“surmised that the J was symbolic, a gesture in the direction of naming the eldest son after the father but at the same time a signal that his parents did not want Robert to be a”
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J. Robert Oppenheimer 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.
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science · American theoretical physicist (1904–1967) · theoretical physicist · engineer · nuclear physicist · art collector · university teacher · science administrator · physicist · scientist · also J. Robert Oppenheimer, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer
Born 22 April 1904 · Died 18 February 1967 · Q132537
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“surmised that the J was symbolic, a gesture in the direction of naming the eldest son after the father but at the same time a signal that his parents did not want Robert to be a”
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Diario Público: De 'Oppenheimer' a 'Punto Límite': un repaso por la hecatombe nuclear en el cine
Public attention spiked: 30,181 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4× the usual 7,638, with 0 article edits.
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“like I’ve dropped a loaded gun in a playground.”
“I think it is just possible, Mr. President, that it has taken some charity and some courage for you to make this award today.”
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“Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands”
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Yahoo: Before he developed the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s early work revolutionized the field of quantum chemistry – and his theory is still used today
Public attention spiked: 17,945 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.6× the usual 5,036, with 0 article edits.
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Snopes.com rated the claim “In the early 1940s, Hispanic homesteaders in Los Alamos, New Mexico, were forced off their land by the U.S. government and offered little to no compensation to make way for the Manhattan Project, a weapons laboratory led by J. Robert Oppenheimer.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Snopes rated the claim “In the early 1940s, Hispanic homesteaders in Los Alamos, New Mexico, were forced off their land by the U.S. government and offered little to no compensation to make way for the Manhattan Project, a weapons laboratory led by J. Robert Oppenheimer.” True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Snopes rated the claim “The full name of the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is credited as “the father of the nuclear bomb,” was John Jacob Oppenheimer Schmidt.” Originated as Satire.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
“Oppenheimer's reply to a question on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's efforts to urge President Lyndon Johnson to initiate talks to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, in an interview from the early 1960s. Shown in The Day After Trinity (1981)”
Died 1967-02-18.
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“El genio ve la respuesta antes de la pregunta». [Genius sees the answer before the question].”
“Tradução: "Preciso mais de física do que de amigos.”
“Tradução: "Quando você vê algo que é tecnicamente apetecível você vai em frente e fá-lo, e apenas discute o que fazer com isso após ter alcançado o sucesso técnico. Foi assim que aconteceu com a bomba atómica.”
“There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men.”
“Tradução: "O génio vê a resposta antes da pergunta.”
“Também atribuida a Oscar Wilde”
“It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.”
“[Riferito all'esplosione di Los Alamos] Abbiamo fatto il lavoro del diavolo.”
“No hay secretos sobre el mundo de la naturaleza. Hay secretos sobre los pensamientos e intenciones de los hombres». [There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men].”
“Crec és encertat afirmar que les armes atòmiques són un perill que afecta a tot el món, i en aquest sentit un problema comú, tan comú com el que van tenir els Aliats per derrotar els Nazis.”
“I need physics more than friends.”
“Sometimes the elaborate, the learned method, the grown-up method is not as good as the simple and childishly naïve method.”
“...los físicos han conocido el pecado; y este es un conocimiento que no pueden perder». [...the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose].”
“No és possible ser un científic a no ser que creguis que és bo aprendre. No és bo ser un científic, i no és possible, a menys que pensis que és de gran valor compartir el teu coneixement i compartir-ho amb algú qui estigui interessat.”
“A volte il metodo elaborato, quello dotto, il metodo da adulti, non è buono quanto il semplice e infantile metodo ingenuo.”
“Last published words With Oppenheimer on an Autumn Day, Look, Vol. 30, No. 26 (19 December 1966)”
“Memorial lecture delivered on 13 December 1965 at UNESCO headquarters to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Albert Einstein's death, as quoted in Silvan S. Schweber, Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008), pp. 279-280.”
Awarded Enrico Fermi Award (1963).
