The evening work in the Institute’s library was often interrupted by Bohr, who would say that he was very tired and would like to go to the movies. The only movies he liked were wild Westerns, and he always needed a couple of his students to go with him and explain the complicated plots involving hostile Indians, brave cowboys, and desperados, sheriffs, bar maidens, gold-diggers, and other characters of the Old West.
His theoretical mind showed even in these movie expeditions. He developed a theory to explain why although the villain always draws first, the hero is faster and manages to kill him. This Bohr theory was based on psychology. Since the hero never shoots first, the villain has to decide when to draw, which impedes his action. The hero, on the other hand, acts according to a conditioned reflex and grabs the gun automatically as soon as he sees the villain’s hand move. We disagreed with this theory, and the next day I went to a toy store and bought two guns in Western holders. We shot it out with Bohr, he playing the hero, and he ‘killed’ all his students.
— George Gamow, Thirty years that shook physics