Christine Bonduelle

Genesis

eiπ + 1 = 0

Comedy

translation by Christopher Carsten

PREFACE

Quand le poisson enlève le bas

la lune montre le doigt

(home-made haiku)

It is quite logical to start the preface to this unclassifiable work with a poem. You are holding a real UTO in your hands, an Unidentified Theatrical Object and I would even say unidentifiable!

The play borrows from Greek tragedies, with the presence of a choir, and a character symbolizing destiny (please note that he is a housekeeper and not a woman) as if to better question it. It reminds us of the theater piece Spectacle dans un fauteuil by Musset. How could we one day stage Genesis eiπ + 1 = 0 with all the accessories mentioned? Perhaps in the same manner as staging Lorenzaccio, they should be symbolized by images or additions in virtual reality, which is already possible in the form of holograms.

Her primary goal is to share with the reader, in a way that I will describe as poetic, the deep understanding she has acquired of the great scientific discoveries that have changed our vision of the world.

We will meet Bing and Bang, always inseparable, but also Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Lise Meitner, Rosalind Franklin, Kurt Gödel and many other scientists. The presence of Aristotle throughout the play (divided into seven days as creation, which is logical from the title) is particularly important because it puts into perspective the way in which scientific discoveries modify modern and pre-modern conceptions that have sometimes reigned for centuries, while the debate between Heisenberg and Einstein (which takes place around a quantum pinball machine) recalls the great controversies that were the basis of our current conception of the universe.

The reader is led from the big-bang theory to general relativity, from quantum physics and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to non-separability and chaos theory, from Gödel's theorem to DNA and even David Bohm's theory of hidden non-local variables.

Our author engages in a firework display of concepts that often clash in a poetic and sometimes absurd way, although a hidden meaning is always present. It is often explained in a footnote so as not to loose the read-er ; otherwise, who could have understood the last part of the meltdown without, for example, note 23 (third “day"), the allusion to my friend Raymond Chiao's experience regarding the super-bright tunnel effect showing that particles can escape space-time (as Heisenberg and Einstein end up realizing in the “day" in question)?

But the reader is often left to his own devices. He just has to go down the rabbit hole, like Alice in Wonderland (one of the central characters in the play is called Alice), or like Neo in Matrix, if he wants to access this other world.

When reading this text, I see Christine Bonduelle juggling thousands of sparkling and luminous balls that launch high into the sky and fall back on her to infinity.

There is still the fundamental question: knowing that rien n'est établi (nothing is set in stone), – anagram of “Albert Einstein" in French –, will the driverless crocodile⁽¹⁾ win out over the masked cucumber? As we all know, the motto of the masked cucumber⁽²⁾ is “nonsense near you". This shows us the path:

- from nonsense to sense

- from deconstruction to reconstruction

- from post-modernity to trans-modernity

- from Big to Bang

- from shadow to light

- and above all, from the flesh to the mind.

It is this path that she tries to trace in her own way, before our astonished, often amused, sometimes stunned eyes. She was thus able to produce a work that is absolutely unique, complex, certainly original, and of course incomparable.

When you think that all this came out of a dream of a carrot ! Because as you all know, carrots dream⁽³⁾, and the best of them even dream of being...

And since it is much easier to turn a carrot into a butterfly than a pumpkin into a carriage⁽⁴⁾, we can wonder if all this is not finally the scientific version of The butterfly dream⁽⁵⁾ where Chang-Tzu dreams that he is a butterfly and waking up, wonders if he is not rather a butterfly who dreams that he is Chuang-Tzu.

Jean Staune

for you, new Socrates

logos, to begin with!

Characters (in order of appearance)

Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician, 1707-1783

Emmy Noether, German mathematician, 1882-1935

The chorus, two angels

Kurt Gödel, Austrian mathematician, 1906-1978

Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 384-322 B.C.

Adele Gödel, Austrian dancer, 1899-1981

Zero, asexual

Georges Lemaître, Belgian physicist and priest, 1894-1966

Albert Einstein, German physicist, 1879-1955

Bing, half-man, half-thing character

Bang, half-woman, half-thing character

Alice, young girl

Ernest Rutherford, New Zealander chemicophysicist, 1871-1937 (extra)

Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, 1901-1976

Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, 1885-1962

Lise Meitner, Austrian physicist, 1878-1968

The mathematician, female

The cleaning man

Two nurses, (extras)

Rosalind Franklin, English biologist, 1920-1958

Babies Bing and Bang

Edward Lorenz, American meteorologist, 1917-2008 (extra)

Jacques Monod, French biochemist, 1910-1976 (extra)

A male dancer (extra)

A female dancer (extra)

Socrates, Greek philosopher, 470-399 B.C.

Phaedrus, character from the Phaedrus by Plato

The production allows certain actors or actresses (13 minimum) to play multiple roles. For example, an actor could play both Kurt Gödel, Ernest Rutherford and a nurse; another could cover Leonhard Euler, Georges Lemaître, Niels Bohr, Edward Lorenz, Socrates, Jacques Monod and a nurse; yet another might play Werner Heisenberg, the cleaning man, the male dancer and Phedrus; an actress could play Adele Gödel, Lise Meitner and the female dancer; a second actress could play Emmy Noether, Rosalind Franklin and Alice; on the fifth day, the babies Bing and Bang could be interpreted by actors playing Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel, Leonhard Euler, Zero and the angels.

