The Born-Einstein Letters is a compilation of over 100 letters between Born and Einstein from 1916 - 1955; we as observers, are given a unique privilege to read the personal letters of these extraordinary men who were and still are pillars of science; giving us an informal dialogue as they question and expand their discoveries of science, the emotional and personal challenges of war and their Jewish heritage, the bantering of friends, and more importantly, the social responsibility of what it means to hold the post as a scientist.
This particular letter by Born written around the age of 62, speaks as a witness to the unspeakable acts occurring in the war, where the science he was so much a part of aided in this destruction, with an urgent plea to his trusted colleague and dear friend for a definitive plan to formulate a standard of ethics for this profession.
In the commentary of this particular letter, Born continues…
In writing about the responsibility of the scientist I have said more than once that the news of Hiroshima affected the issue decisively. This is true in so far as a new situation existed from that day on. It was no longer merely a question of ethics, whether political differences can ever justify technical mass murder, but of the continued existence of civilization itself, perhaps even of life on the earth. This letter shows that the ethical question, and the abhorrence of war waged with technical means, had been occupying me for a long time.
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