Night Thoughts Of A Classical Physicist
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''Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist'' is a
historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...
by
historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...
Russell McCormmach Russell Keith McCormmach (born 9 October 1933) is an American historian of physics. McCormmach grew up in Walla Walla, Washington and studied physics at Washington State University, Washington State College with bachelor's degree in 1955. As a Rho ...
, published in 1982 by
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...
. Set in 1918, the book explores the world of physics in the early 20th century—including the advent of
modern physics Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity, and genera ...
and the role of
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
s in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
—through the recollections of the fictional Viktor Jakob. Jakob is an old German physicist who spent most of his career during the period of
classical physics Classical physics refers to physics theories that are non-quantum or both non-quantum and non-relativistic, depending on the context. In historical discussions, ''classical physics'' refers to pre-1900 physics, while '' modern physics'' refers to ...
, a paradigm being confronted by the rapid and radical developments of
relativistic physics In physics, relativistic mechanics refers to mechanics compatible with special relativity (SR) and general relativity (GR). It provides a non- quantum mechanical description of a system of particles, or of a fluid, in cases where the velocities o ...
in 1900s and 1910s. This conflict allows for extensive examination of the various tensions placed on Jakob by the academic environment, the German academic system, and the changing academic culture of the early 20th century. The character of Jakob, a professor at a minor German university, is an
amalgam Amalgam most commonly refers to: * Amalgam (chemistry), mercury alloy * Amalgam (dentistry), material of silver tooth fillings ** Bonded amalgam, used in dentistry Amalgam may also refer to: * Amalgam Comics, a publisher * Amalgam Digital, an in ...
of German physicists based on archival research by McCormmach. In the novel, he recalls interactions and events, documented in extensive footnote references to genuine publications and archival sources, involving many of the well-known physicists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ''Night Thoughts'', while pointedly criticized for its lack of literary merit by some reviewers, was generally praised for its attempt at forging a new approach to history and
historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...
by incorporating extensive research into the text.


Style

The novel is written as a fictional biography. However, it uses footnotes to provide historical support for events and situations in Jakob's life as a way to prove the feasibility of situations. Also, alongside the historical footnotes which point to the lives of historical scientists, his study is decorated with photographs of the same scientists, creating a reflection of how he has been shaped by their precedence. Historical reflections, and flashbacks – focusing mostly on the
Franco-Prussian war The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
and
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
– form a considerable part of the narrative.
George Steiner Francis George Steiner, Fellow of the British Academy#Fellowship, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between ...
called McCormmach "no novelist" pointing to how he "wisely ... avoids dialogue," commits numerous gaucheries, and how many of the dream sequences are flat. He felt that the work fails to show the passion which scientists feel for science. On the other hand,
Mary Jo Nye Mary Jo Nye (born December 5, 1944) is an American historian of science and Horning Professor in the Humanities emerita of the History Department at Oregon State University. She is known for her work on the relationships between scientific disco ...
wrote that McCormach's work "might have pleased Polanyi", who "wanted to see passion, not only reason, in the depiction of the scientist’s life".


Plot summary

Victor Jakob, a Physics professor in a small German university, reflects on his life as a physicist, recalling major discoveries and ideas of recent decades and his interactions with prominent physicists whose ideas challenge the
classical physics Classical physics refers to physics theories that are non-quantum or both non-quantum and non-relativistic, depending on the context. In historical discussions, ''classical physics'' refers to pre-1900 physics, while '' modern physics'' refers to ...
worldview. Meanwhile, the tide of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
is turning against
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, as the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
mount The Second Battle of the Somme, pushing the German Second Army back over a 34 mi (55 km) front. As he meditates on the changing world, Jakob hikes to a mountain overlooking his university, where he becomes trapped in a muddy ditch, while gunfire rings out below. In an apparently hopeless situation, he takes out his
revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
and "open his mouth." (Some reviewers characterize his apparent death as an accident, while others interpret it as
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
, a parallel to that of
Ludwig Boltzmann Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann ( ; ; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian mathematician and Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics and the statistical ex ...
;
John Maddox Sir John Royden Maddox, FRS (27 November 1925 – 12 April 2009) was a Welsh theoretical chemist, physicist, and science writer. He was an editor of ''Nature'' for 22 years, from 1966 to 1973 and 1980 to 1995. Education and early life Jo ...
considered it open to interpretation whether Jakob succeeds in killing himself.)


