Die Physiker (The Physicists) (1961) is a satiric drama often recognized to
be the most impressive, yet easiest to understand work by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. It deals mostly with the progress of modern science (hence the title) and its
responsibility for the impact it has on our lives. The play was written to reflect the time during and after World War II and the
great advance in science and nuclear technology. It alludes to the rising fear of the people that nuclear warfare and technology
would advance so greatly, and the concern that mankind was not yet ready to handle such a responsibility.
The story starts in the sanatorium Les Cerisiers, an idyllic home for the stressed
and burnt-out. Yet something has disturbed the normal atmosphere of peace and silence: a murder has occurred. Apparently a
patient who thinks he is Albert Einstein killed a nurse. Even more disturbing, we learn
that this has been the second murder in the institute. Just three months ago, another of its patients, who refers to himself as
Isaac Newton, killed a nurse too. The investigating police officer can't do anything about
it since the murderers are already declared insane and committed to this asylum.
We later learn that none of the three patients treated here is insane: they all faked it—for slightly different reasons.
Möbius, who sometimes declares himself to be regularly speaking to the
biblical King Solomon, is the wisest one of all. He initially
faked his paranoia to be confined to his little cell so no one would believe his inventions or
even search for something he invented. He did this because he invented the system of all possible inventions, based on the
unified field theory. In clear foresight of the murderous weapons and
doomsday devices this knowledge would spawn if released into the public, he chose to
remain silent and pretend to be insane. The other two patients are spies of different nations
who understand the importance of Möbius's inventions and press him to go to their respective homelands, threatening kidnap.
Although the two spies both try to persuade Möbius to come to their respective nations and help their governments, he
eventually explains to them his own reasons for seeking refuge in the sanatorium and all three decide that the future of mankind
is safer if they, and his manuscripts, stay in Les Cerisiers. One physicist chooses to pretend to believe that he is
Newton, the other Einstein. Although the physicist that is Newton sometimes claims to be Einstein, while full-well knowing that
he is Newton.
However, their plans are thwarted when the sanatorium's owner, Fräulein Dr. Mathilde von Zahnd, tightens her grip on the three
inmates and explains to them that she has already started an international 'trust' by harnessing the potential of Möbius's
writings—she has secretly been copying them. His attempts therefore were completely in vain.
The story ends with a sense of impending doom. Möbius and the others are frustrated and speak out directly to the audience: a
plea to every scientist, that it is impossible to take back what has been thought before and that one should be completely aware
of the changes and dangers that science may present to the future of mankind.
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