Die Situation der modernen Physik

In the beginning of the century a small group of physicists have created revolutionary changes in modem physics without the use of massive appa­ ratus and without incurring great expenditures. Today the situation is very different. Costly and impressive practical undertakings have become the style of modem physics. Yet few new ideas have been generated. It is not the purpose of this lecture to explain the reasons for the change. Nor can I predict whether the great efforts in high energy physics will pay off in terms of a new basic understanding. But it is quite clear that three im­ portant practical enterprises have been developed. One is atomic energy, with its influence on politics and its growing possi­ biIities of economic exploitation. The second is space exploration which will without any doubt lead to new scientific data and which may have other important effects by facilitating communication and weather observation. FinaIly, the development of electronic computing machines and automation has raised the possibility of mechanizing apart of the thought process itself. In trying to foresee the consequences of these changes two points should be emphasized. One is that at every turn practical progress and scientific dis­ covery are mutually interconnected. The second is that some of the under­ takings have become so large and so important that they can and should be undertaken on an international scale. Most particularly it is reasonable to put greatly increased emphasis on joint work within the Atlantic commu­ nity.