J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. Oppenheimer's admiration for the Vedas highlights his broader fascination with Eastern thought and his recognition of the value of ancient wisdom in shaping contemporary understanding.

Quoting the Baghavad-Gita at the first atomic bomb test, Alamogordo, NM, July 16, 1945

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer was the great physicist who directed the successful development of the atomic bomb so as to build the weapon before Hitler did in World War II. However, as the technology evolved, he had doubts as to the wisdom of creating even more powerful hydrogen weapons. His viewpoint was hurting the administration’s policy of rapid unlimited nuclear weapons development, and he was the victim of a character assassination whereby his security clearance was withdrawn. The “father” of the atomic bomb was the first American casualty of atomic weapons development.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. After the development of the atomic bomb there were great pressures on the involved scientists to downplay the dangers of nuclear weapons development. The weapons developer arm of the government was anxious not to frighten the public which might call for more oversight or even limitation of development and testing. Equally important was the scientists themselves who understood the forces that they had unleashed and were worried that if the public realized the worst of the possibilities, science and scientific research itself might be in jeopardy from a new Luddite reaction. Oppenheimer urged candor with the public. Most scientists took his advice but the Atomic Energy Commission had become politicized and when Oppenheimer went public with his and others scientific concerns they punished him by calling him a security risk and withdrawing his clearance thus cutting him off from new developments and discrediting him and his views at the same time.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. When Oppenheimer led the development of the atomic bomb, scientists and officials began thinking about nuclear proliferation and defenses if unfriendly forces also developed bombs. Oppenheimer had told a groups of Congressmen and other officials that an atomic bomb could be put in a crate and shipped into the country with commercial sea or air cargo. A visiting congressman asked what could be done to prevent and detect that. Oppenheimer who had a wry sense of humor gave this famous reply. The secret report that the group produced thereafter became known as the “Screwdriver Report.”

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer was the great physicist who directed the successful development of the atomic bomb so as to build the weapon before Hitler did in World War II. However, as the technology evolved, he had doubts as to the wisdom of creating even more powerful hydrogen weapons. His viewpoint was hurting the administration’s policy of rapid unlimited nuclear weapons development, and he was the victim of a character assassination whereby his security clearance was withdrawn. The “father” of the atomic bomb was the first American casualty of atomic weapons development.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. See Robert F. Kennedy {610136} for a later variant of this quotation.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer was the chief scientist developing the atomic bomb. However he was a theoretical physicist who had little personal experience making things that had to actually work. It worked flawlessly just as all the theory predicted it would.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer, like most sophisticated intellectuals and scientists of the time had acquaintances who were communists or Communist sympathizer in Oppenheimer's case his brother and wife were both members of communist organizations. They too severed their connections. At the time Russia was on major ally in the war against Hitler and fascism. However since the Communist Revolution of 1917 there had been an animus between the American and Russian governments. The work on the atomic bomb was so secret that everybody was a potential suspect and security risk, even our allies. In the final analysis it was a spy in the Manhattan project who was there as part of the British contribution to the project. The security people were chasing after all the scientists who had friends or acquaintances who were communists and missed the real spy who had no such connections.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. In the development of the atomic bomb there was a hypothetical possibility that the Earth as we know it might be destroyed. Robert Oppenheimer the scientist who directed the bomb development and his staff framed the question which Oppenheimer presented to Arthur Compton. The decision was that Oppenheimer’s team would calculate every possibility and make sure that such a catastrophe was not within the realm of possibility. They did all the calculations, concluded that there was no possibility, the bomb was exploded, and the question was then finally answered in the negative.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. The quotation is very interesting for two reasons. The first is the cover story that people were told in the New Mexico communities surrounding Los Alamos. Second, it shows the incredibly extensive and detailed degree to which the Scientific Director was involved in the details of the Manhattan Project. The more that Oppenheimer could do, the less the army needed to do and the cultural gap between the army and the scientists was huge. Whatever the military handled ending up being insensitive to the scientists and their families as the military was used to simply making decisions and ordering its troop to live with the decisions. Oppenheimer, in one of the great leadership and management achievements in history was trusted by all the scientists and by General Groves and the Civilian advisors. As a result, when he did something it would be accepted and there was much hardship the scientists had to live with in this isolated area with few amenities and he was believable when he told the scientists and their families that this was the best that could be done at the time. The Army mid level officers and security agents were never happy with the project and kept identifying possible “security risks” on the staff. Every one they identified turned out to have been totally loyal. There was one spy—a British scientists working for the Russians, but he had all his credentials and history in order and was never identified as a potential security risk.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. The focus of the scientists had been to beat the German’s who were terribly evil might develop a bomb first. After the defeat of some scientists began to have concerns about their purpose. Most were very distrustful of the army and believed little of what they were told, by the military at Los Alamos. However, in a remarkable our de force of leadership, Oppenheimer had the trust of virtually all of the staff. This memo and a briefing of the invasion plans of mainland Japan (see {629858} ) convinced the scientist to maintain their intense and punishing pace.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Hundreds of thousands of American troops were on their way to join the invasion of Japan where there were huge American casualties expected when the two atom bomb drops ended the war. At the time, surprising to most people now, the use of the atomic bomb was not an issue of controversy at all. There were no Congressman who questioned it, no newspapers which editorialized against the use of the bomb. There were not even any other counties which protested its use. The blessing of ending the war, even at the cost of less than 200,000 deaths seemed a clearly desirable tradeoff when compared with the many millions of deaths that would have occurred had the bomb not been used. As an example, the conventional bombing of Tokyo before the nuclear weapons were used killed as many Japanese as either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb