Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Hans Magnus Enzensberger are universal intellectuals in the sense that they are also interested in developments in the natural sciences. It is therefore not surprising that they both visited CERN independently of each other. The visit was reflected in their essayistic works, but also shows interesting connections with their fiction. The differences in their perspectives are very marked. Dürrenmatt’s vision remains that of a layman, who, from a professional point of view, glides over the surface. The author views modern physics research primarily from a moral point of view, and his attitude is conditioned by the context of the moral failure of physics during the Second World War. Enzensberger, on the other hand, is an example of a man of letters who is sovereignly oriented in natural sciences. Besides the moral dimension of modern research, he is primarily interested in the aesthetic potential of scientific content.
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