Hans Bethe talks with his neighbors about the quantum theory

Cornell Media Services records the first of Hans Bethe's three weekly lectures on quantum theory May 6 in Kendal at Ithaca. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

By David Brand

Many people have neighbors with skills, from fixing lawn mowers to playing a concert grand. But residents of the retirement community Kendal at Ithaca have someone even more remarkable as a neighbor: one of the century's greatest physicists, Nobel laureate Hans Bethe.

Bethe and his wife, Rose, have been Kendal residents for the past three years, and the renowned scientist, who is the John Wendell Anderson Professor of Physics Emeritus at Cornell, regularly has been asked to talk to his neighbors about an important scientific subject. In the past he has discussed Los Alamos and the making of the atom bomb and the processes that fuel the stars. This year he turned to the weighty subject of quantum theory.

Hearing about Bethe's informal, stimulating and even historic guided tours of the century's great accomplishments in physics, Dean of Faculty J. Robert Cooke decided this would be a perfect opportunity to record the great man for posterity on videotape. He approached Cornell President Emeritus Dale Corson, a distinguished physicist in his own right whose associations with Bethe go back more than five decades and who is himself a Kendal resident. Corson asked Bethe if he would be willing to be filmed, and he concurred. Henrik N. Dullea, vice president for university relations, then agreed to support the videotaping.

Thus, last week a camera crew from Cornell Media Services was present at Kendal when Bethe rose to deliver the first of three weekly lectures on the quantum theory. The tapes will be placed in the Cornell University Archives, where they will be available for faculty, students and alumni. For many the most fascinating aspect of the tapes will be listening to one of the giants of 20th century science reminiscing about his personal friendships and collaboration with other giants, from Albert Einstein to Niels Bohr.

Bethe has been researching and writing about the quantum theory, which he calls "the most important discovery of the 20th century," for most of his professional life. However, he believes it has been presented to the public "in a completely disordered way -- what you hear normally has very little to do with quantum theory."

The theory, first outlined by German physicist Max Planck in 1900, made it possible, Bethe explained, to understand atoms, and through atoms, molecules. "Thereby you understand chemistry, and chemistry is the basis of biology."

Another important area of understanding made possible by the quantum theory, he said, is solid bodies and the conduction of electricity in solids. This, in turn, led to the development of semiconductors, which made possible the "tremendous increase in power of computers," Bethe said.

In short, he said, the quantum theory "gave us both understanding of the way nature works and awesome technology." But for him, the most important aspect of the theory, he said, is "understanding."