8 Wild Anecdotes About 'Father of the Atomic Bomb' Robert Oppenheimer
8 wild stories about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the atomic bomb' | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/8-wild-stories-about-j-robert-oppenheimer-the-father-of-the-atomic-bomb
◆ 1: Proposed the existence of black holes for the first time
Oppenheimer was also active in the field of astrophysics, conducting pioneering research on the properties of white dwarfs and the calculation of the mass limit of neutron stars . One of the most noteworthy is the paper ' On Continued Gravitational Contraction' published in 1939 with Hartland Snyder, who was his student. He proposed that somewhere there is a star that has collapsed due to gravity . This was the first theoretical demonstration of the existence of black holes , but after that Oppenheimer was called up to develop the atomic bomb and retired from cosmic research.
◆ 2: Einstein called Oppenheimer a 'fool'
Oppenheimer had a very good intelligence and a desire to learn, but it is said that he was not suitable for political conflict. Oppenheimer, who had a close relationship with the Communist Party of the United States, was the director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1954, when he was the subject of Joseph McCarthy 's red picking and was placed on leave by the Atomic Energy Commission.
At this time, Albert Einstein seems to have advised that he should just leave without being exposed to investigations and public hearings by the Atomic Energy Commission, but Oppenheimer chose to stay in the director's seat and fight. On the other hand, Einstein visited Oppenheimer's office one day and said to the secretary, 'There is a narr (meaning' fool, fool 'in German)'.
◆ 3: It is testified that he tried to poison a professor who had a feud with an apple
When Oppenheimer was conducting research for a doctoral degree in physics at
Francis Ferguson, a friend of Oppenheimer's in college, testified that Oppenheimer at the time confessed to placing 'apples impregnated with harmful chemicals' on Brackett's desk. There is no evidence that Oppenheimer actually did such a thing, and even if he did, Brackett never ate the poisoned apple.
◆ 4: President Truman called Oppenheimer a 'crybaby'
Oppenheimer has also been described as vulnerable to pressure, and when he met with U.S. President
After the meeting, Truman is said to have told Secretary of State Dean Acheson, 'His hands aren't half as bloody as mine!' After that, Truman regularly complained about Oppenheimer to Acheson, referring to Oppenheimer as a 'crybaby scientist' in a 1946 letter.
◆5: Very popular with students
Although Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist, he gave easy-to-understand lectures using various rhetoric, not the type that 'I only need mathematics to understand the world'. Because of his deep knowledge of a wide range of fields beyond physics, he was very popular with the students who took his lectures, and some even imitated Oppenheimer's clothes, brands of cigarettes, and way of speaking. is.
◆ 6: I was also interested in the humanities and was able to speak multiple languages including Sanskrit.
Oppenheimer also had a strong interest in the humanities, and besides English he could speak Greek, Latin, French, German, Dutch and Sanskrit. He also read Karl Marx's ' Capital ' in just three days, devoured Marcel Proust's long story 'In Search of Lost Time ' while on vacation, and read Hindu scriptures. It is said that he learned Sanskrit in order to read a certain Bhagavad Gita .
In a 1965 interview with NBC, Oppenheimer recalled seeing the first mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb test, saying, 'I am the Grim Reaper, the Destroyer of Worlds.' . This is a passage from the Bhagavad Gita that suggests Oppenheimer's extensive knowledge.
◆ 7: When I was 12 years old, I was mistaken for a professional geologist and gave a lecture
From the age of seven, Oppenheimer was fascinated by the structure and polarization of crystals, and became an avid mineral collector, typewriter and correspondent with geologists. When Oppenheimer was 12 years old, a geologist with a correspondence partner did not notice that Oppenheimer was a child and invited him to speak at the Mineralogical Club of New York. The family was amused by this and deliberately took Oppenheimer to the club without revealing that he was a child. The scholars were surprised and laughed when they learned that the speaker, who was thought to be a professional geologist, was a 12-year-old boy. Oppenheimer gave a lecture at the club as it was, and received applause from scholars.
◆ 8: Codenamed after the lover who died in the first nuclear test
Oppenheimer fell in love with Jean Tatlock , whom he met in 1936, and although he proposed twice, he ended up marrying another woman. A Communist Party member and suffering from depression, Tatrok died of a drug overdose in 1944. It is said that the name ' Trinity experiment ', which is the first nuclear test of mankind, was quoted from John Donne 's poem that Tatrok taught Oppenheimer.
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