by American Prometheus: The Triumph;Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
62 “The most exciting time”: JRO, interview with Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 6.
62 “How can you”: Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 21; Pais, The Genius of Science, p. 54.
62 by contrast: Pais, The Genius of Science, p. 67; Luis Alvarez, Adventures of a Physicist, p. 87; Leo Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.
62 He still loved: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 101; Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 22.
63 “When your ancestors”: Thomas Powers, Heisenberg’s War, pp. 84–85; James W. Kunetka, Oppenheimer, p. 12.
63 As fate would have it: Houtermans’ political loyalties were to the Left; he would spend two and a half years in Stalin’s prisons before he was repatriated to Germany in April 1940. For more on Houtermans’ fascinating story, see Powers, Heisenberg’s War, pp. 84, 93, 103, 106–7, and David Cassidy, The Uncertainty Principle.
63 “Great ideas were”: Helge Kragh, Quantum Generations, p. 168.
64 “Heisenberg has laid”: Gribbin, Q Is for Quantum, pp. 174, 417–18.
64 “An inner voice”: Daniel J. Kevles, The Physicists, p. 167; Albrecht Fölsing, Albert Einstein, pp. 730–31. In 1929, Einstein qualified his critique by explaining that he believed “in the profound truth contained in this theory, except that I think that its restriction to statistical laws will be a temporary one.” But shortly later he hardened his views, insisting that it was “not possible to get to the bottom of things by this semiempirical means.” (Fölsing, Albert Einstein, pp. 566, 590.)
64 “Einstein is completely”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 190 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 1/11/35). Oppenheimer first met Einstein at Caltech in 1930 (JRO to Carl Seelig, 9/7/55, JRO Papers).
64 “harmonious, consistent and intelligible”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 7.
64 “We have here”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 103.
65 “There are three”: Kevles, The Physicists, p. 217.
65 Robert got into the habit: Schweber, In the Shadow of the Bomb, p. 64.
65 He walked around: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 42.
65 “life at the centers”: Hans Bethe, review of Robert Jungk’s Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 12, pp. 426–29; Schweber, In the Shadow of the Bomb, p. 100.
66 “[i]n 1926 Oppenheimer had”: Hans Bethe, Ibid.
Chapter Five: “I Am Oppenheimer”
68 “He’s too much”: Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 23.
69 “My brother and I”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 108.
69 “Never having heard”: Frank Oppenheimer, oral history, 2/9/73, AIP, p. 5.
69 “We all got”: Goodchild, Oppenheimer, p. 22.
69 “Is the Ritz”: Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 24.
69 But though Charlotte: Else Uhlenbeck, interview by Alice Smith, 4/20/76, p. 2; Michelmore, The Swift Years, pp. 24–25.
70 “It was evening”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 110; Hound and Horn: A Harvard Miscellany, vol. 1, no. 4 (June 1928), p. 335.
70 “separate prison”: JRO, “Le jour sort de la nuit ainsi qu’une victoire,” Oppenheimer poems received from Francis Fergusson, Alice Smith Collection.
70 “I have had trouble”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 113.
71 “Don’t worry about girls”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 113.
72 As they rode: Time, 11/8/48, p. 72.
72 “For the former group”: Frank Oppenheimer to Denise Royal, 2/25/67, folder 4–23, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB.
72 The kitchen had a sink: Robert Serber, Peace and War, p. 38.
73 “Hot Dog!”: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 44; Michelmore, The Swift Years, pp. 26–27; Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 118, 126, 163–65.
73 “We had a variety of mishaps”: Frank Oppenheimer, oral history, 2/9/73, AIP, p. 18.
73 Robert fractured his right arm: JRO medical physical, Presidio of San Francisco, 1/16/43, box 100, series 8, MED, NA.
73 “sipping from a bottle”: Frank Oppenheimer to Denise Royal, 2/25/67, folder 4–23, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB.
73 “I am Oppenheimer”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 119 (citing an interview of Frank Oppenheimer by Smith, 4/14/76); Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 50; Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 24.
73 he “thought it”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 18.