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Received the Enrico Fermi Award for contributions to theoretical physics
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Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1962).
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Awarded Nessim-Habif Award (1962).
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Awarded Knight of the Legion of Honour (1958).
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Awarded Three Physicists Prize (1958).
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“cannot in any real or enduring way be achieved by coercion.”
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“Science and our Times, 1956”
“Oppenheimer testifying in his defense in his 1954 security hearings. Date: Friday, April 16.”
“Oppenheimer testifying in his defense in his 1954 security hearings, discussing the American reaction to the first successful Russian test of an atomic bomb and the debate whether to develop the "super" hydrogen bombs with vastly higher explosive power; from volume II of the Oppenheimer hearing transcripts, pg266. Date: Tuesday, April 13.”
“Science and the Common Understanding (1954); based on 1953 Reith lectures.”
“J. R. Oppenheimer, Science and the Common Understanding, (Oxford University Press, 1954) pp 9–10.”
And the revocation of his security clearance
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“J. R. Oppenheimer, Science and the Common Understanding, (Oxford University Press, 1954) pp 40”
“Oppenheimer's explanation for why he lied to security officers on the Manhattan Project about the so-called Chevalier Affair, in which he claimed to have been approached to assist with Soviet atomic espionage during World War II. Testimony of J. Robert Oppenheimer in U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, _In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer_ (GPO, 1954), on 137.”
“In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission revoked Dr. Oppenheimer”
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"I was associated with the communist movement
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“Atomic Weapons and American Policy", Foreign Affairs (July 1953), p. 529”
“Science and the Common Understanding (1953)”
Oppenheimer was on the sponsoring committee for a conference on "Science and Freedom" organized by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an anti-communist cultural organization
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Which, with Oppenheimer's input, recommended building a warning system that would provide one-hour notice of an impending atomic attack against American cities
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A large effort on which Oppenheimer was one of the senior scientists
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But wrote a key chapter of the report that challenged the doctrine of strategic bombardment and advocated smaller tactical nuclear weapons which would be more useful in a limited theater conflict against enemy forces
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Was technically so sweet that you could not argue about that
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Teller and mathematician Stanislaw Ulam developed the Teller–Ulam design for a hydrogen bomb
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To help found, in 1952, a second laboratory at what would become the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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Truman, who was predisposed to proceed with the development of the weapon anyway, made the formal decision to do so
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“Encouragement of Science", an address at Science Talent Institute (6 March 1950), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 7, #1 (Jan 1951) p. 6-8”
Oppenheimer testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had associations with the Communist Party USA in the 1930s
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Was a tortured thing that you could well argue did not make a great deal of technical sense
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“Robert Oppenheimer et al., Report of the General Advisory Committee, 1949”
“1948, à un journaliste du Time (cité par Rival, 2002, p. 240)”
Oppenheimer chaired the Department of Defense's Long-Range Objectives Panel, a body created by AEC liaison Donald F
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Awarded Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award (1947).
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Accepted an offer from Lewis Strauss to take up the directorship of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey
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Career landmark: director (1947–1966).
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Oppenheimer was appointed director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the new United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
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“Physics in the Contemporary World, Arthur D. Little Memorial Lecture at M.I.T. (25 November 1947)”
The Pocono Conference in 1948, and the Oldstone Conference in 1949—physicists transitioned from war work back to theoretical issues
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As a civilian agency in control of nuclear research and weapons issues, Oppenheimer was appointed as the chairman of its General Advisory Committee (GAC)
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Won Medal for Merit (1946).
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Was present at the first test of the atomic bomb, Trinity
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Awarded Messenger Lectures (1945).
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“Sua exclamação após a experiência Trinity, 16 de julho de 1945”
“Acceptance Speech, Army-Navy "Excellence" Award (16 November 1945)”
“His exclamation after the Trinity atomic bomb test (16 July 1945), according to his brother in the documentary The Day After Trinity”
Leaving Oppenheimer deeply grieved
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Groves directed that he receive a security clearance "without delay irrespective of the information which you have concerning Mr Oppenheimer
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Career landmark: director (1943–1945).