Themes

A major theme of ''Night Thoughts'' is the reinforcement of
Thomas Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American History and philosophy of science, historian and philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and ...
's conception of
history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...
as a convoluted mesh of non-linear progress effected by the biography of the scientists. Jakob's research becomes the central means by which the author expresses Kuhn's theory, reinforcing each situation with footnotes which point to events in Jakob's life that mirror historical events. Jakob does not progress linearly in constructing his scientific theories, instead he must handle "intellectual upheaval" caused by factions in the study of physics, competition for recognition in the hierarchical German University system, tension caused by his students and his own feelings of incompetency. (Kuhn reviewed the manuscript before publication.) The conflict between classical physics and relativistic physics is reflective of more than just the non-linear approach to science; it represents a larger conflict between the "klassische Bildung", or a concept of education imbued from the greats of the past, and the newer forms of learning which were breaking away from this reliance on old knowledge. Jakob's reflections are similar to the reflections found in commentary on other aspects of society, including art and literature, comparing them to classical and romantic approaches to physics. A more traditional theme, indicated by the novel's title, is the crumbling world of an old man as he nears death and meditates on his life. The world of Physics that Jakob has known for most of his career is being overthrown by new theories and discoveries of younger scientists, while at the same time his country is nearing defeat in World War I. Jakob struggles with his own relative meager place in the German academic system, as professor at a minor university who is increasingly out of place in the world of modern physics. Jakob's desperation leads him to thoughts of suicide again and again.


Research

The character of Viktor Jakob was based on extensive archival research and studies of personnel files of many German physicists who were contemporaries of the fictional professor, who (apparently) dies at the novel's conclusion at the age of 69, in 1918. McCormmach's research was supported by a grant from the
National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
.
Victor Weisskopf Victor Frederick "Viki" Weisskopf (also spelled Viktor; September 19, 1908 – April 22, 2002) was an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He did postdoctoral work with Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, and Niels Boh ...
points out that there are several "strange omissions" from the historical context of the novel including Rutherford's discovery of the planetary atom and
radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...
which was the work of Rutherford,
Kazimierz Fajans Kazimierz Fajans (Kasimir Fajans in many American publications; 27 May 1887 – 18 May 1975) was a Polish-Jewish physical chemist, a pioneer in the science of radioactivity and the co-discoverer of chemical element protactinium. Education and ca ...
and
Frederick Soddy Frederick Soddy FRS (2 September 1877 – 22 September 1956) was an English radiochemist who explained, with Ernest Rutherford, that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also pr ...
.


Reception

Due in part to its hybrid nature as both a novel and a work of historical scholarship, ''Night Thoughts'' was widely reviewed soon after publication from an unusually wide variety of perspectives. Literary critics, historians of science, and physicists took an interest in the book, and described its genre in a number of ways: from
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
to
historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...
to an "intellectual-historical novel" to "a new art form: the scientific historical novel". The novelty of the book was widely noted, with many reviewers calling it an experiment—in literary genre, or in historiographical technique. While generally praised as a work of history of science, the book received mixed reviews as a novel, with the emphasis on science and historical detail a detraction from a successful narrative. In a review of the book's varied reception and interpretation, Lewis A. Lawson concluded that "the book is a bad novel. Yet it would be a valuable addition to college courses ... most valuable in one of the new interdisciplinary courses that transcend specific disciplines in order to distinguish several different approaches to the acquisition of knowledge and to the validation of experience". George Steiner responded similarly, saying that while the novel was poor and the writing "no literary masterpiece", "they nevertheless constitute a very remarkable imaginative deed" for "bridging the gap between the ideals of literature and ... history of science". Philip Mirowski of
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
said that he "would recommend this volume to any and all historians of economic thought who are dissatisfied with the self-satisfied air and narrow theoretical scope of existing texts." Similarly, Laurie Brown, a physicist at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, noting that "the idea of this book as a possible new genre in science history is so appealing that I should like to recommend it to a large audience." However, he also pointed out that it may not be very appealing as a novel because Jakob is not a "fully developed character in the social world." Caitlin McKenna said McCormmach was wrong in referring to Jakob as an underdeveloped character; she praised Jakob and the novel extremely: "What emerges is a whole and wholly believable character who single-handedly embodies the bafflement of the Western mind at the dawn of modernity. At once writer and scientist, McCormmach has called on both these roles to create a novel of imagination and intellect."


Legacy

In 1995,
Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...
presented a lecture, ''Night Thoughts of a Quantum Physicist'', to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
which expounded his view on the manner by which a new "standard model" for physics requires a change, similar to the paradigm shift which Jakob saw in the change from classical physics to
quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
.


References

{{reflist, 2


External links


Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist
– Harvard University Press catalog Books about the history of physics Novels about science Novels set in Germany Novels set during World War I