WIGNER EUGENE: (1902-1995) Hungarian-American Theoretical Physicist & Mathematician, Nobel Prize winner for Physics ...

WIGNER EUGENE: (1902-1995) Hungarian-American Theoretical Physicist & Mathematician, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1963. Autograph Manuscript, unsigned, thirteen pages, 4to, n.p. n.d. (1977). The manuscript, with numerous corrections, is of a talk made by Wigner to the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in France on 4th May 1977, entitled The Future of Science and states, in part, 'Let me begin with a sentence in an article of Levy-Leblond to which Dr. Thom called my attention: ''La plupart des disciplines scientifiques modern voient leur…..representants, la maturite une fois attiente, ou depasse, s'aventurer sur le terrain de la reflexion generale''. This is what I will be doing. Perhaps I add one more general remark: if I lecture about a subject of physics, I hope to present at least one conclusion that is new to most of the audience. In the present case I hope that all I'll say is already present in your minds, at least subconsciously. Otherwise you can't be with me……Let me begin with the observation that human life has changed unbelievably in the last 10 or so thousand years. Before that, man was a clever animal, living the way most wild animals live now - with one exception: he could communicate much better than other animals can. They say that language was invented about a million years ago. But the change in the last 10,000 years was also so great that most of the time we close our eyes to it. We simply do not have enough imagination to understand what our lives would have been 10,000 years ago. What has been invented materially: houses, tools, weapons…..an immense variety of machines - including agricultural equipment and communication. These already introduced changes into our lives, in particular the transition from a nomadic life, based largely on hunting, to an agricultural and sedentary one…..The organisation of our society also changed immensely in the last 10,000 years. Independence of the individual or pecking order in the original tribal organisation were replaced by large national entities - so large that each member knows only a fraction of all……Let me mention also the introduction of the idea of marriage - largely based on the increasing recognition of the connection between sexual act and child birth - and of systematic religion. Practically all this happened in 10,000 years or less, a tiny fraction of the existence of man as an animal. Most of all these changes resulted from man's increased knowledge - even if that knowledge was not yet what we now call science - not from the ''survival of the fittest''. Very little of it would have been possible had man not developed, about a million years before, a language. It appears to me as a mystery that most of these changes and inventions had to wait 990,000 years after the establishment of languages…..Why the development of what we call ''our science'' had to wait until almost 300 years ago, to the times of Kepler, Galileo and Newton, is again a mystery……Science has affected in the past both our spiritual and our material life…..we do no longer believe in miracles. If someone is sick, we do not attribute his sickness to magic or witches, we blame viruses or bacteria……thunder is caused by an electric discharge, not by the wrath of Zeus…..One can say that, at least in this regard, science has done its duty, we do not need it any more. Is this really true - has science done its duty?......Einstein, in an article on this subject, expresses his doubts……Scientifically, the question can not be decided - we can not even describe happiness scientifically, we have no way to measure it……one can conclude science should tackle…..a better understanding of life, a better understanding of its meaning, of our emotions, what is, and what creates, for instance, happiness……At present the commonly cultivated branches of science, physics among them, are developing into too many directions……I suggested therefore sometime ago, when the problem of the consistency of the various branches of science first came to my attention, that semi-hierarchical organisations be established……I realise that the proposal…..may encounter several objections and may even be deplored by some…..Yet we know how beautiful science is, how much pleasure its cultivation gave us. Could this pleasure not be extended to a larger number of people……Since the leisure time of all people will continue to increase, would it not be good to bring people together for such conferences, stimulate their interest in a variety of subjects and also foster the friendship between them. I think it would…….Man needs a purpose that he can strive for, his life is not full unless he has a goal which inspires him and which requires intense efforts on his part. Yet science has deprived him of the goal which inspired his antecedents. As a result, many, too many, have made the quest for power and influence their goal…..Diversion from the quest for power might well be the most useful function of the scientific societies……The problem which may face the medical faculty….of scientists which may be the most difficult problem of all may be: should they try to make an indefinite extension of the human life possible? The possibility of such an extension would create many grave problems and I am glad we are not yet approaching this possibility. The Brave New World's solution may not apply to those who violently strove for, and eventually acquired, power…..I fully realise that most of what I said is controversial. Yet I hope we all agree that man should continue his efforts to add to man's knowledge, that we should continue to cultivate science……' Accompanied by a brief T.L.S. by a secretary on behalf of Wigner, one page, 4to, Princeton, New Jersey, 16th October 1979, to Martha Abitzsch, on the printed stationery of the Department of Physics at Princeton University, enclosing the article and apologising for the delay in answering his correspondent's letter. Each of the pages of the manuscript are stapled together in the upper left corner. VG