Robert+Oppenheimer

=J. Robert Oppenheimer=



Early Life

Oppenheimer was born into a wealthy family in upper Manhattan in February 18, 1967. In 1921 he graduated at the top of his class from Ethical Culture School. He was supposed to go attend Harvard the next fall, but he was delayed for a year by illness. While recovering Oppenheimer recuperated in New Mexico (where he later headquartered the Manhattan Project). He graduated from Harvard in 1925, after only three years with summa cum laude (highest honours). In the autumn of 1926 he moved to Gotingen, Germany, at the invitation Max Born and in 1927 earned his doctorate degree. Oppenheimer along with Born made a lasting contribution working out the quantum theory of molecules. He worked for a year as a National Research Council Fellow (1927-1928) before receiving offers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and at the University of California at Berkley. Oppenheimer accepted both and over the next 13 years transformed California into a powerhouse of theoretical physics.

Education

Oppenheimer built a strong research group around him and built up many theories. Including in 1930, when he demonstrated equations which described the atom’s energy states and indicated the possible existence of positively charged proton. Which two years later was named the prositon. Robert also predicted the existence of black holes in a 1939 paper, “On Continued Gravitational Contraction.” Influenced by the research carried out by Nils Bohr and Lise Meitner, Oppenheimer began to search for a process to separate uranium-235 from natural uranium and to determine the critical mass of uranium required making an atom bomb, this was his first research directly related to creating nuclear arms.

Manhattan Project

In 1940 he married a biologist Katherine Puening Harrison. In 1942, The Manhattan Project was created to combat fears that Germany would be the first country to develop an atomic bomb. In autumn of that year, Oppenheimer became the director of the bomb design unit. When the Manhattan project was looking for a position to relocate to Oppenheimer suggested New Mexico. When the talented group of young scientist relocated it was his job to supervise all 1,500 of them. Oppenheimer faced the difficult task of meeting military needs while still keep the scientists’ needs in check. On July 16, 1945 the world’s first nuclear device was tested in Los Alamos, New Mexico. This would lead to the eventual development of Little Boy and Fat Man dropped on Hiroshima (6 August, 1945) and Nagasaki respectively (9 August 1945). This would force the Japanese to surrender and save many Americans lives. Japan surrendered on 14 August, 1945.

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Later Years

Oppenheimer was appointed chairman of the General Advisory committee of the Atomic Energy Commission. By this point in time he was fully aware of all the dangers involved in radioactivity caused by nuclear bombs. In 1949 he went against the creation and development of the H-Bomb, as he declared it a Genocidal Weapon that would only be used to wipe out tens or hundreds of millions. Oppenheimer stated that his only regret about the bombs was that they weren’t created in time to drop on Nazi Germany. After the war Oppenheimer resigned from the Manhattan project and took work as the director of the Institute of Advanced Study.

The Cold War

Oppenheimer was victim to the ruthless McCarthyism which was a period of extreme paranoia in the USA. People from Hollywood to Capitol Hill were persecuted and many innocent people were thrown into this "red scare". Oppenheimer became involved in 1953 because of his close involvement with communists in the 1930's and 1940’s; this included his relationship with Jean Tatlock and his wife, Katherine Oppenheimer. He was found to be not guilty of treason, but his high security clearance was revoked and he no longer had access to military secrets. As a result of this he was removed from the Atomic Energy Commission, creating uproar within the 493 scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project with Oppenheimer.

Final Years

With his security clearance removed Oppenheimer spent several months a year living on the island of St.John in the Virgin Islands. He spent much of his time sailing with his daughter Toni and his wife Kitty. With no more political power, Oppenheimer continued to lecture, write and work on his physics. Some rehabilitation attempts were made when the AEC honoured him with Enrico Fermi Award, but he was never reinstated eve n after a hearing. In later 1965, Oppenheimer was diagnosed with throat cancer as he had been a chain smoker since early childhood. All surgeries and chemotherapy treatments were unsuccessful. He eventually fell into a coma on February 15, 1967. In 1967 J. Robert Oppenheimer died from throat cancer in Princeton, New Jersey.

ByMagnus Rahid and //Jack Allison//

//Sources:// http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX65.html Wiki http://www.nndb.com/people/808/000047667/