J. Robert Oppenheimer
J.
Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who directed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, leading development of the first nuclear weapons.
The Manhattan Project's success made him "father of the atomic bomb," a title he bore uneasily.
His later opposition to hydrogen bomb development and 1954 security clearance revocation became symbols of Cold War paranoia and the moral burden scientists carry for their creations.
Fission-triggered mass destruction device
- Trinity testInitial nuclear weapon explosion
- Los AlamosNuclear research town
- HiroshimaFirst nuclear-struck city
- NagasakiSecond city bombed atomically
plutonium · uranium · fission · Little Boy · Fat Man · nuclear age · radiation · fallout
Physics at nanoscopic scales
- theoretical physicsNature explained through equations
- Los AlamosNuclear research town
- nuclear fissionAtomic core division
- chain reactionSelf-sustaining causal sequence
black holes · neutron stars · Berkeley · Caltech · Princeton · Niels Bohr · Richard Feynman · Enrico Fermi
Character whose flaw causes ruin
- Bhagavad GitaHindu philosophical dialogue
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
- moral burdenWeight of ethical wrongdoing
- regretSorrow over past actions
arms control · conscience · ambiguity · genius · enigma · tormented · redemption · sacrifice
Authorization for classified access
- FBI surveillanceGovernment agency observation operations
- loyaltyFaithful commitment to another
- Communist PartyMarxist-Leninist political organization
- witch huntPersecuting supposed wrongdoers
McCarthyism · blacklisted · martyr · vindication · humiliation · interrogation · classified · testimony
atomic bomb
Fission-triggered mass destruction device
- Trinity testInitial nuclear weapon explosion
- Los AlamosNuclear research town
- HiroshimaFirst nuclear-struck city
Nagasaki · plutonium · uranium · fission · Little Boy · Fat Man · nuclear age · radiation · fallout · Enola Gay
quantum mechanics
Physics at nanoscopic scales
- theoretical physicsNature explained through equations
- Los AlamosNuclear research town
- nuclear fissionAtomic core division
chain reaction · black holes · neutron stars · Berkeley · Caltech · Princeton · Niels Bohr · Richard Feynman · Enrico Fermi · cyclotron
tragic hero
Character whose flaw causes ruin
- Bhagavad GitaHindu philosophical dialogue
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
- moral burdenWeight of ethical wrongdoing
regret · arms control · conscience · ambiguity · genius · enigma · tormented · redemption · sacrifice · fallibility
security clearance
Authorization for classified access
- FBI surveillanceGovernment agency observation operations
- loyaltyFaithful commitment to another
- Communist PartyMarxist-Leninist political organization
witch hunt · McCarthyism · blacklisted · martyr · vindication · humiliation · interrogation · classified · testimony · 1954
- PhysicistsAlbert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, Max Planck
- American ScientistsBenjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan, Jonas Salk
- Manhattan ProjectManhattan Project, Los Alamos, Trinity test, Oppenheimer, Oak Ridge
- Famous AmericansAbraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Rosa Parks
- Notable JewsMoses, Solomon, Esther, Judah Maccabee, Golda Meir