Is it ethical to research and create weapons of mass destruction?
“In these days of questionable ethics – among journalists, politicians, health care providers and other public servants – it’s only fair to also probe the ethics of scientists and physicists who help build a ‘better bomb’ in an already tense world,” said Dr. Martin Hendry, East Tennessee State University’s 2005 chairholder of the Wayne G. Basler Chair of Excellence for the Integration of the Arts, Rhetoric and Science.
Hendry will speak on “The Birth of the Bomb,” his fourth in a series of free public lectures this semester as Basler Chair, on Monday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Culp Center forum.
In this lecture, he will explore the dangers of mixing politics and science, as well as share the wonders of quantum physics.
He will also participate in readings from Michael Frayn’s play, “Copenhagen,” with actor Pat Cronin, the 1999 Basler chairholder who is now a permanent artist in residence in the Department of Communication’s Division of Theatre and director of the Fine and Performing Arts Scholars program in the ETSU Honors College.
When he visited ETSU in March to prepare for his six-month visit, Hendry had a discussion with Dr. David Close, chair of the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geology, “about the fact that physics in particular, and science in general, aren’t always portrayed well in plays,” he said.
“We talked about a few significant examples … Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen came up. I first saw this live in London and had been extremely impressed with how effectively the playwright integrated dramatic events of World War II with an exposition of the mysteries of quantum physics.”
The readings from Copenhagen, Hendry said, will open the door to his discussion of the roles of Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in the Nazi atomic bomb program.
He will also talk about why quantum physics sometimes runs contrary to a “common sense view of the world.” For instance, while the Manhattan Project that created the bombs that razed Nagasaki and Hiroshima in World War II might repel most any scientist, there is also the element of “some degree of admiration for the immense intellectual and technical achievement,” he said.
While the topics may seem rather heady, this particular Basler lecture, Hendry said, is a “happy mixture” in a couple of ways. “The Birth of the Bomb” not only offers a blend of topics – from the joys of quantum physics to how scientists approach, and perhaps separate, ethics and their craft – but also an integration of the arts and the sciences true to the purpose of the Chair of Excellence, with Hendry providing the science and Cronin providing the theater arts.
“I was delighted that Pat Cronin recognized the dramatic worth of Copenhagen in its own right, and shared my vision that it would make a powerful vehicle for promoting greater integration of the arts and science,” Hendry said.
Hendry is senior lecturer in astronomy in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and head of the Physical Sciences Graduate School at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His main research interests lie in cosmology – the field of astronomy concerned with the origin and evolution of the universe – and in exploring the predictions of Einstein’s theory of relativity.
The Basler Chair in ETSU’s College of Arts and Sciences was created in 1994 and named in honor of the longtime member of the ETSU Foundation who is a strong advocate of professional academic programs at the university. This Chair of Excellence brings a variety of scholars to the community to broaden opportunities for students and the general public in the arts, humanities and science.
For more information or for special assistance for those with disabilities, call the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geology at 439-4231 or the College of Arts and Sciences at 439-5671.

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