The first day unfolds in Vienna where Kurt and Adele Gödel were born, and where they met in 1927, and married.

The second day takes place in 1934 in the house of Niels Bohr during his annual reunion of scientific friends (among whom are Werner Heisenberg and Lise Meitner). As was the custom, a play was performed,, - that particular year one inspired by Goethe’s Faust⁽⁶⁾.

The third day is set in 1938 in the same place during the last of the reunions which this school of thought qualified as the “Copenhagen Interpretation".

The following days take place in Princeton, New Jersey (where many Jewish scientists had immigrated before the war such as Albert Einstein and Kurt Gödel): the fourth day in 1953, the fifth in 1963, the sixth in 1965 and the seventh in 1978, the year Kurt Gödel died.

Any ressemblance to people who actually existed is purely coincidental.

Prologue

Leonhard Euler, Emmy Noether, The chorus, Kurt Gödel, Aristotle, Adele Gödel

The scene remains open during the prologue. Emmy Noether, Leonhard Euler, Aristotle, Kurt and Adele Gödel, dressed according to their respective time period. Semi-darkness; a few candles for visibility.

Stage right, Kurt Gödel, an oilcloth spread on his knees, is eating food previously tasted and brought to him by his wife⁽⁷⁾, who keeps disappearing into the wings of the theatre, only to re-emerge with new plates of food and take away the barely touched. In the interim, he continues to work, still on his knees, and from time to time goes over to a nearby cottage, posted with the sign “watercloset", whose door serves as a blackboard surmounted by a bull’s-eye window, and whose side wall presents a fountain and wash basin.

Centre stage, an apple tree laden with ripe fruit.

In the courtyard, holding a large bag of salt under his arm, Aristotle sits discretely on a spinning merry-go-round whose central axis, actionable in a modern clepsydra, is surmounted by a clock, the dials of which turn in sync with the rotation. Leonhard Euler, after writing the letter “i" on the blackboard, leaps into place.

Leonhard Euler

Iiiiimaginarius, the square root of -1… (

He drops off the merry-go-round, and falls down unconscious.

)

Emmy Noether

splashing his face with water to revive him

i, nice flight! O lightening bolt whose line you traced upon the ether⁽⁸⁾, so that being…

Leonhard Euler

seated on the ground, seeing stars

Or not being… Zat iz zee quvestion.

Emmy Noether

Powder trail… Line…

Leonhard Euler

Imaginary, thought as true moreover…

The Chorus

Over there…

Kurt Gödel

Mathematically speaking…

Leonhard Euler

getting to his feet, with Emmy’s help

A very narrow view of things: celestial vision in a Tondo mirror, and beyond... (

He points the window.

) A bull’s eye window. (

He writes “i" on the blackboard.

)

Aristotle

from the merry-go-round

Wa-was it, or wa-wasn’t it⁽⁹⁾?

Kurt Gödel

Angels, and the square roots of negative quantities... are messengers from the As-Yet-Unknown; and come to tell us the shortest road to get there⁽¹⁰⁾...

Leonhard Euler

π! (

He writes “π" on the blackboard.

)

Aristotle

pointing at his ear

π? (

Tracing the figure with his finger.

) The round together with what cuts it in two. π! The constant of Aaaaaaaaaaaaarcamides! Aaaaaaaaah!

Aristotle falls off the merry-go-round, then quickly gets up, still holding the bag of salt under his arm. Leonhard Euler writes “e" on the blackboard.

Aristotle

e?

Leonhard Euler

2 and a bit to infinity…

Emmy Noether

sighing

Pfff… the two of them! Their little bits up to infinity! Their legions of decimals!

The Chorus

e and π, transcendent numbers…

Aristotle

with a start

Irrational?

Leonhard Euler

Transcendent numbers are completely irrational!

Emmy Noether

Their decimals are not periodic!

Chorus

Unpredictable…

Aristotle

Like those of the golden number… (

Apart, mumbling as if to himself.

). The relation between two lines, proportional in extreme and mean ratio… (

To Leonhard Euler.

) eiπ, what d’ya do with it?

Leonhard Euler

eiπ + 1 = 0 (

He writes out the formula on the blackboard.

)

Emmy Noether

We cannot understand that formula and we don't know what it means ; but since it has been proven, it is true⁽¹¹⁾.

Leonhard Euler

You are a true friend, that you are!

Kurt Gödel

lifting his fork

There are loads of formulas we are sure to be unable to prove, and which are true!

Aristotle

Emmy, Leonhard, doesn’t friendship itself draw all of its savour from the truth?

Kurt Gödel

True…true…mathematically speaking! (

He goes into the wc and closes the door.

)

Aristotle

One knows a friend only after having shared with him much salt!

