The story of science in Nazi Germany is fraught with disagreement over the ethical conduct of those involved. Take Werner Heisenberg, who headed the atomic bomb programme. Was he a hero who knew how to build the bomb but soft-pedalled the research to deprive Hitler of this first great weapon of mass destruction? Or was he a failure who after the war saw an opportunity to appropriate moral superiority? The historical facts can take us only so far. In the final analysis we are left with the unknown and unknowable state of Heisenberg's conscience. The relationship between science and conscience presents similar difficulties when we analyse the actions of scientists in any era. Science, particularly pure research, is often said to be fundamentally value-free and apolitical. According to this view, scientists cannot be blamed for the way others use their discoveries.
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