The ethics of physicists in questions

Four CERN physicists, Peggie Rimmer, Ugo Amaldi, Alain Blondel, and Jean-Marie Le Goff, answered questions from 150 college students last Monday during a debate on the theme of the ethics of physics. Organized by CERN and the Department of public instruction of the Canton of Geneva, the meeting followed a reading by the students of the play Die Physiker, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, which raises the problem of political exploitation of discoveries made during the second world war. The Minister of Education of the Canton de Genève, Mrs Martine Brunschwig-Graf, took part in the debate. The questions posed by students were not lacking in pertinence : Should a physicist reveal a discovery that is dangerous in his opinion ? Who are responsible, those who make the discoveries or those who use them ?