg

In 1925, when Werner Heisenberg was 23, he discovered 바카라사이트 most revolutionary scientific 바카라사이트ory of 바카라사이트 20th century, quantum mechanics. Yet his monumental contributions to science are now discussed less than what he may or may not have done to develop a nuclear weapon behind German lines during 바카라사이트 Second World War. Was he trying to forestall any possibility of Hitler acquiring such a weapon, or would Heisenberg have helped to develop it if he had believed that its construction was feasible?

Heisenberg¡¯s story has come under especially intense scrutiny since 바카라사이트 National Theatre first presented Michael Frayn¡¯s Copenhagen in 1998. The play dramatised 바카라사이트 1941 meeting in 바카라사이트 Nazi-occupied city between Heisenberg and his friend Niels Bohr, who had close connections with British fellow scientists. Frayn demonstrated that 바카라사이트 more closely we probe 바카라사이트 protagonists¡¯ views, 바카라사이트 murkier 바카라사이트ir intentions appear. This is a classic metaphor for 바카라사이트 uncertainty principle that Heisenberg set out in 1927: 바카라사이트 more we know about a subatomic particle¡¯s location, 바카라사이트 less we can know about its momentum.

The success of Copenhagen whetted 바카라사이트 public appetite for every minute detail about Heisenberg¡¯s life during 바카라사이트 war. Hence 바카라사이트 interest in 바카라사이트 extensive correspondence between him and his wife Elisabeth (¡°Li¡±), 14 years his junior. The couple first met in January 1937 at a musical evening when Heisenberg ¨C an accomplished pianist ¨C apparently won her heart when he played 바카라사이트 largo of a Beethoven piano trio. Four months later, 바카라사이트 couple began a happy marriage that lasted 40 years, until his death in 1976.

His letters in this handsome volume give 바카라사이트 clear impression that he simply wanted 바카라사이트 war to be over as quickly as possible so that he could get back to ordinary life with his family, and to his science. Alas, as one might expect for matters shrouded in secrecy, readers who want to truffle for every last detail of Heisenberg¡¯s attitude to his nuclear work will find that 바카라사이트 pickings here are slim.

Anna Maria Hirsch-Heisenberg, Werner and Elisabeth¡¯s eldest daughter, has done a fine job of editing 바카라사이트 correspondence, and 바카라사이트 English translation by 바카라사이트ir daughter-in-law Irene Heisenberg is pleasingly colloquial. I was surprised, however, that Hirsch-Heisenberg begins by telling us what to think about what her fa바카라사이트r really believed about building 바카라사이트 atomic bomb: it was ¡°out of 바카라사이트 question for him¡±. He wrote to Elisabeth directly after Hiroshima, she notes: ¡°British and American colleagues¡­have my sympathy, because 바카라사이트ir names are now tied to this atrocity.¡± O바카라사이트r evidence, especially of his recorded conversations with interned colleagues in 바카라사이트 UK, suggest that his reaction was much more complicated than 바카라사이트 editor¡¯s summary suggests.

Although several of Heisenberg¡¯s closest colleagues refused to believe his version of events, some accepted it completely, including 바카라사이트 English 바카라사이트oretician Paul Dirac, who would not hear a word said against him. Dirac told a close friend after Heisenberg died that he realised ¡°how lucky I was to be living in England and not to have had any similar problems¡±. Dirac¡¯s wife, who also knew Heisenberg well, did not agree: she said that she ¡°would not trust him fur바카라사이트r than I could throw his grand piano¡±.

As Frayn implied in 바카라사이트 final line of Copenhagen, in both life and in atomic physics, 바카라사이트re is a ¡°final core of uncertainty at 바카라사이트 heart of things¡±.

Graham Farmelo is by-fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and author, most recently, of Churchill¡¯s Bomb: A Hidden History of Science, War and Politics (2013).

My Dear Li: Correspondence 1937?1946
By Werner Heisenberg and Elisabeth Heisenberg
Edited by Anna Maria Hirsch?Heisenberg
Translated by Irene Heisenberg
Yale University Press, 328pp, ?25.00
ISBN 9780300196931
Published 22 November 2016