Oppenheimer: The Man, Inventor of the Atomic Bomb, and The Film

Fri. 3 May, 2024 19:00

The world knows Oppenheimer as the founder of the atomic bomb, and now the recent 2023 Academy Award-winning film has reintroduced the man to the Gen-X generation. Let’s delve into it. 

J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York, NY, on April 22nd, 1904. He was famous for being the founder of the atomic bomb– the mass weapon that ended World War II. The first nuclear bomb landed on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 and then, a second one landed on Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945. This was viewed as an incredible feat for the Americans and the Western World because Japan forfeited the war and surrendered. This event was meant to “end all wars,” presumed to be said by Albert Einstein. This event created a tremendous tragedy for innocent Japanese civilians, including the notable Issey Miyake (haute couture designer). 

Robert was wondrously inquisitive and intuitive as a young boy. He was drawn to physics and eagerly learned as much as he could. He traveled abroad to study under several luminous physicists. He was well-traveled, well-read, well-educated, and an outstanding individual.

He was eloquent in numerous languages: English, French, Dutch, German, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and he could read Hebrew and Hindu. He learned Dutch in six weeks to give a scientific lecture in Holland in 1927. He loved to read books questioning what people knew about quantum physics. He could hear the music within science. He felt an intense emotional connection to physics.

Metaphysics was to Oppenheimer as the piano was to Clementi. It was his most prized achievement- a lifetime of work in developing the knowledge of physics to teach to the world. Americans of his era were not impressed with the world of metaphysics, which galvanized Oppenheimer’s mission to educate the world of the marvelous wonders that lay deep in the unknown science.

Robert was originally from New York, NY. He and his brother inherited a farm in New Mexico. That was where he loved to stargaze. He wanted to be connected to the atoms that made up stars. He wanted to understand the complexities of atoms and how they combine to create a force as strong as a star exploding naturally in the sky (a supernova). 

Robert was the son of a German Jewish immigrant who made a fortune through his textile business in New York City. He grew up with a younger brother Frank.

Robert studied at Harvard during his undergraduate years, then went on to Cambridge, then Göttingen. He excelled at Harvard, where he studied Latin, Greek, physics, chemistry, Eastern philosophy and published poetry. 

After graduating in 1925, he sailed to Cambridge to research at the Cavendish Laboratory under the leadership and guidance of the famed Lord Ernest Rutherford, who published pioneer studies of atomic structure. Robert conducted new research with his English scientific colleagues, working on the cause of atomic research. 

Robert’s hero Max Born invited him to the University of Göttingen where Robert later earned his doctorate in 1927. Robert met the esteemed Niels Bohr and Paul A.M. Dirac while studying at Göttingen. 

In 1927, Robert went to Leiden and Zürich to speak at science centers, then he chose to come home to the United States, taking up a teaching position at UC Berkeley and the CA Institute of Technology. In California, Oppenheimer taught physics to students who had never even dreamed of metaphysics the way he perceived it. He was teaching something most ordinary Americans could not even fathom. He was igniting the torch that enlightened hundreds, later thousands of young university students. He wanted to spark people’s love and devotion to science in the United States. 

Robert never considered himself a Communist but the American government later put him on trial, judging his integrity, after the success of the atomic bombs on Japan. Robert and his wife Katherine went through the trials and tribulations of being investigated by the U.S. government in 1965 to Robert’s subsequent death in 1967 because innumerable people questioned Robert’s ties to other political parties and his stances or loyalty towards other countries. 

Robert’s role in developing The Manhattan Project was absolutely crucial and fundamental. Without Robert Oppenheimer’s wit and genius mind, America would not have been able to create the atomic bomb. 

Robert was approached and recruited by the U.S. Army in 1942 to create the atomic bomb for military defense usage because the world was terrified of the devastating effects the Nazis could cause if they created an atomic bomb first. 

Robert procured the dream team for the U.S. Army by reaching out to manifold scientific individuals.

