At some point during ...

At some point during his long talk the renowned cosmologist showed a slide displaying some chronological facts about the development of some physical theory. The names of the key players involved, mainly Russian, were also on display. One of them, who had apparently made a major step on the theory, had been assassinated by Stalin only three years later of his discovery. The German professor in the audience laughed audibly when the speaker mentioned this fact. Many of us in the crowded room smiled, some giggles could be also heard. Why is such a dreadful fact laughable? What is there in our human nature which prompts laughter from indisputably serious, and sad, matters? That alone is the topic of Martin Amis' essay Koba the Dread: Laughter and the twenty million.