Physics in Nazi Germany

It is disturbing how those living under the Nazi regime, in particular Heisenberg were able to support the Nazis while not personally holding a deep prejudice against Jews. There was quite an amount of double-think necessary to rationalize supporting the Nazis for many Germans. From the readings it seems that Heisenberg exhibited quite a bit of this. He demonstrated that he was not a heartless man who didn't care about the plight of others with several of his actions. His trip to the Netherlands is an excellent example of this. He helped the professors and universities to no benefit to himself, yet at the same time he justified the German occupation and war in general. Heisenberg was able to justify this by his fear and hatred of communism and the Russians, believing that a German dominated Europe was a lesser evil to that of a Soviet dominated one.

Heisenberg's theory on resistance in the Third Reich is revealing about the though processes of Germans under the Nazis. Heisenberg believed that active resistance was staying in the system, keeping influence, and using it to influence important matters. Open resistance which would have lead to him being arrested or sent to a concentration camp was futile in his eyes. This explanation comes off as somewhat of a self-justification, but even so it does reveal how those such as Heisenberg could justify their support of the Nazis. There is probably an element of truth in his explanation though, Heisenberg was able to accomplish more by working within the system, the problem is that when a large number of people adopt a similar position it changes the whole dynamic. Open resistance by one individual may have been futile, but that assumes that a more active resistance couldn't have been organized with others.

Thoughts after Week 1

This is my first time writing a blog so bear with me. It's a new experience that should prove interesting.

One thing that struck me during the readers was just how susceptible scientists are to the same range of emotions as everyone else. Hale's quest to reorganize the international scientific community in order to exclude the Central Powers was highly revealing. Scientists were just as influenced by the anti-German sentiment sweeping much of the world as others. Unfortunately this led what I believe was the irrational and counter-productive decision to exclude the German and Austrian scientific communities. Which brings me to my next point.

Its amazing just how shortsighted the international community was after the first world war. The humiliating terms of the Versailles treaty and how they sowed the seed for the next war is well known. However I was surprised at how the scientific community joined in on punishing Germany. What possible benefit was there to excluding scientists other than to spite and punish the central powers for the war? On the other hand this exclusion only fueled resentment towards the allied nations and given ammunition to nationalists and extremists.

Science is powerful, not only for what is can produce, but also for the effect its ideas can have on people. Considering the power of scientific ideas, it is not surprising that nationalism and science became intertwined in Germany. It is perhaps natural than Germans would want something to take pride in during those difficult times, and the success of German science gave them something to be proud of.

Albert Einstein's scientific contributions are well known, but I hadn't been aware that he was such a vocal political figure. Einstein may have been somewhat idealistic in his views, but his commitment to his ideal is admirable. It is quite astounding just how much of a media and popular figure Einstein was. Einstein's popularity only reinforces just how powerful science can be as an

All of this just shows how strongly science and politics have been intertwined in history. And the example of Iran and the chemical society's decision to expel its Iranian members shows that politics has not stopped meddling in science. Its perhaps unfortunate that politics can get in the way of science, but it’s a problem that’s unlikely to go away.