In 1943, Robert chose Los Alamos, a vast open land near Santa Fe, New Mexico, to be the site for their research and experiments. The U.S. Army ordered a town to be built quickly to conceal its true intentions. It was a national secret to create the atomic bomb within Los Alamos, far away from peering enemy eyes. There was a deadline to make– before the Nazis could create a successful atomic bomb. 

In his private life, Robert was unfaithful to his wife Katherine during the years 1936 to 1944 through his affair with Jean Tatlock, whom he saw on occasion in secret rendezvous, and never told his wife about until the untimely death of Jean due to suicide in the year 1944. This was another incident the media used to question Robert’s integrity as a famous figure and renowned physicist. Katherine was also put on trial during the aftermath witch hunt Robert was trapped into by the U.S. government. 

Robert had 2 children with his wife Katherine. Katherine was a German American student pursuing graduate work in botany at UC Los Angeles when she met Robert. She was still married to another man Richard Harrison when she became pregnant with Robert’s baby in 1939. They were living in Los Angeles at the time. Robert’s secret liaison Jean Tatlock was also a married woman while they continued their illicit affair. Jean was a Communist reporter and writer who met Robert in 1936 while she was a graduate student at Stanford. 

The key difference was that Katherine became pregnant, divorced Richard, and quickly married Robert before she started showing. Jean lost Robert to his new wife Katherine, something she never truly recovered from. It was a definitive event that affected her tremendously. She succumbed to suicide by taking pills and submerging her head underwater on January 4th, 1944 in her home in San Francisco, CA. When Robert received the phone call that she passed away, he was shaken. His wife Katherine found him, gave him a stern talking-to, and supported him despite his betrayal because people were counting on Oppenheimer to help them create the atomic bomb to end World War II. 

In the film, Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine says “You don’t get to commit the sin, and then ask all of us to feel sorry for you when there are consequences. You pick yourself up. People depend on you here.” 

The work of dozens of scientists resulted in a successful nuclear explosion on July 16th, 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Unfortunately, the team was unable to create the atomic bomb in time to use on the Nazis, so former U.S. President Harry S. Truman chose Japan as their new target. 

Bombing Japan would mean the end of World War II because it would force Japan to surrender before the entire world.

The atomic bomb signified a cosmic force that would affect the entire planet for eternity, a force that would end all war. It would damage the planet for the greater good. Robert Oppenheimer felt guilt and immense shame that over 350,000 innocent Japanese civilian lives were taken to end the war. 

In 1947, Robert’s role was head of The Institute of Advanced Safety and chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission. The Committee later voted against building a hydrogen bomb in October of 1949. 

In 1953, Robert faced accusations of colluding with Communists in the past, disloyalty to the U.S. government, voting against building a hydrogen bomb for treasonous reasons, and it terminated his access to military secrets. Robert lived the rest of his years facing horrendous scrutiny and being the focal subject of a witch hunt, despite his extreme efforts to create his greatest achievement for the U.S. government to have a mass weapon. 

In 1963, former President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi Award of the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1966, Robert retired from the Institute of Advanced Safety and succumbed to throat cancer in 1967. 

Katherine Oppenheimer held conferences in theoretical physics to keep the memory of Robert alive. In 1972, she was traveling with her companion Robert Serber (Robert Oppenheimer’s friend) when she became sick and passed away in Panama City from embolism and intestinal infection. 

Robert Oppenheimer was one of the most ingenious physicists and most luminescent individual who ever lived. No one will ever measure up to him. His extraordinary vision and work ethic metamorphosed him into the American successful emblem. Robert Oppenheimer created global history, was an American hero, and built a legacy for all scientific minds who came after him. 

The film won 7 Academy Awards this year. The film puts the story in video and brings the written story to life. The film created a revolution of its own. Oppenheimer “Oppie” will always be recognizable as the father of the atomic bomb and the leading physicist of his time.