Most innovators can't wait to unleash their ideas on the world — hoping to make it a better place. But physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer feared his invention of the atomic bomb — in an effort to save the world — could snuff it all out.
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," Oppenheimer (1904-1967) famously said, citing words from a Hindu text.
Oppenheimer's tortured view of his invention is understandable. The so-called Father of the Atomic Bomb knew Germany was frantically working on its own atomic weapon during World War II. And if the Axis power unlocked the science first, the results would be catastrophic. But by putting so much destructive power in the hands of humans, the world's future would always be at risk. By saving the world, his invention endangered humanity.
"He was the most important man who ever lived because he gave the world the power to destroy itself," Christopher Nolan, the writer-director of the 2023 film "Oppenheimer," told the New York Times.
Find Your Sense Of Urgency Like J. Robert Oppenheimer
Talk about a high-pressure deadline.
Albert Einstein wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 with frightening news. German scientists discovered fission — the ability to split the nucleus of an atom. And they were trying to turn this enormous power into an atomic bomb.
The risk became too large to ignore. In October 1941, two months before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the president authorized a program for the U.S. to create its own nuclear weapon. This rushed research would become known as the Manhattan Project.
And the job fell squarely onto the unassuming shoulders of Oppenheimer. Most of the work happened in his Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. There was little time. And being even a moment late in this race meant possible annihilation. Work started in October 1942. And by August 1945, the U.S. dropped devastating atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II.
Learn To Deal With Reality Like Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer didn't plan to create the most destructive weapon the world had ever seen. But his studies almost uniquely gave him the massive knowledge when it was needed.
Oppenheimer was born to German Jewish immigrants in New York City. He graduated summa cum laude after three years at Harvard University with a B.S. in chemistry. However, he failed trying to earn a Ph.D. in experimental physics at Cambridge University in Britain. He was too clumsy in the lab. Advisors pushed him toward theoretical physics. He became depressed. It wasn't what he wanted to do.
Friends invited him to go on a vacation to Corsica to unwind. He did. And to recharge his mind, he read. One of the books he picked up was Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time."
The introspective book "spoke to his troubled soul and left a deep and lasting impression," wrote Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin in "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer." "It appears to have resulted in an epiphany that snapped him out of his depression."
Oppenheimer: Surround Yourself With The Best
Oppenheimer dropped out of Cambridge. He studied instead at the University of Goettingen, Germany. It was one of the leading centers for new thought in physics. There he befriended the field's future pioneers. That included his mentor Max Born. Oppenheimer earned his Ph.D. in 1927 at age 23.
Oppenheimer kept surrounding himself with the field's top students and researchers. They pushed new boundaries beyond any textbooks. They were the experts. Circling himself with so much brainpower put Oppenheimer in nucleus of innovation.
He started teaching at both Harvard and the California Institute of Technology in the 1927-28 academic year. Then he became an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley. There, he, his students, and collaborators made major contributions to astrophysics and quantum physics. That included theories that would be proven true about black holes, neutron stars, quantum field theory and the interaction of cosmic rays.
Colleagues thought Oppenheimer should win a Nobel Prize. And he was nominated three times. He never won, though. But many people in his orbit did.
Learn How To Communicate With All Levels Of Your Audience
Oppenheimer's charge to lead the Los Alamos Laboratory still baffled many in the industry. He had never run anything beyond a classroom. But General Leslie Groves, the military head of the Manhattan Project, knew Oppenheimer was the right guy because he could communicate effectively with so many technical experts.
Victor Weisskopf, Group Leader of the Theoretical Division, remarked Oppenheimer's "uncanny speed in grasping the main points of any subject was a decisive factor."
James Stemm, curator of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, N.M., told Investor's Business Daily that Oppenheimer "possessed very advanced analytical skills that allowed him to make suggestions and find solutions to issues that proved difficult to solve for others and he only stepped in when absolutely necessary." Oppenheimer could spot when someone's idea in the lab — even if seemingly crazy — unlocked problems holding the project back.
Nearly everything that could go wrong at Los Alamos did. Only a few hundred scientists originally planned on working there. But by 1945, several thousand experts toiled on the increasing number and complexity of the problems.
Adjust Your Approach To Reach Goals
Oppenheimer's original plan didn't work. The team aimed at inventing a gun using plutonium-239. But the team found the weapon's fuel was too hard to make quickly.
In July 1944, he abandoned the idea as time was running out. The team created a sphere of uranium-235 that would implode. This plan was successfully tested in July 1945. Uranium transmuted into plutonium fueled a second bomb. Germany surrendered in May, so Japan turned into the prime target. Invading Japan using traditional warfare could result in Allied casualties of 800,000, some estimates say.
So, the military manufacturing city of Hiroshima was targeted for the first bomb on Aug. 6. And when the Japanese government still refused to surrender, the more powerful second one was dropped on another military center, Nagasaki. Two explosions ended the war. But they also sparked horrific human suffering. Never before could humans wipe themselves out so easily.
Build A Legacy Like Oppenheimer Did
Seeing how much destruction his weapon caused, Oppenheimer might have withdrawn. But instead, he worked to put guardrails around his deadly invention.
After the war, Oppenheimer advocated for controls that would prevent nuclear weapons from spreading. He worried most about the hydrogen bomb also developed at Los Alamos. It could be a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bombs. A hydrogen bomb war would likely destroy the world.
The Soviet Union demonstrated its own hydrogen bomb in 1953. Oppenheimer and the U.S. Army and Navy advocated a strong defensive system. President Truman and the Air Force aimed to deter the U.S.S.R. with the capability to retaliate for a nuclear missile attack. The government developed both strategies. But Oppenheimer made enemies during the debate. Oppenheimer's attempt to leash his weapon would trap him professionally instead.
Oppenheimer didn't know former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover tapped his phone and had FBI agents track him since the 1930s. At the time, Oppenheimer had friends who were members of the Communist Party. A hearing of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954 used these connections against him. Oppenheimer lost his security clearance as a result. He died from throat cancer in 1967 at age 62.
But his invention created — and destroyed — a whole new world order for better or worse.
J. Robert Oppenheimer's Keys
- Headed the scientific team that developed the first atomic bomb.
- Overcame: Lack of knowledge about the basic nature of the atomic world.
- Lesson: "No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows."
