The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr by Niels BohrReview by: Finn AaserudIsis, Vol. 79, No. 2 (Jun., 1988), pp. 351-352Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/233676 .

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BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 79: 2: 297 (1988) 351

gave no hint of his own views or of the ex- istence of public debate. He collected newspaper cuttings on the Declaration (1 Oct. 1864) but recorded nothing about their content or about his own reactions to the many attacks on the Declaration. Occa- sionally more personal responses intrude: "I do not admire his [Professor William Thomson's] lecturing as he is very nervous but the experiments were capital" (18 May 1860). Thus the diaries have the limitations of their author. The edition is expensive, but ?92 should be compared with the cost of the fare to London.

RUTH BARTON

* Twentieth Century

Niels Bohr. The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr. Volume I: Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature. viii + 119 pp. Volume II: Essays 1933-1957 on Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge. viii + 101 pp., figs. Volume III: Essays 1958-1963 on Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge. x + 100 pp. Woodbridge, Conn.: Ox Bow Press, 1987. Each volume $20 (cloth); $10 (paper).

Along with Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr ranks as the giant of physics in the twen- tieth century. In 1920, at the age of thirty- four, he established his Institute for Theo- retical Physics in Copenhagen, where he gathered around him the younger genera- tion of the most promising physicists from all over the world in order to work out and discuss the most pressing questions of theoretical physics of the day. Bohr and his Institute were central in the development in the mid 1920s of quantum mechanics, which came to revolutionize physics. In the subsequent years Bohr developed, in in- tense discussions with his younger col- leagues, an interpretation of the new phys- ics.

This so-called Copenhagen Interpretation centered on what Bohr termed the "com- plementarity argument." According to Bohr, quantum mechanics implied the re- nunciation of causality as presumed in clas- sical physics. In contrast to events in the macroscopical world, atomic phenomena could not be considered independently of the observation process. For example, the seeming paradox that light manifested itself

sometimes as waves and sometimes as par- ticles was due to different, or "complemen- tary," experimental situations. Despite unrelenting objections by Einstein and others, this view soon became the accepted creed among most working physicists.

Having formulated his complementarity argument, Bohr started out on a larger mis- sion: he wanted to work out the epistemo- logical "lesson" of quantum mechanics as it applied to other fields of knowledge. The three books under review are reprints of Bohr's own collections of his philosophi- cally oriented articles. After a useful "in- troductory survey" written by Bohr in 1929, the first volume starts off with an ar- ticle completed just after the formulation of quantum mechanics in 1925, followed by Bohr's original 1927 presentation of his complementarity argument. The last two articles, written in 1929, also deal with the interpretation of the new physics, venturing only toward the end to expand the "lesson" of quantum mechanics to psychology and biology.

In the period spanned by the second book Bohr became bolder in expanding his philosophical conclusions from physics to other fields of investigation. Thus the vol- ume begins with his famous "Light and Life" address of 1932, which the noted ge- neticist Max Delbriick claimed was respon- sible for his transformation from a physicist to a biologist. In a lecture for an interna- tional anthropological congress in 1939 Bohr commented on the relevance of com- plementarity for that field. The major con- tribution of Volume II, however, is the "Discussion with Einstein on Epistemologi- cal Problems in Atomic Physics," originally written for a 1949 anthology celebrating Einstein as "philosopher-scientist."

Volume III was published posthumously and contains a preface by Bohr's son Aage, a Nobel laureate in physics in his own right. Nevertheless, all but two of the seven articles had been published pre- viously, and one of these two had been pre- pared by Bohr for publication in the book. The exception is "Light and Life Revis- ited," based on an unfinished manuscript of a lecture Bohr gave in Cologne in June 1962 (he died in November of the same year). Aside from further refinements of his com- plementarity argument, the third volume contains three historical articles, the most substantial of which is Bohr's memorial

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352 BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 79: 2: 297 (1988)

lecture for his mentor Ernest Rutherford. By his personal example and tireless

energy and enthusiasm Bohr inspired a generation of physicists. Yet his mission to expand his complementarity argument to other fields-like his efforts to prevent the nuclear arms race by encouraging more openness between nations-went largely unheeded in the larger society. Despite Bohr's strongly felt mission to teach his "lesson" of quantum mechanics to a broader audience, he was more successful at interacting with the younger generation of physicists through personal discussion. In practice, then, while Bohr's views may have prevailed over Einstein's among phys- icists, Einstein is better known to the public.

Indeed, Bohr never worked out a syn- thetic presentation of the philosophical views presented in these sundry articles. The collective title of the three volumes may therefore seem pretentious, particu- larly since Bohr also published similarly oriented articles that are not included here. With the exception of attractive new covers and the collective title, these books contain nothing new; no new introduction or anno- tations provide a context for the work. This is particularly unfortunate since in his phil- osophically oriented writings Bohr himself consistently avoided referring to work by others. For such introductions and annota- tions to Bohr's published work, one should consult the Niels Bohr Collected Works, now in the last stages of publication (Am- sterdam: North-Holland).

These sometimes arduously written and often repetitive articles testify to why Bohr was unable to reach a broader audience. Yet, as Bohr himself acknowledged, the or- ganization of some of his philosophical writings under one set of covers does give insight into the development of his thought. Although not sufficient to resolve the still- debated question of the origin, meaning, and importance of Bohr's philosophical views, they constitute an indispensable re- source. Moreover, in contrast to the ex- pensive Collected Works, these volumes reflect Bohr's own preference as to how to put his writings together. No publisher could be convinced to reprint these collec- tions in English for the 1985 Bohr centen- nial. The Ox Bow Press is to be congratu- lated for taking the initiative to republish them now, and at an affordable price.

FINN AASERUD

Paul Boyer. By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age. xx + 440 pp., illus., figs., bibl., index. New York: Pan- theon Books, 1985. $22.95.

Paul Boyer is interested in the reactions in the United States in the years 1945-1950 to the coming of nuclear weapons. Two conclusions emerge in his view. First, he finds that the reactions in the "dawn" pe- riod foreshadowed nearly all of the later re- sponses within American society, although often the precedents have not been recog- nized. Second, he discerns a cyclical pat- tern of three periods of activism followed by periods of apathy. Candid about his mo- tivation as a former conscientious objector aroused by the immorality of nuclear wea- ponry, Boyer is distressed by the apathy, by the readiness of many to close their eyes or to accept soothing words. The strong point of the book is the author's intellectual honesty as he presents diverse views and tries to explain them, even as he finds some abhorrent or foolish. The result is an ex- tremely interesting but uneven work. Per- haps the strongest passages are those on re- ligious reactions to the bomb.

The method of attack is conventional. Thought is defined as the overt expres- sions, overwhelmingly expressions in print, of certified professionals and intellectuals, educators, clergymen, psychiatrists, jour- nalists, physicians, and the like. Boyer waffles slightly on culture. That term covers artists and literary figures, who are sometimes lumped with the certified thinkers, but also includes popular culture, the mass media, and the viewpoints of ordi- nary citizens. To judge the last, Boyer uses poll results and clues in cultural artifacts. Boyer knows that he is not necessarily pre- senting the American mind or the con- sensus of American society. And he knows that a methodological problem compounds his concern over the moral dilemma raised by nuclear warfare. What did Americans really believe at various points in the past, and why? And why was the cycle from ac- tivism to apathy of 1945-1954 repeated in the periods of 1954-1979 and 1979-the present, if indeed that occurred?

Boyer's theme is really the "domestica- tion" of nuclear warfare in the hands of groups other than the military and the sci- entists. The former are largely absent here, perhaps because the author does not con-

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