Who was J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist known as ‘the father of the atomic bomb’?

The film, which premieres this Thursday, tells the story of the scientist who led the Manhattan Project, responsible for developing the first nuclear weapons.

OR movie release Oppenheimer this Thursday 20, renewed curiosity about the history of the American theoretical physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) and his role in the creation of the atomic bomb.

The film, directed by Christopher Nolan, tackles aspects of the personal life of the scientist and his work for the US government during the Second World War. Oppenheimer (played in the film by actor Cillian Murphy) led the Manhattan Project, responsible for the development of the first nuclear weapons, and became known worldwide as “the father of the atomic bomb”.

The son of a couple of Jewish immigrants of German origin who made their fortune in the textile sector in the United States, Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 in New York. He studied chemistry at Harvard University and, after completing the course, went to Europe, where he continued his studies at the University of Cambridge, UK, and at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Gottingen, Germany.

Back in the United States, Oppenheimer became a professor at Harvard and, shortly thereafter, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and at the University of California at Berkeley. With the onset of World War II he financed the departure of physicists from Nazi Germany, supported anti-fascist movements and contributed to the Communist Party. He ended up having an affair with a former party member, the German biologist Katherine Puening, with whom he would have two children.

After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, physicists Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, and Eugene Wigner warned the United States government of the danger it would pose to humanity if the Nazis were the first to develop a nuclear bomb.

The alert was crucial to the US government’s decision to create, in 1942, the Manhattan Project, an initiative developed jointly with Canada and the United Kingdom, and to call on Oppenheimer to lead it. The physicist was responsible for founding and directing the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in 1945.

Oppenheimer regretted that the bomb was not ready in time to bomb the Germans and supported the bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6 of that year, killing 80,000 instantly. Subsequent radiation damage is estimated to have claimed the lives of up to 60,000 people. Three days later, the United States dropped a second bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing another 35,000 people, this time without physical support. Japan was an ally of Germany.

Oppenheimer soon expressed regret about his role in creating the bomb and concern about a global buildup of weapons, becoming an advocate for international control of nuclear weapons. He supported the civilian use of nuclear energy.

A heavy smoker, the physicist died in 1967, a victim of throat cancer.

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.