Copenhagen

Compelling and extremely well written. The annotations provide context and further information that is literally fascinating. Made into a movie starring Daniel Craig.

COPENHAGEN is a play that welcomes a reading. The structure of pure dialogue between the physicists, Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr's wife Margrethe( who represents the non-physicists in the audience) lends itself to the closer examination the written word gives us. Michael Frayn brilliantly imagines a moment frozen in time- Heisenberg arrives from Germany in 1941 to discuss something with his mentor, Bohr in occupied Copenhagen. Seizing upon this historical event and its mysterious circumstances, Frayn recreates the event from a variety of perspectives in pursuit of a greater truth. Was Heisenberg a hero, who kept the Nazi's from achieving the ultimate weapon, or a victim of his own carelessness? Reading the play, gives you the time to reflect upon how creatively Frayn frames each of his scenarios. The dialogue is never less than challenging, even while playing to the audience surrogate, Margrethe. Frayn uses these two great minds to introduce the audience into the realm of advanced physics and the moral ambiguities involved in the mixing of pure science with the nature of war. The forced civility between the two men emphasizes the underlying current of terror created by the Nazis rise to power and the oncoming dawn of an atomic age. Frayn does not offer any easy answers, to do so would be an insult to the wonderful work that has gone on before. The postscript alone is worth the price of the book for any fan of the play. It sets up the historical context for the play's creation and gives the reader a much greater understanding of where Frayn came up with many of the issues he examines in this work.

This is one of the most interesting plays i have ever read and watched,,,It is a mjor achievement to make the life of theoretical phisics look interesting. Honestly, did you ever thought that the future of the planet was in the hands of some introvert proffesor......well it was.If you are an Economist or simply are afamiliar with game theory, the prisioners game, you will love this play, it leaves you thinking,,,,if you have the opportunity to see the Play, don not think it twice....do it.I you are hooked with this book, and looking forwar for another book in he topic, I would recommend this other book "In Search of Klingsor" by Jorge Volpi, it is a page turner, deliciously written, and for many of you will be the discovery of a new author.Better, If you can read it in the original Spanish version, otherwise the English translation is not bad. YOU WILL LOVE THESE 2 BOOKS

The mentalities of the characters in Copenhagen are based on the idea of the nuclear family, the importance of interpersonal relationships, and space of the home as a safe, secure sphere to interact within. This longing for security becomes contradictory to the underlying, inevitable uncertainty society impresses upon individuals in Copenhagen, which comes to exist at the core of everything Copenhagen’s characters do, manifesting itself in their intentions, morals, and loyalties, and being most authentically explained through Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr’s scientific principles of uncertainty and complementarity, respectively.How individuals reacted to coming out of conflict appear in this insecure, uncertain world of Copenhagen and are examined from the afterlife in the relationship dynamics between Danish physicist Niels Bohr, Margrethe, and German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg, during and post-WWII, and are modeled cleverly on the structure of an atom, with each character an electron orbiting around a nucleus of uncertainty, and constantly reorganizing depending on circumstance.Security and relationships are tenuous and complex in wartime and it becomes difficult to delineate between what people say, mean, do, and actually feel, as well as then how to process and remember interactions, which becomes the predominant crisis for each of the characters in Copenhagen.Copenhagen is ultimately a memory play, which draws upon Heisenberg, Bohr, and Margrethe’s memory to come up with why Heisenberg, as a German, came to visit Bohr, a half-Jewish citizen living in occupied Denmark, in Copenhagen in 1941. Throughout Copenhagen, the unpredictability and unfathomability of our humanness is explained metaphorically through the aforementioned scientific phenomena of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and Bohr’s complementarity principle.Memory is fundamentally flawed and subjective as each time we go to access a stored memory it becomes more and more corrupted from how the original moment in time happened and that only is exacerbated by the trauma and multi-layered motives and morality of war. That's what makes memory so fascinating to work with in this context as we, as readers, can never truly know anything, which simultaneously unhinges and terrifies us and betrays our need for the comfort of certainty.There is a fundamental uncertainty that characterizes life, especially during and after WWII and the Cold War, that cannot ever be redressed by family life or material ideals since it is a quality that innately exists within us and society. Society is only a malleable, adaptable product of how humans of that time period have decided to structure their reality, but the fact that uncertainty and insecurity remain inevitable parts of human existence and life only can lead us to accepting that we will never completely know ourselves or the people and world around us and that can be the only certainty and this play really caused me to ponder all of these questions, but there are moments where it stalls a bit and loses momentum, hence the four stars. Other than that it is an interesting, multi-layered read with many thought-provoking moments to consider!

