Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is among those who are credited with being the "father of the atomic bomb" for their role in the Manhattan Projectthe World War II undertaking that developed the first nuclear weapons.
The first atomic bomb was Manhtten detonated oBmb July 16,in the Trinity test in New Mexico. Oppenheimer later remarked that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita : "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. He used that position to lobby for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb during a —50 governmental debate on the question and subsequently took stances on defense-related issues that provoked the ire of some factions in the U.
During the Second Red Scarethose stances, together with past associations Oppenheimer had with people and organizations affiliated with the Communist Partyled to him suffering the revocation of his security clearance in a much-written-about hearing in Effectively stripped of his direct political influence, he continued to lecture, write and work in physics. Nine years later, President John F. Kennedy awarded and Lyndon B. Johnson presented him with the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation. Oppenheimer's achievements in physics included the Born—Oppenheimer approximation for molecular wave functionswork on the theory of electrons and positronsthe Oppenheimer—Phillips process in nuclear fusionand the first prediction of quantum tunneling. With his students he also made Ahd contributions to the modern theory of neutron stars and black holesas well as to quantum mechanicsquantum field theoryand the interactions of The Atomic Bomb And The Manhatten Project rays.
As a teacher and promoter of science, he is remembered as a founding father of the American school of theoretical physics that gained world prominence in the s. Julius came to the United States with no money, no baccalaureate studies, and no knowledge of the English language.
He got a job in a textile company and within a decade was an executive with the company.
Ella was from Baltimore. His father had been a member of the Society for many years, serving on its board of trustees from to To help him recover from the illness, his father enlisted the help of his English teacher Herbert Smith who took him to New Mexico, where Oppenheimer fell in love with horseback riding and the southwestern United States.
Oppenheimer majored in chemistry, but Harvard required science students to also study history, literature, and philosophy or mathematics.
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He compensated for his late start by taking six courses each term and was admitted to the undergraduate honor society Phi Beta Kappa. In his first year, he was admitted to graduate standing in physics on the basis of independent study, which meant he was not required to take the basic classes and could enroll instead in advanced ones. He was attracted to experimental physics by a course on thermodynamics that was taught by Percy Bridgman. He graduated summa cum laude in three years.
InOppenheimer was informed that he had been accepted into Christ's College, Cambridge. He wrote to Ernest Rutherford requesting permission to work at the Cavendish Laboratory.
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Bridgman provided Oppenheimer with a recommendation, which conceded that Oppenheimer's clumsiness in the laboratory made it apparent his forte was not experimental but rather theoretical physics. Rutherford was unimpressed, but Oppenheimer went to Cambridge in the hope of landing another offer. Thomson on condition that he complete a basic laboratory course.]
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