J. Robert Oppenheimer: Difference between revisions

American theoretical physicist (1904–1967)

J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer; OP-ən-hy-mər; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project‘s Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the “father of the atomic bomb“.

Born in New York City, Oppenheimer earned a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1925 and a doctorate in physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany in 1927, where he studied under Max Born. After research at other institutions, he joined the physics department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he became a full professor in 1936. He made significant contributions to theoretical physics, including achievements in quantum mechanics and nuclear physics such as the Born–Oppenheimer approximation for molecular wave functions, work on the theory of electrons and positrons, the Oppenheimer–Phillips process in nuclear fusion, and early work on quantum tunneling. With his students, he also made contributions to the theory of neutron stars and black holes, quantum field theory, and the interactions of cosmic rays.

In 1942, Oppenheimer was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, and in 1943 he was appointed director of the project’s Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, tasked with developing the first nuclear weapons. His leadership and scientific expertise were instrumental in the project’s success. On July 16, 1945, he was present at the first test of the atomic bomb, Trinity. In August 1945, the weapons were used against Japan in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.

In 1947, Oppenheimer became the director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and chaired the influential General Advisory Committee of the newly created U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He lobbied for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb during a 1949–1950 governmental debate on the question and subsequently took positions on defense-related issues that provoked the ire of some U.S. government and military factions. During the second Red Scare, Oppenheimer’s stances, together with his past associations with the Communist Party USA, led to the revocation of his security clearance following a 1954 security hearing. This effectively ended his access to the government’s atomic secrets and thus his career as a nuclear physicist. Stripped also of his direct political influence, Oppenheimer continued to lecture, write, and work in physics. In 1963, he was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation. He died four years later of throat cancer. In 2022, the federal government vacated the 1954 revocation of Oppenheimer’s security clearance.

Early life

Childhood and education

Oppenheimer was born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ^{[note 1]} into a non-observant Jewish family in New York City on April 22, 1904, to Ella (née Friedman), a painter, and Julius Seligmann Oppenheimer, a successful textile importer.^[5][6] Robert had a younger brother, Frank, who also became a physicist.^[7] Their father was born in Hanau, then part of the Hesse-Nassau province of the Kingdom of Prussia, and came to the United States as a teenager in 1888 with few resources and no money, higher education, or knowledge of the English language. He was hired by a textile company and within a decade was an executive there, eventually becoming wealthy.^[8] In 1912, the family moved to an apartment on Riverside Drive near West 88th Street, Manhattan, an area known for luxurious mansions and townhouses.^[6] Their art collection included works by Pablo Picasso, Édouard Vuillard, and Vincent van Gogh.^[9]

Oppenheimer was initially educated at Alcuin Preparatory School. In 1911, he entered the Ethical Culture Society School,^[10] founded by Felix Adler to promote training based on the Ethical Culture movement, whose motto was “Deed before Creed”. Oppenheimer’s father had been a member of the Society for many years, serving on its board of trustees.^[11] Oppenheimer was a versatile student, interested in English and French literature, and particularly mineralogy.^[12] He completed third and fourth grades in one year and skipped half of eighth grade.^[10] During his final year, Oppenheimer became interested in chemistry.^[13] He graduated in 1921, but his further education was delayed a year by an attack of colitis contracted while prospecting in Joachimstal during a family vacation in Czechoslovakia. He recovered in New Mexico, where he developed a love for horseback riding and the southwestern United States.^[14]

Oppenheimer entered Harvard College in 1922 at age 18. He majored in chemistry; Harvard also required studies in history, literature, and philosophy or mathematics. To…