Heisenberg in West Germany: Culture, Politics, and a Role for the Physicist

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With Werner Heisenberg as its centerpiece, this study examines the development of a public role for physicists in Germany during the years following World War II. The inquiry examines several facets of the role Heisenberg helped define for the physicist, including that of the physicist as a wise man with influence in a wide range of cultural and political issues. Based on much new archival material and close study of published documents, the project offers insights into a range of topics, from Heisenberg as an individual to the situation of physics after World War II, the intellectual context of the sciences in Germany, the popularization of scientific knowledge, and the role of the scientist in developing a West German culture and polity. The resulting book will connect the history of physics to the social, cultural, and political history of Germany after the war, examining the place of scientists in the modern order and bringing out the profound impact of science on the structures of postwar society.