The Physicists-Nuclear War

                There is one very clear main theme that I noticed while reading The Physicists.  That is the fear of what could come of scientific research.  Mobius goes so far as to get himself put into a mental institution to protect what he has learned by faking insanity.  He even chooses to separate himself from his family during a visit by pretending to be violently insane.  Mobius believes what he has learned, his principal of universal discovery, is so dangerous that he must protect it by separating himself from the rest of society. 

                At one point, it seems as though everything is going to end well.  This is when Mobius convinces “Einstein” and “Newton” to continue faking insanity to protect his findings rather than using them.  This doesn’t last long because the Doktor reveals her plans of taking over the world.  She has the research and she plans to use it.  This is where the time period this play was written really makes sense.  It was written not long after World War II when the atomic bombs were dropped.  This is also during the Cold War when people were afraid of a nuclear war starting at any moment.  In the play, the Doktor is seemingly the most powerful person in the world and that definitely creates a sense of impending doom.