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J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer, a pioneer in the field of nuclear science. He worked with Albert Einstein on the atomic bomb and headed the Manhattan Project in November 1942. J. Robert was born to Ella and Robert Oppenheimer who were both Jewish and emigrated from Germany in 1888.
Robert was always interested in science and helped his grandfather study geology. He excelled through school but had a difficult time in other parts of his life due to not being around people his own age too much. He avoided sports and people made fun of him when he went to summer camp. Harvard was the college he attended, and he graduated in three years with a major in physics. Robert, born on April 22, 1904, was a quite child who avoided many aspects of a normal kids life. Jane Kayser, a classmate, said, he was good in everything. (Larsen 18).
When he attended Harvard in 1922 he had no clue what major to choose to excel in. He was planning to major in chemistry but late in his freshman year he started to lean towards physics. While at Harvard he took six classes a year and graduated in an astounding three years. One of Oppenheimer s friends claims that one of Roberts physics professors realized that he had given an A in a tough elementary thermodynamics course to a student carrying six courses and decided his class was to easy and made it more difficult (Larsen 23 - 24). After he graduated he applied to the University of Cambridge for atomic research. Also Robert held jobs at the University of California, Berkley and The California Institute of Technology which enabled him to assemble a group of physicists.
In 1939 Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt warning him of German attempts to create the atomic bomb. In response, Roosevelt established the Manhattan Project with a budget of $ 6, 000 but they needed $ 2, 000, 000, 000 (Olsen). The laboratory for the project needed to be isolated and accessible. So it was decided to establish it in the top secret Los Alamos laboratory.
This project included scientists from all of the United States Allies. They used the top U. S. physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, to lead the project. Then on July 16, 1945, around 6 years later, the first test bomb exploded at Alamogordo it was code named Trinity.
Oppenheimer then said, I am become death: the destroyer of worlds, and was thereby recognized as the father of the A-bomb (Race for the Superbomb). This bombs explosion was equal to somewhere around 20, 000 tons of TNT. On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and later on the city of Nagasaki causing the end of World War II, but killing thousands upon thousands of people. After the war ended Oppenheimer served on the General Advisory Committee of the U. S.
Atomic Energy Commission. After finding out about Russia s success in creating an atomic bomb, an advisor of Robert s proposed that a larger more destructive bomb be built, the hydrogen bomb. Oppenheimer opposed it because atomic bombs were already too powerful and he did not want to create anything more powerful because he was already, the destroyer of worlds. Due to his political past and resistance to creating a more powerful bomb, he suffered critical consequences. In reply to the opposition to building the atomic bomb, the Joseph McCarthy era accused Oppenheimer of being a communist (J. Robert Oppenheimer).
After that, Oppenheimer s security clearance was taken away and he lost his job. Robert felt like the world came crashing down around him and got a job at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. J. Robert Oppenheimer s young life was very stressful because of being a communist and a Jew during World War II. So Oppenheimer decided to make something out of what he could, and what he made became the biggest killing machine in history. Achieving all of his accomplishments in life are more than one person could ask for.
He had done so many things like graduating from Harvard in three years, going to two other well known colleges, and countless other achievements. Then because of refusing to build a hydrogen bomb his life came crashing to an end. Again Being accused of being a communist and losing his job. In 1967 J.
Robert Oppenheimer died of throat cancer. Work Cited Larsen, Rebecca. Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc. Olsen, Rod. Research Trials, Triumphs and Tragedies.
Rod Olsen Research Services. web J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 - 1967). J. Robert Oppenheimer. web astro 144 /open.
html J. Robert Oppenheimer. A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: J. Robert Oppenheimer.
web Long, Doug. J. Robert Oppenheimer. J.
Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bombings of Japan. web J. Robert Oppenheimer. Race for the Superbomb. web
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