I did not think it was very good and told the person that recommended it what I thought of it. He thinks the play was much better.

How does science work? Both scientist and non-scientist need to understand the question and its possible answers...and the UNCERTAINTIES involved. Add COPENHAGEN to your literary explorations, along with THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS and a Stanislaw Lem novel!

Yes, it takes some concentration, but it is one of the most exceptional theater pieces I've read in decades.

Anyone who has ever read the minutes of a simple business meeting they were present for the entirety of and thought about the extent of what those minutes did NOT capture ought to realize that history books are incapable of telling us what we need to know to use the lessons of the past to build a better future.Plays like Copenhagen are an extraordinary way of encouraging all of us to think about what the real conversations might have been like at pivotal moments. And it's an important reminder not to get comfortable thinking that people and events are without nuance.

Very interesting real life story with different interpretations, very well written, much enjoyable!I did not know much about the main characters and they came to life in an incredible way ...I have to confess that i have attended the performance of the play, before rereading the script and it was all very enjoyable!

Those who are interested in ideological conversation between 2 great scientists of our time in the backdrop of developing a nuclear bomb during ww2 each belonging to opposite sides, reading this book is a must.

Ho comprato questo libro usato ed era in ottime condizioni.Il libro è una sceneggiatura in cui avviene solo un dialogo postmortem tra due grandi fisici, Heisenberg e Bohr, e la moglie di quest'ultimo. L'avvenimento principale è l'incontro tra i due fisici a Copenhagen, nella casa di Bohr nel 1941 (accaduto realmente). Tra eventi reali e romanzati, i due atti attraversano la situazione politica dagli anni 20 alla seconda guerra mondiale, con l'invenzione della bomba atomica.Il libro è assolutamente favoloso, scorrevole e scritto in modo magnificamente semplice, tale da far comprendere anche le parti di fisica più difficili a un pubblico vasto. Da questo lettura ho cominciato ad appassionarmi ed a incuriosirmi: sono corsa a fare mille ricerche, presa dalla brama di sapere di più.Molto interessante anche il Post script, in cui l'autore racconta nel dettaglio le sue scelte in fase di scrittura.Dovrebbero leggerlo tutti! Assolutamente consigliato!

