J. Robert Oppenheimer
Basics about Oppenheimer
Julius Robert Oppenheimer (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and science administrator. He is best known for his role as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort that developed the first atomic bombs during World War II.
Oppenheimer was born in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Germany. He studied physics at Harvard University and at the University of Göttingen in Germany. After receiving his doctorate in 1927, he returned to the United States and began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1942, Oppenheimer was recruited by the U.S. government to lead the Manhattan Project. He assembled a team of scientists and engineers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where they worked to develop the atomic bomb. The first atomic bomb was successfully tested in July 1945, and two bombs were later dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
After the war, Oppenheimer served as chairman of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission. He was a strong advocate for international control of nuclear weapons, and he opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb. In 1954, he was stripped of his security clearance by the U.S. government because of his past associations with communists.
Oppenheimer continued to work in physics after his security clearance was revoked. He taught at the University of California, Princeton University, and the California Institute of Technology. He died in 1967 at the age of 62.
Oppenheimer was a complex and controversial figure. He was brilliant and charismatic, but he was also arrogant and difficult to work with. He was a key figure in the development of the atomic bomb, but he also came to regret his role in its creation. He was a man of great intellect and achievement, but he was also a man of deep moral conflict.
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