Kurt Gödel

coming out of the wc and washing his hands in the basin

What is truth? (

He begins eating again.

) As for me… (

Trembling.

) I’m afraid of being poisoned!

Aristotle

salting Kurt Gödel’s plate

Salt being composed of chlorine and caustic soda… “The dose makes the poison", as Paracelsus says! (

Short silence.

) Meanwhile, the combination of the two sublimates and preserves…words…

Adele Gödel

And…foods…

Kurt Gödel

in a dramatic and whining tone

Ever since I proved the existence of God⁽¹²⁾, his detractors haven’t ceased wanting to assassinate me.

Aristotle

No man loves men who don’t love certain men!

Kurt Gödel

idem

All this for a little demonstration taking up less than a page! I no longer eat anything which my dear Adele hasn’t prepared and tasted first…

Leonhard Euler

Proved... mathematically speaking? You put the alpha and the omega into a formula, do you? Good God, you are totally whacko!

Kurt Gödel

To be contained in “and", "or", "no", “zero", “one"⁽¹³⁾.

Aristotle

Without being, the mathematical one is nothing but an immobile relation!

Kurt Gödel

miserably

I beg of you, leave me alone… forget me, thanks. (

He closes himself into the wc.

)

Aristotle

washing his hands in the basin

The proposition: "There is no absolute truth" is not absolutely true… therefore, something absolutely true… exists!?!

Leonhard Euler

pridefully puffing out his throat

Yes, my identity, eiπ + 1 = 0.

Kurt Gödel

from the wc

True… mathematically!

Emmy Noether

pointing to the blackboard

Your identity? It is true that in a flash the formula brings together symbols from the five fields of mathematics!

Emmy Noether and Leonhard Euler play at tossing back and forth the symbols corresponding to the five fields of mathematics.

Leonhard Euler

Yes, my friend! (

Tossing +infinity.

) e, the base of natural logarithms, represents analysis. (

Tossing an equation.

) i, imaginary unity, represents algebra. (

Tossing an operation.

) 1, represents arithmetic. (

Tossing a theorem.

) 0, represents mathematics. (

Tossing a geometrical figure.

) π, represents geometry.

Lightning. The protagonists count aloud up to the thunder. Kurt Gödel climbs out steps out of the water closet.

Emmy Noether

to Leonhard Euler

O you who’ve traced the lightning’s stroke… of genius…

Leonhard Euler

rubbing his eyes

That blinds me⁽¹⁴⁾!

Aristotle

strolling around

It’s like with Plato : let no one ignorant of geometry enter.

Adele Gödel

to Leonhard Euler

You multiply, add, and exponentialize all for nothing, for zero!

Kurt Gödel

sitting down upon his oilcloth, beaming

A fart on an oilcloth!

Leonhard Euler

Nothing, which is certainly not nothing! (

Silence.

) How can you be astonished at the prospect of soon no longer being, and not of having been, to be at last!

Emmy Noether

repeating and weighing each word

How can you be astonished at the prospect of soon no longer being, and not of having been, to be at last! The identity is definitely there, right?

Leonhard Euler agrees with a gesture.

Aristotle

What is being qua being?

The chorus

dreamily

Something, rather than nothing…

Aristotle

It is better to be than not be.

Leonhard Euler

Better an excrement placed on the pavement, or a shapely load displayed…

Emmy Noether

Upon a bed of roses?

Kurt Gödel

going into the wc

A bed of… hellebore.

Leonhard Euler

Hum!!! The good old smell of dung!

Emmy Noether

What’s more, if it’s still steaming!

Aristotle

If it rises up…

Emmy Noether

With the vermillion button…

Leonhard Euler

Upon the deflagratory darkness!

The Chorus

It’s gonna fart as thunder!

Lightning, followed by thunder, then by diluvian rain. Heralding knocks as the play begins. Kurt Gödel springs out of the wc and disappears into the wings. The actors leave the stage one by one, running in all directions. (

Curtain.

)

1

Zero, Georges Lemaître, The chorus, Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Bing, Bang, Kurt and Adele Gödel, Alice

The curtain opens each morning and closes each evening. In the foreground, a camera on a tripod whose form and design will evolve throughout the play according to the year the photo was taken (indicated on the sign), every day before dawn.

Zero, in an atemporal and resplendent vestment, takes a picture of Georges Lemaître in vintage clerical vestments who holds the sign that reads “1927, Big Bang⁽¹⁵⁾". They disappear. The curtain rises. It is dark. On one side of the stage, a gong. The merry-go-round, still on the right. Center stage, the apple tree. Placed here and there on the ground are a hexahedron, an octahedron and a dodecahedron. The wc has been transformed into an open bar-room dance hall, labeled as such on the left hand side. Bing and Bang are wear-ing colorful attire. Albert Einstein, Adele and Kurt Gödel, dressed in the style of the twenties. Time and again in the course of day one, in near silent choreography, the latter two have a drink at the bar, and then go out for a stroll, after Adele has danced to some Viennese music of the period⁽¹⁶⁾...