Das blinde Licht

The process also enabled the industrial production of ammunition, which likely prolonged World War I by several years. In 1916, while serving on the Eastern Front, astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild provided the first exact solution to the equations describing Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. His calculations proved the existence of black holes, which irrevocably swallow everything within their radius.

In 1967, after a visit to war-torn Vietnam, mathematician Alexander Grothendieck decides to turn his back on his groundbreaking research and destroy all his previous calculations on the unification of mathematics—“for the good of humanity.”

Benjamin Labatut’s novel *The Blind Light* depicts scientists who are nearly broken by the incomprehensibility of their own discoveries.

In the first half of the 20th century, scientific discoveries were made that shook the prevailing notions of matter, time, and space. These discoveries cannot be interpreted merely as part of a narrative of civilizational progress; rather, they are just as closely linked to the wars, totalitarian regimes, and human catastrophes that shaped Europe during the same period.

The novel points directly to the present: digital media, artificial intelligence, and global crises would be unthinkable without the discoveries of Einstein, Haber, and Schwarzschild. What catastrophes are today’s scientific and technological innovations sowing, the consequences of which we cannot foresee?

Following *The Impatience of the Heart* and *Michael Kohlhaas*, *The Blind Light* is Simon McBurney’s third production at the Schaubühne and is being created in co-production with the company Complicité.