What happened to Oppenheimer after the atomic bomb?
July 23, 2023
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It finally hit theaters.”Oppenheimer“, the long-awaited film Christopher Nolan in which Cillian Murphy plays father of the atomic bomb. Based on the 2005 biographical novel American Prometheus: Triumph
It finally hit theaters.”Oppenheimer“, the long-awaited film Christopher Nolan in which Cillian Murphy plays father of the atomic bomb.
Based on the 2005 biographical novel American Prometheus: Triumph and Tragedy by J. Robert Oppenheimer and written by Kai Byrd and Martin J. Sherwin, Nolan’s film traces the history of the weapons of mass destruction launched against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasika at the end of World War II.
But, How did the scientist’s life develop after what was told in the film?
One of the brightest physicists
Robert Oppenheimer was one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in the United States and a leader in Manhattan Project developed by the US government during World War II to create the first atomic bomb.
Behind bombing of Japanese cities Between June 6 and 9, 1945, the event that precipitated the surrender of Japan and the victory of the Allies in the war, Oppenheimer continued to be involved in government scientific research for several years.
Photo: Atomic Legacy Foundation
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In 1947, government secretary Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr in Nolan’s tape) appointed him director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University (New Jersey) and held this position for 21 years.
There he coincided with one of the most eminent physicists in history, Albert Einstein, who in addition to being a professor at the Institute, was one of the scientists who alerted U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 to the possibility of Nazi Germany developing nuclear weapons, a letter that led to the start of the Oppenheimer-led project.
The physicist did not receive much support in the American government, and in November 1952 the United States successfully conducted its first test with H-bomb.
As Oppenheimer predicted among the weapon’s shortcomings, the arms race only intensified, and in 1953 the Soviet Union conducted the first test of a hydrogen bomb.
Photo: Britannica
Witch hunt victim and her death
In 1954, completely Witch Hunt by Senator Joseph McCarthy By investigating any American citizen’s possible connections to the Communists, the FBI tried to show that Oppenheimer had more than sympathy for Communism.
The physicist, like many other North American figures of his time, especially artists, he was pursued by “McCarthyismo”. And instead of accepting the charges, he demanded a public hearing to prove his innocence.
In a process that also includes Nolan’s film, Oppenheimer attempted to demonstrate his loyalty to the flag without much success, but the hearing ended his mandate as an AEC atomic energy advisor, a charge for which he was dismissed by Lewis Strauss after learning of the anti-American allegations.
Photo: Institute of the History of Science
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throat cancer
In 1965, a scientist at the age of 60 was diagnosed with throat cancer, probably due to his addiction to tobacco.
The following year, he began treatment for radiation therapy and chemotherapy, which failed to stop his illness.
February 15, 1967 he fell into a coma and died three days later at his home in Princeton at the age of 62.
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