The Physicists

Rating:
Summary: what you Americans call a pageturner
Review: Durrenmatt's play provides an excellent and thought-provoking critique on the role of modern science and technology in human affairs. Is science responsible to humanity? If we deem specific knowledge "harmful", how can we hope to prevent its discovery? If the knowledge does exist, how do we prevent its misuse? This is a play that is incredibly relevant in an age plagued with similar issues in genetic engineering and cloning. I'd highly recommend the German translation.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent commentary and thought-provoking!
Review: Durrenmatt's play provides an excellent and thought-provoking critique on the role of modern science and technology in human affairs. Is science responsible to humanity? If we deem specific knowledge "harmful", how can we hope to prevent its discovery? If the knowledge does exist, how do we prevent its misuse? This is a play that is incredibly relevant in an age plagued with similar issues in genetic engineering and cloning. I'd highly recommend the German translation.

Rating:
Summary: Scientific Responsibility and the Inevitability of Ideas
Review: I originally read this play some time ago while studying German in college and it is one of the few works from those years that has "stuck with me". In fact I still have the German language edition that I used at that time.
As other reviewers have said, one of the central themes of this work is the degree of responsibility that scientists have to humanity or something called "the public". Having worked for over twenty years now as a nuclear scientist, I can definitely say that at times the desire for knowledge can override the consideration of all the possible uses of a given technology. The question them becomes, can an idea be "unthought"? This secondary theme of the book is intertwined with the theory of the inevitability of ideas at a given time and place.
The translation by Kirkup is quite good as compared to the original German version that I have. Though the expository style (some very long dialogs) may be a bit daunting at times, stick with it. This play is a philosophical discussion, not a Hollywood action film.

Rating:
Summary: Scientific Responsibility and the Inevitability of Ideas
Review: I originally read this play some time ago while studying German in college and it is one of the few works from those years that has "stuck with me". In fact I still have the German language edition that I used at that time.
As other reviewers have said, one of the central themes of this work is the degree of responsibility that scientists have to humanity or something called "the public". Having worked for over twenty years now as a nuclear scientist, I can definitely say that at times the desire for knowledge can override the consideration of all the possible uses of a given technology. The question them becomes, can an idea be "unthought"? This secondary theme of the book is intertwined with the theory of the inevitability of ideas at a given time and place.
The translation by Kirkup is quite good as compared to the original German version that I have. Though the expository style (some very long dialogs) may be a bit daunting at times, stick with it. This play is a philosophical discussion, not a Hollywood action film.

Rating:
Summary: what you Americans call a pageturner
Review: I want all of you to read this play. It is weird butfascinating, surprising and just brilliant. Get to know Germanliterature at one of its best!

Rating:
Summary: Uniquely Playful, Entertaining, Suspenseful, and Thoughtful
Review: Three physicists have been confined to a very expensive posh mental institution, Les Cerisiers. Herbert George Beutler says he is Isaac Newton, but he knows that he is really Einstein. He adopted the guise of Newton to avoid upsetting another patient, Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who claims he is Einstein. The third, Johann Wilhelm Mobius is himself. As a long term patient, he enjoys frequent visions of King Solomon.

I had the great fortune of knowing little about the plot. I was continuously entertained by the playful unraveling of a murder mystery. I urge you to avoid learning more. The imagination of Durrenmatt is quite remarkable. He weaves an entertainingly unpredictable story.

This short play warrants reading more than once, even more than twice, as the Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt not only entertains us, but explores fundamental questions regarding the role of science in modern society. The Physicists was written in 1962 when the world faced the possibility of nuclear war at any moment. The Physicists has been produced at the London Royal Court Theatre, on Broadway, and by many university theatre departments. I intend to become acquainted with the plays of Friedrich Durrenmatt.

Rating:
Summary: Great book! Hard reading if you have not seen the play.
Review: Without giving away too much: Its's the story of a Physicist that is seeking refuge in a insane assylum to protect himself and the 'formula' he found. This formula may change the world as we know it. HE is trapped with two spies that try to get the formula. All of them pretend to be famous physicists. Then a nurse is murdered ... A classical drama. Everything happens in one room in the insane asylum. It is easy to get confused by the different characters. Every 'Physicist' has three identities: 'real' (spy, physicist), 'pretended' (announced in public, famous physicist), 'pretended in privat' (other famous physicist, pretended in private conversations). It's nice to have seen the play first. If you know german: read the original (Die Physiker). Durrenmatt is not well known outside of Switzerland/Germany/Austria. A great author. If you are looking for something easier, try 'Der Richter und sein Henker' (The judge and his executioner?) or 'Der Verdacht' (The suspision?). Too bad that neither book is available here. Available here: 'The Assignement'. Easier to read than 'The Physicists' but not as good. To get the ultimate: 'Achterloo'. One of the best plays I have ever seen but was allways afraid to read. Again: An insane asylum. But this time it is populated with different historical personalities (Cardinal Richelieu (sp?), General Jaruselzki, Napoleon ...). Great dialogs!