'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds': who was atom bomb pioneer Robert Oppenheimer?

Robert Oppenheimer is often placed next to Albert Einstein as the 20th century’s most famous physicist. He will forever be the “father of the atomic bomb” after the first nuclear weapon was successfully tested on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexican desert. The event brought to his mind words from a Hindu scripture: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.Who was Robert Oppenheimer?Two years later, he completed his PhD in physics at one of the world’s leading institutions for theoretical physics, the University of Göttingen, Germany.

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Robert Oppenheimer is often placed next to Albert Einstein as the 20th century’s most famous physicist. He will forever be the “father of the atomic bomb” after the first nuclear weapon was successfully tested on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexican desert. The event brought to his mind words from a Hindu scripture: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.

Who was Robert Oppenheimer?

    • Two years later, he completed his PhD in physics at one of the world’s leading institutions for theoretical physics, the University of Göttingen, Germany.
    • Throughout his life, Oppenheimer would be judged either as an aloof prodigy or an anxious narcissist.
    • Before the outbreak of the second world war, Oppenheimer worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and the California Institute of Technology.
    • His partner, Kitty Puening, was a left-leaning radical and their social circle included Communist Party members and activists.

The second world war

    • His ideas about chain reaction in an atomic bomb gained recognition among the US defence community.
    • His ability to master the large-scale workforce and channel their energy towards the needs of the project earned him respect.
    • He proved to be more than just an administrator by being involved in the interdisciplinary team across theoretical and experimental stages of the weapons development.

The nuclear test

    • On July 16, 1945 the nuclear test, code named Trinity, took place.
    • Shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Oppenheimer confronted the US secretary of war, Henry Stimson, demanding that nuclear weapons were banned.
    • Truman’s rebuttal did not prevent Oppenheimer from advocating for the establishment of controls on the nuclear arms race.

Arms control

    • But his chief concern was the unavoidable arms race.
    • He advocated for the establishment of an international body that would control the development of nuclear energy and its usage.
    • Oppenheimer urged strongly for international arms control.
    • The investigation that followed in 1954 exposed Oppenheimer’s past communist ties and culminated in his security clearance being revoked.

McCarthyism and academic freedom

    • In the era of Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunts, his fellow scientists considered Oppenheimer as a martyr of the cause of academic freedom.
    • He toured internationally with talks about the role of academic freedom unrestrained by political considerations.
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