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Development efforts were directed to a plutonium gun-type fission weapon called "Thin Man"
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He, Groves and others toured a prospective site
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After a meeting in Chicago on the Manhattan Project Groves invited Oppenheimer to join himself, James C
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Gregory Breit resigned due to security concerns and skepticism towards the project
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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
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Oppenheimer wrote on his personal security questionnaire that he had been "a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast
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“a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast.”
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Two months before the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D
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Oppenheimer was briefed about nuclear weapon design by Australian physicist Mark Oliphant
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Obtained a quick divorce in Reno, Nevada, and married Oppenheimer
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Oppenheimer and another of his students, Hartland Snyder, produced the paper "On Continued Gravitational Contraction", which predicted the existence of what later became termed black holes
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After a tempestuous relationship, Tatlock broke up with Oppenheimer
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Joined the American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, which campaigned against the persecution of Jewish scientists in Nazi Germany
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Married Richard Harrison, a physician and medical researcher, and in June 1939 moved with him to Pasadena, California, where he became chief of radiology at a local hospital and she enrolled as a graduate student at
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“On the Stability of Stellar Neutron Cores”
Oppenheimer hosted fundraisers for the Spanish Republican cause
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Oppenheimer became involved with Jean Tatlock, the daughter of a Berkeley literature professor and a student at Stanford University School of Medicine
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Berkeley promoted him to full professor at an annual salary of $3,300 (equivalent to $77,000 in 2025)
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Oppenheimer and Phillips worked out a theory—subsequently known as the Oppenheimer–Phillips process—to explain the results
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Earmarked three percent of his annual salary—about $100 (equivalent to $2,400 in 2025)—for two years to support German physicists fleeing Nazi Germany
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“Words spoken to his class at Berkeley during the period 1932-1934, as quoted by Wendell Furry in American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2005), by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, p. 84”
“Letter to his brother Frank (12 March 1932), published in Robert Oppenheimer : Letters and Recollections (1995) edited by Alice Kimball Smith, p. 155”
Co-wrote a paper, "Relativistic Theory of the Photoelectric Effect," with his student Harvey Hall, in which, based on empirical evidence, he correctly disputed Paul Dirac's assertion that two of the energy levels of t
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After which he grew closer to his father, who, though still residing in New York, became a frequent visitor to California
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“Letter to his brother Frank (14 October 1929), published in Robert Oppenheimer : Letters and Recollections (1995) edited by Alice Kimball Smith, p. 136”
“Numa carta dirigida ao seu irmão, Frank, 1929”
“Letter to his brother Frank Oppenheimer (14 October 1929), published in Robert Oppenheimer : Letters and Recollections (1995) edited by Alice Kimball Smith, p. 135”
“Crossing" describing memories of New Mexico in Hound and Horn (June 1928)”
Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen to study under Max Born; Göttingen was one of the world's leading centers for theoretical physics
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Concerned the quantum theory of molecular band spectra
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And a doctorate in physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany in 1927, studying under Max Born
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With a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, after only three years of study
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“s letter of recommendation said that Oppenheimer”
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Oppenheimer wrote to Ernest Rutherford requesting permission to work at the Cavendish Laboratory, though Bridgman's letter of recommendation said that Oppenheimer's clumsiness in the laboratory suggested that theoretical
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But his further education was delayed a year by an attack of colitis contracted while prospecting in Jáchymov during a family vacation in Czechoslovakia
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The family moved to an apartment on Riverside Drive near West 88th Street, Upper West Side, New York
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Entered the Ethical Culture Society School, founded by Felix Adler to promote training based on the Ethical movement, whose motto was "Deed before Creed"
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To Ella (née Friedman), a painter, and Julius Seligmann Oppenheimer, a successful textile importer
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Born 1904-04-22.
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Without money, higher education, or English proficiency
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