74 In the event, Ehrenfest: In 1933 Ehrenfest shot and killed his mentally retarded son and then turned the gun on himself. John Archibald Wheeler with Kenneth Ford, Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam, p. 260.
74 “Oppenheimer is now”: Max Born to Paul Ehrenfest, 7/26/27, and 8/7 or 17/27, Ehrenfest letters, Archives of the History of Quantum Physics, NBL, AIP, courtesy of Nancy Greenspan, Born’s biographer.
74 Only six weeks: Barnett, “J. Robert Oppenheimer,” Life, 10/10/49.
74 His Dutch friends: Serber, Peace and War, p. 25; Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 17. According to Peter Michelmore, it was Paul Ehrenfest who nicknamed Robert “Opje” (Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 37).
74 “For the development”: Victor Weisskopf, The Joy of Insight, p. 85.
74 “that Bohr with his largeness”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, pp. 20–21. Herausprügeln means an inner thrashing or disciplining (courtesy of Helma Bliss Goldmark). Ehrenfest once teased Oppenheimer about his philosophical bent, cheerily telling him, “Robert, the reason you know so much about ethics is that you have no character” (Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 15).
75 He had ignored: JRO letter to James Chadwick, 1/10/67, JRO papers, box 26, LOC.
75 “prefers to live”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 127.
75 “At first [we] thought”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, pp. 22–23.
75 “He was such a good”: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 45.
75 “so young and already”: Ed Regis, Who Got Einstein’s Office?, p. 195.
76 “His ideas are always”: Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 28.
76 “nim-nim-nim man”: Regis, Who Got Einstein’s Office?, p. 133.
76 “His strength,” Pauli soon: Wolfgang Pauli, Scientific Correspondence, vol. I, p. 486.
76 “We got along”: Jeremy Bernstein, “Profiles: Physicist,” The New Yorker, 10/13/75 and 10/20/75.
76 “Even in casual conversation”: Rigden, Rabi, p. 19; Bernstein, Oppenheimer, p. 5.
76 “never got to be an integrated”: Rigden, Rabi, pp. 228–29.
77 “Oppenheimer? A rich spoiled Jewish brat”: Pais, The Genius of Science, p. 276.
77 “I didn’t think”: Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82, pp. 7, 12–13.
77 “I was never in the same class”: Rigden, Rabi, p. 214.
77 “Rabi was a great”: Rigden, Rabi, p. 215.
78 “We felt a certain”: Rigden, Rabi, pp. 218–19.
78 “air of easy nonchalance” and subsequent quotes: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 45–46; Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 5 (Introduction).
78 “The time with Pauli”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 22.
78 By the time Robert left: Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, pp. 12, 72.
79 “[Quantum mechanics] describes”: Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe, p. 111.
Chapter Six: “Oppie”
80 “open up the place”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 126–27.
80 Frank needed no: Twenty-five years later, Robert would testify that Dr. Roger Lewis was one of those friends from whom he felt estranged since the war because “there has been a sense of hostility which I identified with their remaining close to the [Communist] party.” Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 132; JRO hearing, p. 190.
80 “It was a great spree”: Frank Oppenheimer to Alice Smith, July 16 (no year), folder 4–24, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB.
81 “My two great loves”: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 49.
81 On one trip: Frank Oppenheimer, int
erview by Weiner, 2/9/73, p. 51.
81 “We’d get sort of drunk”: The Day After Trinity, dir. Jon Else, transcript, pp. 5–6; Uhlenbeck, interview by Alice Smith, 4/20/76, p. 9; Frank Oppenheimer, interview by Weiner, 2/9/73, p. 52.
81 “I think we probably”: Frank Oppenheimer, interview by Weiner, 2/9/73, p. 51.
81 “So we set the horses”: Frank Oppenheimer to Alice Smith, July 16 (no year), folder 4–24, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB.
81 “The reason why”: JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 3/12/30, folder 4–12, box 1, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB.
81 “Your tales of a burro”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 132.
82 “The undergraduate college”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 133.
82 “I had for”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 29.
82 “I’m going so slowly”: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 54.
