
The Eccentric Father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer (2019) - samclemens
https://medium.com/cantors-paradise/the-ingenious-eccentric-father-of-the-atomic-bomb-ba012f620454
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atombender
The biography that this is based on, "American Prometheus", is fantastic. A
fast, smart read.

Oppenheimer obviously also appears in Richard Rhodes' utterly superb "The
Making of the Atomic Bomb", though he only becomes a main character in the
sequel, "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb", which is also great.

Oppenheimer was a highly skilled physicist, but Rhodes attributes his ability
to lead the Manhattan Project to his gifts as a "synthesizer" of ideas and
knowledge from many people and disparate branches of science. In my opinion he
really came into his own, though, after the bomb, when he started formulating
the US' atomic energy strategy, essentially inserting himself -- a scientist,
not a statesman -- into the political elite by sheer force of will and
charisma. Rhodes tells of Oppenheimer completely dominating meetings in early
efforts that resulted in the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission (which
became the US Department of Energy), essentially writing national policy
recommendations on his own.

Oppenheimer realized the dangers of nuclear proliferation and detente early
on, and wanted the world to own atomic energy as a force for good. He wanted
an international organization (what became the IAEA) to control atomic energy
and not let the US and UK have a monopoly on it. Oppenheimer also recommended
against developing the hydrogen bomb, which he thought would dangerously
escalate the destructive power of nuclear arms. This opposition ultimately led
to Oppeheimer's trial that cost him his security clearance.

But it was his extensive writings on what the future of atomic energy could be
that I think set him apart in this years. He was prescient about nuclear arms
race and tried to steer the US and the world towards peaceful use of atomic
energy. If his policies had been implemented we may have been in a different
place today.

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nhf
Kai Bird is an incredibly good biographer. He just released one of Aldrich
Ames, noted CIA / KGB double agent.

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atombender
I'll check it out, thanks!

Edit: You mean "The Good Spy" from 2015, about Robert Ames?

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melling
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Rhodes is often mentioned as a great science
book:

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16884.The_Making_of_the_...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16884.The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb)

Recently saw it on Steven Weinberg’s list:

[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/03/steven-
weinber...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/03/steven-
weinberg-13-best-science-books-general-reader)

~~~
JKCalhoun
I remember the section describing the sudden realization Leo Szilard had that
kicked off the idea of atomic fission. I had never heard that story.

And was it Rhodes book where he described the physicists curiously
disappearing from the universities in the early 40's? And when the offer
finally came to another physicist to relocate, upon checking out books on New
Mexico, would discover that all the scientists that had already disappeared
had recently checked out the sam books as well.

Edit: Wow, found the Wikipedia article on Szilard. Man that guy was amazing:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard#Developing_the_ide...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard#Developing_the_idea_of_the_nuclear_chain_reaction)

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AndrewKemendo
Tangential: If anyone ever struggles to put theory to practice, this is a
great example of the "Great Man Theory" promulgating itself.

It checks all of the boxes for the "Radical outlier who changes everything by
dint of genius and hard work" while barely acknowledging the circumstances,
environment, timing etc...

Gifted from birth

Non-traditional and "Troubled" socially

Ahead of peers and mentors

Focused and Driven

Overcame institutional/structural resistance

This is not meant to detract from Oppenheimer's immense contributions, to the
contrary. I thought it was something worth keeping in mind as I read the
article - especially considering that Oppenheimer himself would spread credit
to others and attempt to dismiss the idea that the Manhattan Project was a
"One man show."

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_man_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_man_theory)

~~~
wavefunction
>dent of genius

Sorry, the pedant in me (well, me) must point out it's "dint."

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AndrewKemendo
Thanks for the edit!

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arghzoo
A second vote for "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird! Great follow-on read for
"Making of the Atomic Bomb". I read them back-to-back, and it really makes you
wonder whether we'll ever have another historical era of as much interest as
WWII.

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elfexec
This is a prime example of the winners writing history ( or more aptly those
currently in power writing history ). Can you imagine a historian writing a
book titled "The Eccentric Father of the Death Camp"?

