Oppenheimer ’s legacy is as complex as the quantum auto-mechanic and theoretical physics that overlook his judgment and shaped his life story .
He is often call off " American Prometheus " for giving the United States the natural endowment ( and curse ) of fire to forge a new world order . Still , you could indicate thatwhat happen to Oppenheimerafter World War II closely reflected the fall from saving grace and tragic punishment of the famous titan fromGreek mythology .
The Early Life of Julius Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22 , 1904 . Oppenheimer graduated with a interpersonal chemistry degree from Harvard University and a doctor’s degree in physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany by the eld of 23 .
Oppenheimer traveled around Europe between 1927 and 1936 , meeting and working with some of the greatest minds in the 20th - century scientific community , including such prominent physicists as Albert Einstein , Neils Bohr , Ernest Lawrence , Edward Teller and Enrico Fermi .
In 1936 , Oppenheimer began instruct at the University of California Institute of Technology , where " Oppie " and his students promote the field of quantum physics into unknown territory .
As warfare broke out across Europe and the United States was being pulled into the disturbance , the U.S. war machine appointed Oppenheimer to superintend a secret labor in the desert of New Mexico that would alter the course of human history forever .
A Brief Overview of the Manhattan Project
General Leslie Groves selected Oppenheimer to finagle the Manhattan Project , a undercover project in Los Alamos , New Mexico , that housed many top American and European physicist .
Oppenheimer directed his fellow scientist in cutting - edge data-based natural philosophy and nuclear research that he desire outpace German scientist developing a annihilating artillery forNaziGermany .
Oppenheimer wait on as an ad hoc mayor for the small townspeople of atomic scientists , their crime syndicate and a small group of military personnel with top - secret security headway . The talent and laborious workplace of Los Alamos culminate in the first nuclear explosion at the Trinity Test Site on July 16 , 1945 .
Less than a month later , on August 6 and 9 , the United States detonated two atomic artillery , kill between 150,000 and 250,000 Japanese civilians .
These attacks forcibly finish thewarand installed the United States as the supreme world power until hydrogen bomb plans were leaked to the Soviet Union .
Atomic Bombs vs. Hydrogen Bombs
Oppenheimer defend the role of atomic artillery , but that did n’t give up the Los Alamos research laboratory from working tirelessly to pull ahead theoretical physics , even if the result was apocalyptic racial extermination .
Even after witnessing the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , world governments have retain to invest billions of dollars in accumulate world - ending armament — the most common being atomic or H .
An atomic bomb strictly usesnuclearfission to split atoms , while a hydrogen dud uses both fission and fusion ( combining atoms ) . H bomb calorimeter are importantly more sinewy , with the largest ever being 1,570 times more powerful than the first atomic bomb calorimeter .
This Soviet Union ’s " Tsar Bomba " detonate in 1961 with an explosive takings that was tantamount to 50 megatons of TNT . As of 2024 , Russia has roughly 5,500 nuclear weapons , while the U.S. has rough 5,050 .
What Happened to Oppenheimer After the Manhattan Project?
Oppenheimer retired from teaching soon after Los Alamos . In 1946 , Oppenheimer take a position on the worldwide advisory committee of the United States Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC ) . More specifically , he was the scientific director of the Institute for Advanced Study and chairman of the AEC .
During his time at the AEC , Oppenheimer buttonhole for outside superintendence as the Soviet Union develop a working hydrogen bomb . This led the two once - ally public top executive into a decade - prospicient Cold War .
However , the more clandestine side of Oppenheimer ’s life came to sparkle during a security audience orchestrated by J. EdgarHooverand the FBI .
Oppenheimer ’s position on nuclear mastery , mixed with his near connexion with member of the Communist Party , placed him in the crosshairs of anti - Soviet McCarthyists and former friend Lewis Strauss during the Second Red Scare .
His close relationship with his brother Frank , a left - run cathartic teacher and founder of the San FranciscoExploratorium , lead to the dangling of Oppenheimer ’s security measures clearance and subsequent endpoint at the AEC .
Oppenheimer’s Final Years
Before Oppenheimer ’s last , he spent most of his metre in the U.S. Virgin Islands . He uphold to lecture and teach through public writings and travel lectures , but he would never hold another high - level government perspective .
In 1959 , President John F. Kennedy denied former Oppenheimer " frenemy " Strauss his confirmation as Secretary of Commerce . Four years later , Oppenheimer was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award from his old organization , the AEC .
Oppenheimer died from throat Crab in 1965 . His complicated and controversial life is often summed up in his cite vocalization of the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita during the Trinity Test :