82 “I was a very difficult”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 30.
83 “We were always”; “Well, Robert”: Goodchild, Oppenheimer, p. 25; Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 55.
83 “Robert’s blackboard manners”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 149; Leo Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.
83 “tendency to answer your question”: Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 18; Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 56.
83 “He could . . . be”: Harold Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, pp. 2–3.
83 “somewhat obscurely”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 149.
84 “She went on a hunger”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 149; Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.
84 “It is easy”: Barnett, “J. Robert Oppenheimer,” Life, 10/10/49, p. 126.
84 “Oppenheimer was interested”: Lillian Hoddeson, et al., eds., The Rise of the Standard Model, p. 311; Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 18.
85 “I didn’t start”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63.
85 In 1934: Serber, Peace and War, p. 28.
85 “unbelievable vitality”: Herbert Childs, An American Genius, p. 143.
85 Even after Lawrence: Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 51. Lawrence also had in mind his other good friend, Robert Cooksey.
86 By early 1931: Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 148; Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, pp. 17, 30–31.
86 “an activity that”: Patrick J. McGrath, Scientists, Business, and the State, pp. 36, 64.
86 Building cyclotrons with: Gray Brechin, Imperial San Francisco, pp. 312, 354.
87 “like marriage and poetry”: Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.
87 “Pauli thought it was nonsense”: JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 25.
87 Anderson’s discovery came: Schweber, In the Shadow of the Bomb, p. 66; Gribbin, Q Is for Quantum, pp. 266, 107.
88 “It was amazing”: Serber, interview by Sherwin, 1/9/82, p. 14.
88 “his work is apt”: Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76; Schweber, In the Shadow of the Bomb, p. 68.
88 “His physics was good”: Regis, Who Got Einstein’s Office?, p. 147.
88 Robert did not have: Serber, interview by Sherwin, 1/9/82, p. 15. Willis Lamb earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1938 under Oppenheimer. See Gribbin, Q Is for Quantum, pp. 203–4.
89 “He was an idea man”: Melba Phillips, interview by Sherwin, 6/15/79, p. 5.
89 His interest in astrophysics: Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 16.
89 “white dwarfs”: Physics Review, 10/1/38.
89 “one of the great”: Physics Review, 9/1/39; Bernstein, Oppenheimer, p. 48.
90 “Oppenheimer’s work with Snyder”: Marcia Bartusiak, Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony, pp. 60–61; Bernstein, Oppenheimer, pp. 48–50.
90 Characteristically, however, Oppenheimer: Gribbin, Q Is for Quantum, pp. 45, 266.
90 “Oppie was always”: Serber, interview by Sherwin, 1/9/82, p. 15.
90 Having made the initial: Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, pp. 13–17.
90 “Robert’s own knowledge”: Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.
90 “Oppenheimer was a very”: Edwin Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, pp. 5–6.
91 “The work is fine”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 159 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, fall 1932).
91 Unlike many European theorists: Rigden, Rabi: Scientist and Citizen, p. 7.
91 “Had Oppenheimer gone”: Decades later, Oppenheimer himself thought all copies of these syllabus/lecture notes had disappeared. JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 28; Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 64–65. Actually, Sherwin obtained a copy from Herve Voge. It will be donated to an appropriate archive.
91 “I need physics”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 135 (letter of 10/14/29).
91 When Julius found out: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 138.
91 “Natalie was a dare-devil”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 172, 191; Helen Campbell Allison, correspondence with Alice Smith, undated (circa 1976), Alice Smith interview notes. Natalie Raymond died in 1975.
92 “young wives falling for Robert”: Helen C. Allison, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.
92 “Everyone wants rather”: JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 10/14/29; Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 135.
92 “the jeunes filles Newyorkaises”: JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 10/14/29; Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 135.
93 “His mere physical appearance”: Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, pp. 1–2.
Chapter Seven: “The Nim Nim Boys”
94 The stock market crash: Cassidy, J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century, p. 123.
94 “reconstructed Chrysler emitted”: Julius Oppenheimer to Frank Oppenheimer, 3/11/30, folder 4–11, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB; Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 33.
