“The Age of Ugliness” .. The story of physics between brightness and fall culture

What happens when a person reaches the peak of his understanding of nature, then he discovers that this same understanding carries in its depths the seeds of disaster? How does the mind turn into a two -edged weapon: a path to survival, and at the same time trained to perish? How do scientists – who have always been considered a torch of light – become witnesses of disasters they made with their hands? Will the moments of humanity be the same, the same is the most dark?

In his book “The Age of Ugliness: The years of bright and dark physics 1895-1945” Tobias Horter takes us on a unique journey that extends between physics laboratories and the depths of the human psyche, between the sparkle of nuclear discoveries and the moral explosions that accompanied it. The writer draws a scene of an exceptional era that is not repeated, which still casts its heavy shadows on our present until today.

Initially, it is not easy – undoubtedly – writing a scientific history without falling into the trap of academic digestion, but Hortter succeeds here in his book by holding a thin thread, which weaves a coherent narration, mixing it between talking about physical ingenuity and political storms.

The book was published in its original version in German in 2021, and its Arabic translation was issued by Dar Al -Books in 2024, signed by the translator, Mohamed Ramadan Hussein.

But this work is not just a story of theories and equations, but rather the story of men and women who lived in the heart of the knowledge and moral explosion. Their testimony was 50 years of burning genius and anxious pronouns.

As for the author of the book, he is a German writer and journalist who was born in 1972, and he holds a doctorate in philosophy, and is characterized by a deep analytical manner in dealing with scientific and intellectual issues. He wrote in prestigious magazines and newspapers, and is famous for its ability to link the major transformations in science and philosophy and existential human questions.

Features of the era: from X -rays to the atomic bomb

Hortter starts from 1895 in the year in which the X -rays were discovered by Ronggen, a discovery that represented the spark of entry into a new age of physics. This disclosure of radioactive activity followed, then a series of theoretical revolutions that destroyed the certainty of classical physics, and pushed humanity to the threshold of the era of quantity and relativity.

During half a century, the discoveries accelerated at a pace that had not seen history before, as Max Planck appeared in his theory about the quantity, followed by Nelsa Por, Hiznberg, Drudneger, and finally Einstein who laid down the theory of special relativity in 1905 and then the public in 1915. These names not only wrote the history of physics, but also redefined the limits of reality and the capabilities of knowledge.

Science between genius and systematic suspicion

In his book, Horter shows that the traditional perceptions of science, as a purely rational activity based on inevitability and certainty, have been subjected to deep destruction with the emergence of quantum mechanics in the early twentieth century. As the classic physical concepts – which were assumed that the universe works as a precise machine that could be predicted – was replaced by a new look that sees reality as an inevitable field, governed by the laws of possibility, the principles of doubt, and quantum correlation, which led to a review of the foundations of scientific knowledge itself.

Nils Port was one of the most prominent defenders of the probability interpretation of quantum reality, and he even laid the foundations of what was later known as “Copenhagen’s interpretation”. According to this perception, it is not possible to talk about the properties of particles or their sites except the moment of its monitoring, but before that it is in a state of “overlapping” probability, combining all possible cases at the same time. This interpretation had a profound philosophical effect, as the particles were without offspring in more than one case at the same time, until they were monitored, which seemed to many scholars to exceed the physical reasonable.

Schrodenger opposed this interpretation, with its famous example, “Shraudnger Cat”, an intellectual experience aimed at showing the confusing character of Copenhagen’s interpretation. It shows how acceptance is that particles may exist in two compromises – as if the cat is alive and dead at the same time – leads to absurd results when applied to the reality. The Shrownger’s objection was an expression of his refusal to reduce reality to mere possibilities that did not acquire the status of “realism” except when the observer interfered.

While Einstein rejected the possibility of quantum mechanics, adhering to the idea that the universe is governed by accurate laws, even if we could not monitor them yet. His objection was not a fanaticism of classical inevitability, but rather the belief that what appears to be chaotic on the surface may hide a deeper system that has not yet been discovered. That is why his famous phrase said, “God does not play dice,” an indication of his rejection of the idea that the basis of the universe is based on coincidence.

Physics and politics

In the most exciting section of the book, Hortter monitors the overlap of physics with politics in the time of Nazism And the second world war. With the rise of totalitarian regimes, the scholars found themselves in front of existential questions: Does the scientist remain in his factor, or does he flee his conscience? Does he participate in the arms race or oppose? Is it possible to originally separate “pure science” and “political use”?

A number of prominent physicists have been involved in major military projects during the twentieth century. Among them is Werner Heisenberg – who led the German nuclear program under the Nazi rule – in a role that is still the focus of controversy among historians about the actual support of the bomb industry, as well as Robert Obenheimer, who supervised the American Manhattan project, he represented the contradiction in his clearest pictures: an accomplished scientist, and a human intellectual, who was involved in making the bomb with all his energy, then spent the remainder of his life Surrounded by remorse and questions.

In contrast to the direct involvement in military projects, Einstein took a moral stance on wars and armaments, and he left Germany early after the rise of Nazism, and his name later was linked to calling for peace and removal Nuclear weapon.

However, in a milestone of global anxiety, in 1939, a letter addressed to US President Franklin Roosevelt warned against the possibility that Nazi Germany would be in the process of developing atomic bomb. The message was not a direct invitation to armament, but rather a preventive warning alerting to the risk of a possible nuclear race. But it implicitly included a recommendation to accelerate American research in this field, which later paved the launch of the Manhattan project.

Although Einstein did not participate in the same project, a deep regret felt about his indirect contribution, and later stated with sorrow, “If I knew that the Germans would not succeed, I would never have signed the message.” His position has represented a very complex moral stalemate, which reflects the tension between human commitment and the concerns of the historical moment.

From the laboratory to the world: the collapse of the distance between theory and history

What distinguishes the book is that it does not limit physics within its scientific framework, but rather its transformation into a civilized force, affecting politics, economics, and even philosophy. Atomic discoveries did not remain in the laboratory, but rather did not ignore facts, and became a source of dread and meditation together.

It is worth noting that stopping the book at 1945 was not a random time decision, but rather a precise symbolic choice. In that year, the two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima And Nagasaki, to declare the end of the war and the beginning of a new era. But it was not only a declaration of this, but was also an advertisement for the end of the scientific innocence, as science was no longer a pure pursuit of the truth, but it became a project with universal consequences, which may be saved or destroyed.

Hortter’s style is characterized by an interlocutor, as it links the time context, scientific developments, and personal tales, without the reader losing its balance.

The “era of blurring” is not just a history of modern physics, but rather a history of an era that overflowed with genius, but it lacked reassurance, and ignited the light from the heart of the atom, but it also burned himself. It is therefore an invitation to think about the meaning of progress, the price of the truth, and the fragility of the scientific conscience when it is removed from its human context. This book reminds us that behind every equation is an anxious mind, and behind every discovery of responsibility that may change the world forever.