The Uncertainty Principle In Michael Frayn's Play Copenhagen

Stretching the Uncertainty Principle in Copenhagen -Nymphea Maria Noronha

How far is one allowed to stretch principles of science by relating them to what is more familiar to the general population? Are similarities drawn between concepts in quantum mechanics and the real world as seen in popular culture correct? Is it right on Michael Frayn’s part to have implied a parallel between the Uncertainty Principle and the uncertainty in his play Copenhagen1? Although similarities can be drawn between Copenhagen and the Uncertainty Principle, the comparison is not justifiable by Physics.

When explaining the Uncertainty Principle in his initial paper, Heisenberg uses the German word Ungenauigkeit meaning2 inexactness, inaccuracy or

Jim Holt in his article Uncertainty about the Uncertainty Principle: Can’t anybody get Heisenberg’s idea right? says “No scientific idea from the last century is more fetishized, abused, and misunderstood—by the vulgar and the learned alike—than Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.” The idea that a quantum system will collapse to one of its Eigen values by the act of observation is corrupted in popular culture. In the television series Numb3rs3, the protagonist Charlie Eppes says, “You’ve observed the robbers. They know it. That will change their actions.” The film What the Bleep do we know?!4 takes it a step further. Using the fact that observing water molecules can change their molecular structure, its claims that since humans are made up of ninety percent water, according to Physics we can fundamentally change our nature through mental energy. Heisenberg must be rolling in his

There is much more to the Uncertainty Principle than what can be seen at face-value, rather name value. The principle carries a lot more information than the fact that we do not and cannot have complete information. The principle can only be applied on measurables that do not commute. Frayn very conveniently disregards these this when trying to compare his story to the uncertainty principle. As a student of Physics, I believe that the comparison is a bit of far-fetched. The concrete comparison between the uncertainty principle and the intrinsic uncertainty in the story cannot be justified. The fact that they both have the word ‘uncertainty’ in them is not enough to relate the two to such a great extent. Richard Feynman, in his autobiography What do you care what other people think?9 says , “I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing