The Physicists () is a satiric drama/tragic comedy written in 1961 by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. The play was mainly written as a result of the Second World War and many advances in science and nuclear technology. The play deals with questions of scientific ethics and humanity's general ability to manage its intellectual responsibility. It is often recognized as his most impressive yet most easily understood work. The play was first performed in Zürich in 1962 and published the same year by Verlags AG "Die Arche". It was translated into English by James Kirkup, and published in the US in 1964 by Grove Press, under its Evergreen imprint. Synopsis The story is set in the drawing room of Les Cerisiers sanatorium, which is a psychiatric home for the mentally ill, run by a doctor and psychologist, Mathilde von Zahnd. The main room, where the play is set, is connected to three other rooms, each of which is inhabited by a patient. These three men, who are all “physicists” by trade, are permitted use of the drawing room, where they are monitored and checked on by the female nurses. Herbert Georg Beutler is the first patient, and he is convinced that he is Sir Isaac Newton. The second patient is Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who believes himself to be Albert Einstein. The third patient is Johann Wilhelm Möbius, and he believes that he is regularly visited by the biblical King Solomon. In reality, “Sir Isaac Newton” and “Albert Einstein” are spies from different sides of the cold war conflict. Once the play begins, it is revealed to the audience that "Einstein" has just killed one of his nurses, and the police are examining the scene. The “Inspector” continuously questions Fräulein Mathilde von Zahnd and indirectly insults the “mentally ill” patients. It is revealed through their discussion that this is the second murder of a nurse by one of the three patients in just three months. The first having been committed by "Newton", which is later revealed to be a result of the nurse’s discovery of “Newton’s” real identity. The motives behind the two murders become clearer as the play advances into the second act, where it is revealed with startling abruptness that not even one of the three patients is actually mad; they are all only faking insanity for various reasons. Möbius is actually an incredibly brilliant physicist whose discoveries include such