94 “How far is it wise”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 139 (3/12/30).
94 “We did everything”: Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, pp. 2, 9.
94 “I’ll be back presently and subsequent quotes: San Francisco Chronicle, 2/14/34, p. 1; Serber, Peace and War, p. 27; Serber, interview by Jon Else, 12/15/79, p. 26.
95 In 1934: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 63; Serber, Peace and War, p. 25; Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 149, 186; Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 13; Robert Serber, interview by Jon Else, 12/15/79, p. 23.
95 “the most beautiful harbor”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 143 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 8/10/31). For the description of the Shasta house, see Edith A. Jenkins, Against a Field Sinister, p. 28, and Robert Serber, interview by Jon Else, 12/15/79, p. 23.
96 His long bony fingers: Chevalier, Oppenheimer, pp. 20–21.
96 “They copied his gestures”: Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 20; Rigden, Rabi, p. 213.
96 “He [Oppie] was like a spider”: Jeremy Bernstein, Oppenheimer, p. 62.
96 “We weren’t supposed”: Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, p. 15.
96 “He read a good deal”: Harold Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 10.
97 “so that Robert”: Herbert Smith, interview by Weiner, 8/1/74, p. 14.
97 “knew all the best restaurants”: Harold Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 8.
97 He always picked up: Serber, Peace and War, pp. 29–31.
97 “The world of good food”: Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 63, quoting Serber.
97 Most people left: Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, p. 15.
97 “Frank has done this work”: Phillips, interview by Sherwin, pp. 9–11. Carlson later taught physics at Princeton and several other universities; in 1955 he committed suicide.
97 Each spring: Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 19.
98 “Shut up, Pauli”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 141.
98 During the summer: Frank Oppenheimer to Royal, 2/25/67, folder 4–23, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, Bancroft Library.
98 “Mother critically ill”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 144–
45 (JRO to Ernest Lawrence, 10/12/31, 10/16/31).
98 “I’m the loneliest man”: Herbert Smith, interview by Weiner, 8/1/74, p. 12; Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 33; Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 61–62.
99 “They are very good fun”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 152–53 (Julius Oppenheimer to Frank Oppenheimer, 1/18/32).
99 “Nobody could make”: Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, p. 31.
99 “He is an astounding person”: Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 5; Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 143, 165; Time, 11/8/48, p. 75.
99 “He liked things that”: Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 11.
99 “It is very easy”: Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 143, 165; Royal, The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 64.
99 Robert was so enraptured: Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 164; Michelmore, The Swift Years, p. 39.
100 Like many Western: For an exploration of the influence of the Bhagavad-Gita on Western intellectuals, see Jeffery Paine, Father India.
100 “Therefore,” he concluded: Smith and Weiner, Letters, pp. 155–56 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 3/12/32).
100 “Why not the Talmud?”: Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82.
101 “The Meghaduta I read”: James A. Hijiya, “The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer”; Smith and Weiner, Letters, p. 180.
101 “Vanquish enemies at arms”: Hijiya, “The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” p. 146; Barbara Stoler Miller, trans., Bhartrihari: Poems, p. 39.
101 “From conversations with him”: Friess, Felix Adler and Ethical Culture, p. 124; Rabi, et al., Oppenheimer, p. 4.
101 “I may, as we all have to”: We are indebted to James Hijiya for suggesting this interpretation of Oppenheimer’s fascination with the Gita (Hijiya, “The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society vol. 144, no. 2 (2000), pp. 161–64; JRO, Flying Trapeze, p. 54).
102 In June 1934: Serber, Peace and War, pp. 25–29.
102 Charlotte took her politics: JRO FBI file, doc. 241, p. 12, 1/31/51, declassified 2001.
102 “no definite evidence”: Ibid.; Barton J. Bernstein, “Interpreting the Elusive Robert Serber,” p. 12.
103 “one of the few really first-rate”: Bernstein, “Interpreting the Elusive Robert Serber,” p. 11; Bernstein cites JRO to Ernest Lawrence, 7/20/38, box 16, Lawrence Papers, UCB.