When Quantum Theory was in development early in the twentieth century, new ideas were frequently proposed within the international physics community. One of the most deadly criticisms of a new idea, and one that became famous among physicists, was a remark by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. When another physicist engaged him in conversation and described his new idea, Bohr would mull it over for a moment and sometimes say:
“Very in-ter-est-ing . . .”
which meant that the idea was almost certainly wrong. “Very in-ter-est-ing . . .” was the last thing anyone wanted to hear from the great Dane.
“The Great Dane”
Bohr leveled another criticism at some new ideas by observing that the idea was “not crazy enough.” One of Bohr’s later observations is often quoted:
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.”
Wolfgang Pauli, who like Bohr was a Nobel Prize winner in physics, once delivered a lecture on a new theory at Columbia University. Over three hundred guests, many of them distinguished scientists, were in attendance. Midway through the presentation, Bohr contested the idea and went to the front of the lecture hall to challenge Pauli.
The climactic moment came when Bohr and Pauli began to chase each other around a table at the front of the hall. When Bohr was at the front of the table, he would yell, “It’s not crazy enough!” and when Pauli reached the front, he would yell back, “It is crazy enough!”
As the chase continued round the table, this scenario kept repeating and the audience burst into jubilant applause.
Four quotations by Niels Bohr:
“We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.”
“Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.”
“Stop telling God what to do with his dice.”
“We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it’s crazy enough.”
HyC