Heisenberg in the 'Public Sphere'

摘要

In 1971, discussing the case for a new 300-GeV accelerator, Werner Heisenberg put his finger on the "difficult dilemma" faced by scientists who argue for financial support from the government. Should such scientists be considered objective advisors with relevant technical expertise or members of one interest group among many others? His answer-perhaps more honest, certainly less popular, than that of many of his colleagues-is that they were already both: "[I]t is essential that high-energy specialists be consulted as advisors, since only they can really judge the details. On the other hand, these specialists are necessarily also inter- ested parties, since they or their students want to work at the giant accelerator." If this dilemma was difficult, however, it was nothing compared with some of the issues involved in Heisenberg's forays into the "public sphere" in postwar Germany. How and how well should science be funded in general? How might Germany be rein-corporated into an international scientific scene?