Heisenberg's uncertainty finally resolved

Luke Weiger lweiger at umich.edu
Sun Feb 10 17:40:16 PST 2002


Justin asks:


> Or are you stuck with the notion that one somehow can't be a right winger
and
> great scientist?

To which Hakki answers:


> Resistance is futile, Justin. H's reputation got what it had coming and
it's
> going down. H's science thrived in the company of Bohr and Pauli, but his
> Nazi pals put an end to that in 1935, at which point H chose to serve
> fascism rather than science. He didn't go to jail for attempting to make a
> doomsday weapon for Hitler, he conned his way to a coveted chair instead.
So
> it's way past time that his reputation got ratcheted down.
>
> But quite aside from H's politics, deceitfulness, incompetence, etc.,
> there's another question that I'd like to see addressed: Did H appropriate
> more than his share of the heady synergy of the early 30's? I'm just
asking,
> not accusing. But it seems to me that predatory types like Hahn, who
ripped
> off Lise Meitner's insights, or Watson and Crick who ripped off Rosalind
> Franklin's research, were prowling rather freely in those idealistic days
> when intellectual property was an alien concept. H looks like the perfect
> predator, wonder what he was up to?
>
> Hakki

Yep, I'd say Hakki's unable to accept the insane notion that bad people are capable of doing good science.



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