The true story of Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
The true story of Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer became involved in nuclear research in 1941. His biopic, Oppenheimer, was released in 2023.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
ARCHIVAL AUDIO: 3, 2, 1, zero.
OPPENHEIMER: We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.
NARRATOR: In 1939 prominent scientists warned of the dangers of Adolf Hitler's Germany developing a nuclear bomb first.
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer became involved in nuclear research in 1941. A top physicist in the United States, he was tasked with assembling a laboratory under the Manhattan Project and putting recent scientific breakthroughs into practice to develop an atomic bomb. He and the team achieved this and successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1945. Successors of that test bomb were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, later that year.
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born in 1904 in New York; his father was a German immigrant. Oppenheimer earned an undergraduate degree at Harvard before continuing his education abroad. After receiving his doctorate, he returned to the United States to teach physics and research quantum and relativity theories.
After the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer served as the head of the advisory committee to the Atomic Energy Commission from 1947 until 1952.
In 1949 the commission recommended against building a hydrogen bomb. Oppenheimer worried that a hydrogen bomb – with an explosive force 1,000 times greater than an atomic bomb – would be far more devastating. This refusal made Oppenheimer political enemies. That, coupled with the strong anti-Communist sentiments tied to the McCarthyism of the era, made Oppenheimer a target. His past communist affiliations led to allegations that he was a Soviet spy. A review board was called to decide his fate. “We have an A-bomb and a whole series of…super-bombs, what more do you want, mermaids?” This is the answer physicist Isidor Rabi gave in response to questions about Oppenheimer during the secret hearing in 1954. Despite nearly 30 witnesses testifying on his behalf, Oppenheimer’s security clearance was revoked. Without clearance, he could no longer access classified documents to do his work. Scientists around the world reacted with outrage, but the damage was done. Oppenheimer continued to teach physics and lived a mostly private life afterward. He died of cancer in 1967. In 2014 the records from the hearing were unsealed. The declassified documents bolstered the assertion that Oppenheimer had done nothing wrong. There was no evidence of disloyalty. In 2022 the Department of Energy (the successor of the Atomic Energy Commission) called the proceedings “unfair” and formally reinstated his security clearance.
In 1949 the commission recommended against building a hydrogen bomb. Oppenheimer worried that a hydrogen bomb – with an explosive force 1,000 times greater than an atomic bomb – would be far more devastating. This refusal made Oppenheimer political enemies. That, coupled with the strong anti-Communist sentiments tied to the McCarthyism of the era, made Oppenheimer a target. His past communist affiliations led to allegations that he was a Soviet spy. A review board was called to decide his fate. “We have an A-bomb and a whole series of…super-bombs, what more do you want, mermaids?” This is the answer physicist Isidor Rabi gave in response to questions about Oppenheimer during the secret hearing in 1954. Despite nearly 30 witnesses testifying on his behalf, Oppenheimer’s security clearance was revoked. Without clearance, he could no longer access classified documents to do his work. Scientists around the world reacted with outrage, but the damage was done. Oppenheimer continued to teach physics and lived a mostly private life afterward. He died of cancer in 1967. In 2014 the records from the hearing were unsealed. The declassified documents bolstered the assertion that Oppenheimer had done nothing wrong. There was no evidence of disloyalty. In 2022 the Department of Energy (the successor of the Atomic Energy Commission) called the proceedings “unfair” and formally reinstated his security clearance.