Robert Oppenheimer:
Father of the Atomic Bomb
Kyle Wadley
8th Period
“We knew the world would not be the same.
A few people laughed, a few people cried,
most people were silent. I remembered the
line from the Hindu scripture, the BhagavadGita; 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.”
-J. Robert Oppenheimer after
witnessing the Trinity explosion
Catalog Entry
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Best known for his work on
the Manhattan Project, J.
Robert Oppenheimer was an
American theoretical
physicist. Dubbed “father of
the atomic bomb,” his name
has become synonymous
with not only this but the
dilemma facing scientists
when conflicted between the
good of their country or
their own conscience.
Early Life
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Ernest Rutherford
Born to wealthy Jewish
parents Julius S.
Oppenheimer and Ella
Friedman on April 22,
1904, Julius Robert
Oppenheimer grew up in
New York City.
Among graduating from
Harvard in 1925 and
studying physics in
Germany, Oppenheimer
studied at Cambridge
University under Ernest
Rutherford, father of
nuclear physics and
discoverer of the atom’s
nucleus.
Robert and his
younger brother
Frank.
Germany
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At the University of Göttingen in
Germany, he worked with Danish
physicist Neils Bohr, creator of the
Bohr model of the atom.
Under Max Born, Oppenheimer
published many important
contributions to the then newly
developed quantum theory, most
notably a famous paper on the BornOppenheimer
Max Born
approximation, which
separates nuclear
motion from electronic
motion in the
mathematical
treatment of molecules.
Bohr (above) and his model.
Other Early Contributions
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Oppenheimer was a
founding father of the
American school of
theoretical physics.
He did important research
in astrophysics, nuclear
physics, spectroscopy and
the quantum field theory.
In the 1930s, he was the
first to write papers
suggesting the existence of
what we today call black
holes.
WAR!
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Oppenheimer took a strong
stand against fascism
during its rise in the 1930s.
In 1939, Nazi Germany
invaded Poland, beginning
World War II.
Working with Albert
Einstein and other
scientists, they concluded
that Germany was
scientifically advanced and
was capable of harnessing
the power of atomic energy
for military purposes.
The Manhattan
Project
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The United States
needed a way to
counter the threat
posed by the German
nuclear development
program.
In 1941 Oppenheimer
was selected by
President Franklin
Roosevelt to head the
Manhattan Project:
the research and
production of an
atomic weapon.
Above: key facilities of the Manhattan Project
Below: a cross section of the atomic bomb
Los Alamos
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Military director
General Leslie Groves
and Oppenheimer
needed to find an
isolated yet accessible
location to test the
bombs.
Choosing the deserts
of New Mexico, the
war department
founded the town of
Los Alamos.
Confidentiality
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The Manhattan Project was a
complete secret; Refering to it as
“the hill,” the only thing outsiders
knew of the town was the fact that
it existed.
Anything brought into town was
disguised as a common item.
Anything brought out was censored
by the military to make sure it did
not contain any confidential
information.
All military and scientific personnel
and their families were sworn into
complete secrecy, referring to Los
Alamos as “Site Y”
Life in the Secret City
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Only planning for an estimated 30
scientists and their families, the army
used the buildings of a former school
for housing.
By the end of the war however, the
population of Los Alamos grew to over
6,000.
This led to shortages in housing,
water, and food among other things.
Due to the secrecy of the project, the
mailing address for the entire town
was PO box 1663, Santa Fe, NM.
All the children born here during this
time were given this address as their
birthplace.
The Scientists
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Over 80 scientists were
directly involved in the
Manhattan Project, and a great
many of them being awarded
a Noble Prize at some point in
their lives.
Among these ranks are Robert
Oppenheimer and his brother
Frank, Albert Einstein, Italian
nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi,
Neils Bohr and his son
Aage, and inventor of
the nuclear reactor
Leo Szliard.
Just a few of the scientists involved. Perhaps you
can identify a few of them.
Alamogordo and
Trinity
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The first seconds
of the explosion
On July 16, 1945, the world’s first
atomic bomb was detonated in the
desert just outside Los Alamos,
called Alamogordo.
Codenamed “Trinity” by
Oppenheimer, the blast exceeded
everyone’s expectations, yielding an
amount of energy equivalent to
18,000 tons of TNT.
Scientists and military personnel observing the blast from a
safe distance
Trinity being hoisted up the
detonation rigging
Truman’s Decision
Oppenheimer and Gen. Groves
at the detonation site of Trinity
FDR died suddenly on April 12, 1945.
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His vice president Harry Truman had to
take over the presidency and the
responsibilities that went with it.
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Hearing of the success of the Manhattan
Project, Truman was given an impossible
choice: drop the two other bombs on
Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of
innocent civilians, or launch a massive
bombing raid
The Trinity Bomb Crater
and full-scale
Harry Truman
invasion on the
Japanese
homeland,
possibly leading
to equivalent
casualties on the
American side.
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Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
Mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and
Nagasaki (right)
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Crews of the Bockscar
(top) and Enola Gay
(bottom) in front of their
planes
On August 6, 1945 the B-29
Superfortress bomber Enola Gay,
commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets
dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed
“Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan.
On August 9, the B-29 Bockscar flown
by Captain Charles Sweeny dropped
the second bomb, “Fat Man” on
Nagasaki.
The total amount of deaths ranged
from 129,000 to more than 246,000.
Aftermath
The signing of the Japanese surrender aboard the
Missouri
The cities were left decimated; the heat of the
explosions were so intense that shadows of the victims
were burned into the walls and patters of cloth were
burned into victims’ skin.
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Emperor Hirohito announced the Japanese surrender
to the entire nation via radio broadcast, the first ever
radio broadcast by a Japanese emperor.
The pattern of the clothes she was wearing was
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The unconditional surrender was formally signed
burned into her skin by the blast
aboard the USS Missouri with General Douglas
MacArthur on September 2,
This is one of the shadows of a victim
1945
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burned into the wall at the moment of
the blast.
This building has since been turned into the Hiroshima Peace
Memorial. Notice the total destruction of the city around it.
Post-War
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A hydrogen bomb
The first hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific
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After the war,
Oppenheimer became
chairman of the General
Advisory Committee to
the Atomic Energy
Commission.
He strongly opposed the
development of the
Hydrogen Bomb,
thousands of times more
powerful than the atomic
bombs.
Arms Race and Red Scare
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In the decades following WWII, the Soviet Union and the United
States entered into the Cold War, a state of military and political
tension between the two countries.
A subsequent arms race followed, giving rise to events such as the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Americans in this time were paranoid of Communists and anyone
who may have a tie to them, called the Second Red Scare.
Among those targeted as Communist sympathizers was
Oppenheimer himself, who did have friends and connections who
were communist.
This led to his security clearance being taken away from him,
ending his scientific career.
Left: Anti-communist
propaganda
Right: Size comparisons of
American and Soviet nuclear
weapons
Death of a Legend
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Regardless of the suspension of his security clearance,
Oppenheimer served as director of Princeton’s Institute for
Advanced Study from 1947 to 1952.
His spirit broken, he encouraged discussion and research
among his students on the quantum and relative physics he
had started but was now prohibited from doing.
J. Robert Oppenheimer died on February
18, 1967 of throat cancer at the age of
62, leaving behind a legacy of theories
and technologies to be improved upon by
later scientists.
Sources and Conclusions
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/baoppe.ht
ml
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pande
AMEX65.html
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Oppenheimer.shtml
en.wikipedia.org
http://www.losalamoshistory.org/
https://images.google.com/
Bonus if you can name the sound effect references (if they
work)!