The guy helped build a weapon which destroyed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of innocent civilians in a matter of seconds. Oh shucks, what an
eccentric and quirky guy he was. Objectively, he is one of history's greatest
villains and arguably the one of the greatest war criminals, but luckily, he
was on the winning side.

If Oppenheimer was japanese and he helped build bombs for the japanese and the
japanese dropped nukes on say Baltimore and San Fran during the war, he would
have been tried and executed after ww2 by the victorious US. I doubt "The
Eccentric Father of the Atomic Bomb" is the titled we'd use if he was
japanese.

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oska
> If Oppenheimer was japanese and he helped build bombs for the japanese and
> the japanese dropped nukes on say Baltimore and San Fran during the war, he
> would have been tried and executed after ww2 by the victorious US.

Your hypothetical assertion is heavily undermined by the actual reality of
what happened with Werner Von Braun and all the other Nazi Germany scientists
recruited by Operation Paperclip.

~~~
elfexec
> Your hypothetical assertion is heavily undermined by the actual reality of
> what happened with Werner Von Braun.

How so? Werner Von Braun didn't invent the A-Bomb. His rockets were more of a
novelty than anything. A single firebomb killed more people and caused more
damage than all the V2 rockets during ww2. And Von Braun's weapons weren't
used against the US. It was used against britain.

If Werner Von Braun developed nukes and germany nuked San Fran and Baltimore,
do you really believe he'd be a director of NASA? Rather than undermining it,
your example supports my assertion.

Werner Von Braun was responsible for no american civilian death. If he was
responsible for 200,000 deaths and poisoning hundreds of thousands of american
civilians with radiation and we allowed him to be a director of NASA, maybe
you'd be right.

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nyolfen
von braun used jewish slave labor to build rockets used to terrorize civilians
on behalf of the nazi regime. he's still generally remembered as a quirky
scientist archetype, disconnected from the fruits of his labors.

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elfexec
Yes. That wasn't nice of von braun. But what does jewish slave labor in europe
have to do with the US? Did Israel ask von braun to help them with their
space/rocket programs? What does british civilians have to do with the US.

The point is if von braun had enslaved hundreds of thousands of americans and
then killed them, we wouldn't have made him a director of NASA. If you can
show me where von braun murdered hundreds of thousands of americans, I am more
than willing to change my mind.

The fact that you are trying to equate v2 rockets with hiroshima and nagasaki
shows that your innate bias is making to you grasp at straws and generate a
false narrative. But then again, that's my point. Bias in history.

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smiljo
A great summary of Kai Bird's book, which is highly recommended!

A really interesting thing to note about Oppenheimer, as the author points
out, was a somewhat "haphazard" approach both to studying physics, and in his
actual scientific work. Meaning, picking the problems he found the most
interesting, rather than some grand, overarching idea.

It's always fascinating in reading books of this sort to see just how closely
knit the physics community was, since Oppenheimer studied with Born and
Thomson, met Bohr as a student, and later worked with a lot of the truly great
ones. Even in the macabre poisoning episode, the tutor he left the apple for
was Patrick Blackett, a future Nobel laureate.

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tyingq
I remember this being on PBS as a kid during the cold war. Terrified me.
[https://youtu.be/lb13ynu3Iac](https://youtu.be/lb13ynu3Iac)

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imjustsaying
You may put that memory at ease, he was just acting.

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Vaslo
Highly recommend the film “Fat Man and Little Boy”. A little melodramatic but
an interesting view of Oppenheimer played by Dwight Shultz (Murdock from The
A-Team.)

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atombender
I found that movie pretty disappointing. So much great historical material, a
great screenwriter (Bruce Robinson), and yet such a lackluster movie. Both
Shultz and Paul Newman are completely miscast.

The only good part of the film is the subplot about the John Cusack character
(loosely based on Harry Daghlian), which is a pretty good re-enactment of the
actual incident. That scene (which is on YouTube) is worth watching on its
own.

For a much more accurate portrayal of Oppenheimer, check out the BBC
miniseries "Oppenheimer" from 1980. In terms of TV, it's positively premodern
-- more like a filmed play than a real production. But Sam Waterston is much
more true to Oppenheimer's character.

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every
And there is also Doctor Atomic:
[https://youtu.be/fDTFyinS3zA](https://youtu.be/fDTFyinS3zA)

