J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer; /ˈɒpənhaɪmər/ OP-ən-hy-mər; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.
"Oppenheimer" redirects here. For the 2023 film, see Oppenheimer (film). For other uses, see Oppenheimer (disambiguation).
J. Robert Oppenheimer
April 22, 1904
February 18, 1967 (aged 62)
2
Frank Oppenheimer (brother)
- Medal for Merit (1946)
- Enrico Fermi Award (1963)
Born in New York City, Oppenheimer obtained a degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1925 and a doctorate in physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany in 1927, studying under Max Born. After research at other institutions, he joined the physics faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was made a full professor in 1936. Oppenheimer made significant contributions to physics in the fields of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics, including the Born–Oppenheimer approximation for molecular wave functions; work on the theory of positrons, quantum electrodynamics, and quantum field theory; and the Oppenheimer–Phillips process in nuclear fusion. With his students, he also made major contributions to astrophysics, including the theory of cosmic ray showers, and the theory of neutron stars and black holes.
In 1942, Oppenheimer was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, and in 1943 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, to date the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
In 1947, Oppenheimer was appointed director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the new U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He lobbied for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, and opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, partly on ethical grounds. During the second Red Scare, these stances, together with his past associations with the Communist Party USA, led to a 1954 AEC security hearing and the revocation of his security clearance. Oppenheimer continued to lecture, write, and work in physics, and in 1963 was given the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation. In 2022, the U.S. federal government vacated the 1954 revocation of his 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, when it was still part of the Hesse-Nassau province of the Kingdom of Prussia, and as a teenager made his way to the United States in 1888, without money, higher education, or even English. 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 compensate for the delay caused by his illness, he took six courses each term instead of the usual four. He was admitted to the undergraduate honor society Phi Beta Kappa and was granted graduate standing in physics on the basis of independent study, allowing him to bypass basic courses in favor of advanced ones. He was attracted to experimental physics by a course on thermodynamics taught by Percy Bridgman. Oppenheimer graduated from Harvard in 1925 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, after only three years of study.[15]
Death
A chain smoker (of Chesterfields),[306] Oppenheimer was diagnosed with throat cancer in late 1965. After inconclusive surgery, he underwent unsuccessful radiation treatment and chemotherapy late in 1966. On February 18, 1967, he died in his sleep at his home in Princeton, aged 62 years.[182] A memorial service was held a week later at Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University.[307] The service was attended by 600 of his scientific, political, and military associates, including Bethe, Groves, Kennan, Lilienthal, Rabi, Smyth, and Wigner. His brother Frank and the rest of his family were there, as was the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., the novelist John O'Hara, and George Balanchine, the director of the New York City Ballet. Bethe, Kennan and Smyth gave brief eulogies.[308] Oppenheimer's body was cremated and his ashes placed in an urn, which Kitty dropped into the sea within sight of the St. John beach house.[309]
In October 1972, Kitty died aged 62 from an intestinal infection complicated by a pulmonary embolism.[310] Oppenheimer's ranch in New Mexico was then inherited by their son Peter, and the beach property was inherited by their daughter Katherine "Toni" Oppenheimer Silber. Toni was refused security clearance for her chosen vocation as a United Nations translator after the FBI brought up the old charges against her father. In January 1977, three months after her second marriage ended, she hanged herself in the family beach house.[311] She left the property to "the people of St. John for a public park and recreation area."[312] The house was built too close to the coast and was destroyed by a hurricane. As of 2007, the Virgin Islands Government maintained a Community Center nearby.[313]