Available online
Description
This programme contains interviews with five eminent scientists, Otto Frisch, Rudolph Peierls, Hans Krebs, Karl-Friedrich von Weizsacker and Harold Thompson on life in general and science in partic...ular, in Germany 1918 - 1945, including the problems of being Jewish and the rise of Hitler. Discussion of the ethical problems surrounding the building of the bomb, and the responsibility of the scientist.
This programme contains interviews with five eminent scientists, Otto Frisch, Rudolph Peierls, Hans Krebs, Karl-Friedrich von Weizsacker and Harold Thompson on life in general and science in partic...ular, in Germany 1918 - 1945, including the problems of being Jewish and the rise of Hitler. Discussion of the ethical problems surrounding the building of the bomb, and the responsibility of the scientist.
| Module code and title: | A381, Science and belief: from Darwin to Einstein |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A381; 07 |
| Recording date: | 05-03-1980 |
| First transmission date: | 1981 |
| Published: | 1981 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Peter Walton |
| Contributors: | Rudolf Peierls; Harold Thompson; Karl-Friedrich von Weizsacker; Otto Frisch; Hans Krebs |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Hitler; Jews; Nazi |
| Footage description: | Still of Sir Harold Thompson over which Walton briefly describes the scientist's achievements. Interview with Thompson in which he recalls an experience he had in Germany in 1930. This pattern is repeated in turn for Peierls, Frisch, Krebs and Weizsacke. They describe their reactions to the Nazis' acquisition of power. Further stills of the five scientists, over which Walton explains that the programme aims to present the memories of scientists as raw material for the historian of science. Short interview in which Krebs describes the social unrest of Germany in 1918. In interviews Weizsacker.Peierls and Frisch describe the dominance of the scientists Heisenberg and Bohr in the 1920s. Stills of these two scientists are shown and anecdotes related to illuminate their personalities. Caption: "The Golden Years" Interview with Weizsacker in which he describes the general cultural and intellectual climate in Germany in the 1920s. Contribution from Thompson in which he attributes German achievements in this period to "an elitist atmosphere". Caption: "The Jews, Science and the Rise of Hitler". Interviews with Frisch, Peierls, Krebs and Weizsacker who describe their reaction to the discrimination against Jews, particularly scientists. Caption "1933 - 1945: The Bomb." The Scientists discuss the role of scientists who remained in Germany during the war. In particular, Weizsacker and Thompson discuss the work of Heisenberg: Peierls, Krebs and Weizsacker consider the ethical position of scientists who work on the atomic bomb. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/73195 |
| Production number: | FOUA015T |
| Videofinder number: | 1211 |
| Available to public: | no |
