The Better to Eat You With: Fear in the Animal World
*Starred Review* Famous as the physicist who first recognized the impossibility of complete quantum measurements, Werner Heisenberg has himself long resisted full assessment. But by probing deeply into archival materials unavailable when he published his scholarly study of the groundbreaking theorist (Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg, 1991), Cassidy finally delivers a complete portrait for general readers. The lucid narrative reveals the rare genius that enabled Heisenberg to claim a prominent place among the bold pioneers—including Bohr, Planck, and Schrödinger—who plumbed the mysteries of quantum mechanics. But the story that many will find most compelling focuses not on neutrons but on Nazis. Acknowledging the controversy this issue has sparked, Cassidy carefully scrutinizes Heisenberg’s role in the Nazi regime. On one hand, the record indicates that the scientist privately deplored the brutality of Hitler’s governance and that he bravely persisted in affirming the validity of Einstein’s “Jewish science.” On the other hand, Heisenberg ultimately did the bidding of Nazi leaders in advancing nuclear science that could have produced an atom bomb. Likewise disquieting is his relative passivity when Nazi leaders threatened his colleagues with imprisonment and death. A cautionary perspective on the perils of science in a world of power politics. --Bryce Christensen