The atomic bomb tends to be a topic we avoid thinking about, for obvious reasons. But however uncomfortable it may be to contemplate, it has recently resurfaced into our collective consciousness.
The 70th anniversary of the dropping of the weapon on Hiroshima was a sobering reminder of its destructive power. The current debate over ratifying a deal with Iran is largely driven by the threat of that nation going nuclear. And the superb television drama Manhattan has provided a fictionalized glimpse into the moral qualms and personal crises faced by the scientists who gathered in New Mexico to create this source of nearly unimaginable carnage.
So with our heads momentarily pulled out of the sand, it's an excellent time to revisit Copenhagen, Michael Frayn's Tony Award–winning 1998 play about the advent of the nuclear age. It's a highly speculative look at a real-life event — a 1941 meeting, in the title city, between two brilliant physicists who were longtime friends and colleagues: Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.