Niels Bohr und Werner Heisenberg, im Leben Mentor und Schüler, Freunde, die mache Wanderung oder Skitour gemeinsam unternahmen, und dabei über Atomphysik diskutierten, kongeniale Wegbereiter der Quantenmechanik, treffen, nun längst verstorben, an einem unbestimmten Ort wieder zusammen, weiter um getrieben von den Problemen, die im Leben ungelöst blieben.Das ist die Konstellation des drei Personen Stück „Copenhagen“, die Dritte im Bunde ist Bohrs Ehefrau Margarethe, sie begleitet das Geschehen kommentierenden und katalysierend. Durch diesen Kunstgriff gelingt es Michael Frayn die Ereignisse aus jeweils wechselnden Perspektiven zu schildern.Das Stück beginnt mit einem besonders kritischen Ereignis: Heisenbergs Besuch im September 1941 bei Niels Bohr – die Zeiten haben sich geändert: Dänemark wurde von Nazi- Deutschland besetzt -- Heisenberg ist nun Leiter des deutschen Uranprojekt, der offizielle Anlass seines Besuch ist ausgerechnet ein Vortrag am Deutschen Wissenschaftliche Institut in Kopenhagen. „But why?“ – frag Margarethe zu Beginn – wollte Heisenberg über Bohr Einfluss auf das Atombomben Projekt der Alliierten nehmen? – darüber schweigt sich Heisenbergs Autobiographie aus, und darüber rätseln Biographen und Historiker, Wie in alten Zeiten brechen die Protagonisten zu ein Spaziergang auf – den aber Bohr nach wenigen Minuten verstört abbricht.Hier greift der Trick des Autors – im Physiker Walhalla kann man einfach ein Reset durchführen – der zweite Akt beginnt mit der Erinnerungsarbeit früher – 1924 kommt der frisch promovierte Werner Heisenberg, mit einem Rockefeller Stipendium, nach Kopenhagen, um von Bohr zu Lernern und mit mit ihm zu forschen. Es treffen sich verwandte Seelen – beides 'Naturburschen' – mit einer unbändigen Leidenschaft für die Enträtselungen der seltsamen neuen Quanteneigenschaften der Atome.Aber Bohr, der genial Pionier der Quantentheorie und begnadete Wissenschafts- Organisator ist kein einfacher Mentor, er liebt es, seine Arbeiten wieder und wieder zu überarbeiten, er feilt mit seinen Assistenten an jeder einzelnen Formulierung; auch sein Frau Margarethe wird in diese Sphären eingesogen, sie übernimmt oft das Maschineschreiben der Manuskripte, die Bohr beharrlich umstellt, ändert und verwirft; er ringt dabei auch um eine gültige Neubeschreibung der 'physikalischen Wirklichkeit' im Angesicht der seltsamen Quantenphänomene, die die Welt der Atome beherrschen. Michael Frayn fügt dabei auch einige der 'typischen' Bohr Anekdoten in sein Stück ein, etwa den Aufenthalt von Schrödinger in Kopenhagen: Bohr holt Schrödinger von Bahnhof ab, und von Minute an diskutiert er mit ihm die Hintergründe seiner Wellenmechanik. Selbst als Schrödinger mit einer fiebrigen Grippe darnieder liegt, weicht Bohr nicht vom Krankenbett: „.. aber Herr Schrödinger,sehen Sie denn nicht, dass ...“.Auch Heisenberg bekommt Bohrs Inanspruchnahme zu verspüren, der verwickelt ihn oft von früh bis späht in Diskussionen – im Stück wird die Zeit zügig bis 1927 'vor gespult' – Heisenberg nutzt die Abwesenheit Bohrs, der einen Skiurlaub Norwegen macht, um noch einmal über die Grundprinzipien der Quantenmechanik nachzudenken, ihn 'wurmt' immer noch Schrödingers Wellenansatz, der damit eigentlich die 'elende Quantenspringerei' begraben wollt, und Heisenberg fand seine berühmte Unschärfe Relation. Er erfasste sofort die fundamentale Bedeutung seiner Erkenntnis, die ein für alle mal die Andersartigkeit der Quantenwelt zementierte; kurz entschlossen veröffentlichte Heisenberg sein Resultat – ohne sich wieder in Bohr langwierige Diskussionen hineinziehen lassen. Als Bohr aus seinem Urlaub zurückkehrt, war er über Heisenbergs Eigenmächtigkeit sehr verärgert; diesmal kann man sich nach einem heftigen Streit aber einigen: Unbestimmtheit und Komplementarität sind zwei Seiten einer Medaille.Der Autor kann der Versuchung nicht widerstehen, 'Unbestimmtheit' auch als Prinzip des Agierens von Bohr und Heisenberg zu sehen (s. aber seine Anm. dazu im Postscript), so bleibt das Stück indifferent, was nun die Beweggründe für den Besuch 41 gewesen sein mögen.Im Resümee ist Michael Frayns „Copenhagen“ ein sehr intelligent konstruiertes Stück, das seinen Protagonisten durchaus gerecht wird. Wie im Postscript ausführlich beschrieben, hat sich der Autor intensiv mit den Biographien, der Geschichte der Quantentheorie allgemein, und der der Kernspaltung und der Atombombe im Besonderen, beschäftigt. Zwar ist Dreh- und Angelpunkt, Heisenbergs Besuch, und damit die Frage, können und sollen Physiker Einfluss auf die kriegerische Ausbeutung ihrer Erkenntnisse nehmen; aber dem Stück gelingt es, die dahinterliegenden Ideen zu vermitteln; Ideen, die stets an reale Menschen gebunden sind, die bei aller Genialität – auch ihre Bedürfnis nach Anerkennung und Würdigung haben.

I think the book is wonderful - though I have only read it, never seen a performance. I suppose I have two unfair advantages in reading this book. Firstly I am reading, not watching, so I can turn back and go over difficult points again thus making better sense of them. Secondly I am a physicist (though very rusty nowadays), and I have a certain love for Quantum Theory engendered by Feynman's big red book.I can see that without these two advantages the play might be less attractive. It can't be a total turn off, though, because the play was recommended to me by a non-scientific friend who saw it in London and was very much enthralled by it.So it may be worth a non-scientist giving it a try.For me, the book is better than the play for a third reason: it includes a wonderful postscript exhibiting the great forensic skill that Frayn used to write the play. What may annoy some people is that the book (or play) require hard work of the reader (or audience) and still end up raising many more questions than answers. But the questions are explored with great thoroughness, and the main characters are treated so honestly, and yet tenderly.For me the effort required was well worth it.