OPPENHEIMERCloser Look at “Father of Atomic Bomb”
Robert Oppenheimer is often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb.” But he also had his federal security clearance revoked during the McCarthy era, a disputed decision that was only posthumously reversed last year. Harvard historian unwinds the complexities of J. Robert Oppenheimer as scientist, legend.
Robert Oppenheimer was a complicated man. A Harvard-educated theoretical physicist and scientific director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico during World War II, he is often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb.” But he also had his federal security clearance revoked during the McCarthy era, a disputed decision that was only posthumously reversed last year. Questions had been raised about his associations with communists and, more importantly, his opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb — he eventually would become a staunch proponent of nuclear arms control. Ahead of the release this week of the new biopic “Oppenheimer,” the Gazette’s Samantha Laine Perfas spoke with Steven Shapin, the Franklin L. Ford Research Professor of the History of Science, to learn more about the man behind the charismatic character. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Samantha Laine Perfas: Could you give a brief overview of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos?
Steven Shapin: The Manhattan Project was the name given to the enterprise to build the atomic bomb, starting in the summer of 1942, and culminating in the dropping of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs in August 1945. The project took its name from the Manhattan Engineer District in New York; it was run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and directed by Gen. Leslie Groves.
It’s been called the biggest technoscience project in the history of the world: over $2 billion at the time. The Manhattan Project is often identified with Los Alamos, the design center in New Mexico, but it’s important to appreciate that it was a truly enormous nationwide effort. The Manhattan Project is the name collectively given to all the installations involved in designing and assembling the atomic bomb, of which Los Alamos would be the nerve center, and also to the vast plants for the separation of U-235 (at Oak Ridge, Tennessee) and for the production of plutonium (at Hanford, Washington).
Laine Perfas: What was unique about Los Alamos that allowed scientists — like Oppenheimer — to come together to develop such advanced technology?
Shapin:Virtually everything about it was unique. At Los Alamos, the bringing together of some of the world’s greatest talent — not just in physics, but also in computation, mathematics, metallurgy, chemistry, and many sorts of engineering — was unprecedented. “Everybody who was anybody” was there — including many Nobel Prize winners.
Another thing that was unique about it
