CPL310 10/25/2004 Copenhagen -- Michael Frayn -- written in 1998 -- story of German physicist Werner Heisenberg visiting his Danish counterpart Niels Bohr in Copenhagen -- Structure: two acts, plus a postscript in the book -- story begins in 1941 -- Heisenberg walks up to Bohr's home three times (p. 12, p. 54, p. 86) -- the basic question of the play is why did he go, what did he say, and how did they respond -- the play has them as ghosts looking back at those years -- Fray did not have access to Heisenberg's memoirs about the events when he wrote the play -- after their deaths it was discovered that Bohr had written a letter to Heisenberg but never mailed it -- staging is in the round, with some raised seats on the stage -- light colored circle in the center -- 3 chairs, 3 actors, 3 particles? (like the 3s in The Physicist) -- actors circle each other like particles -- comments from reviewers: -- play of ideas -- elegant, almost algebraic way wiith the structure -- intersection of science and art -- a quantum drama of sorts -- main structural principle: questions and answers; word why comes up over and over; answers are never totally clear; because answers aren't sufficient, they keep restarting -- ghosts on stage (like Our Town) -- Nancy Willard's play Things Invisible to See is also similar -- play has historical basis in a 1941 meeting -- quantum theory: the theory that energy is not absorbed or radiated continuously but discontinuously and only in multiples of definite indivisible uints (quanta) -- Max Plank found a constant that applies to quantum -- quantum sometimes behave as particles and sometimes as waves -- quantum is a fixed elemental unit as of energy, angular momentum, etc. -- quantum jump (or leap) is a sudden alteration in the enrgy level of an atom or molecule -- this was a disruption of classical physics; traditional rules didn't apply to subatomic particles; see Bronowksi -- 1927 Heisenberg developed the Uncertainy Principle -- DVD prologue by Michael Frayn: -- in the 1920s G?ttingen was the center of physics -- 1933 Heisenberg got the Nobel Prize for his Uncertainty Principle (at age 33) and Hitler came to power -- 1939 war started; Heisenberg sent a letter to Bohr -- 1940 Denmark, Norway, the low countries (all trying to be neutral) were invaded by Germany [Sweden did managed to remain neutral] -- there was an international chase for U-235 (the form of uranium needed for bombs) -- the 1941 meeting in some ways parallels the uncertainty principle; we can't know exactly what happened in the meeting, even with the documents they left [Bohr refused to talk about the meeting for years afterward] -- The play is about: -- why we do what we do (Margrethe Bohr gives another perspective to the dialogue) -- what was said in 1941 and what Heisenberg wanted to say -- whetehr we can really have any absolute knowledge of anyone's intentions -- Frayn says you can't make a moral judgment without knowing the person's intentions -- Heisenberg has been criticized for not leaving Germany in 1933 (he had job offers), even though no one believes he was a Nazi -- in 1939 it was discovered that fission released atomic power -- Bohr was half Jewish -- back to the play: -- characters step in and out of time (sometimes outside dialogue commenting on it; sometimes participating in the dialogue) -- play is set long after they're all dead and gone [when Dr H was a grad student he lived right across from Bohr's home (behind Karlsberg Brewery)] -- theme of walking is important; Bohr and Heisenberg took long walks to bandy ideas back and forth -- repetitions; "each time he explained it, it became more obscure" (3) -- parallel dialogues: Heisenberg with self; Bohr with Margrethe; Bohr and heisenberg, with Margrethe comenting -- Margrethe is more skeptical than her husband -- 1920s v 1941; enemy vs friend; friendship vs never liked or alien; Germans vs Danes; "angry" vs "calm" -- central question: "Why did he come to Copenhagen?" (3) -- play's thesis: "some questions have no answers to find" (3) -- Heisenberg said he want with fear -- some think that Heisenberg wanted Bohr to use his Western contacts to warn them of Germany's atomic program but he couldn't come right out to say that -- in Bohr's letter he said that because Heisenberg was developing atomic weapons, they were "locked in mortal combat" -- Frayns says that the play is about the difficulty of knowing why people do what they do; also in order to undertand ourselves, we have to talk to other people, to see our ideas reflected on other people [remember that Bronowski said that we have to touch people (as he was touching the mud where the ashes of his dead relatives at Auschwitz had been flushed)]</plaintext><br /></body></html>