by Ray Monk
Frank Oppenheimer
Jean Tatlock, Oppenheimer’s fiancée and fellow-traveler in 1930s radical politics.
Steve Nelson, a leading figure in the US Communist Party and in the attempts to provide the Soviet Union with the allies’ atomic secrets.
Joe Weinberg, Rossi Lomanitz, David Bohm and Max Friedman pose for a street photographer, a picture that would arouse the FBI’s interest in all four for many years after it was taken.
The staff of the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley sitting on the 60-inch cyclotron in 1939. Lawrence is on the front row, fourth from the left; Oppenheimer is on the top at the back with a pipe in his mouth.
Julian Schwinger, who became Oppenheimer’s research assistant in 1940 and went on to develop quantum electrodynamics, to win the Nobel Prize and be recognised as one of America’s greatest ever physicists.
Young, brilliant and mischievous Richard Feynman, who is Schwinger’s main rival for the greatest physicist the USA has ever produced.
The Los Alamos Ranch School, which became the site of the laboratory that produced the world’s first atomic bombs.
The indomitable General Groves, whose fearsome power of will was an important factor in the success of the Manhattan Project.
Enrico Fermi in Chicago in 1942, at a time when he was working on the project that would succeed in producing the world’s first fission chain-reaction.
The graphite pile at Stagg Field in Chicago, where, on 2 December 1942, Fermi and his team successfully produced a chain reaction, thereby showing that it was indeed possible to produce energy through nuclear fission.
Hans Bethe in the 1940s.
Klaus Fuchs
Edward Teller, 1956.
Typically unimpressive results of Seth Neddermeyer’s early attempts at implosion.
The Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombs.
The ‘Little Boy’ design, as reverse engineered by John Coster-Mullen.
Workers at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Though they did not know it, what they were doing was controlling the isotope separation plants that produced the enriched uranium that was used in the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.
Preparing the Trinity Test, the world’s first experience of an atomic explosion.
Preparing the Trinity Test, the world’s first experience of an atomic explosion.
The Trinity explosion. ‘A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remember the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multiarmed form and says: “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”’
Oppenheimer and Groves at the Trinity Test site.
Photograph taken by Robert Serber of the effects of the atomic bombs in Japan.
Oppenheimer and Kitty in Japan, 1960.
The cover of the first issue of Physics Today, May 1948. Oppenheimer was by this time so famous he could be represented just by his hat.
Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard in 1946, recreating for the film Atomic Power the moment in 1939 when they drafted the famous letter to President Roosevelt that led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
The ‘technically sweet’ Ulam-Teller design of the hydrogen bomb.
The Mike Test in 1952, the first successful explosion of a fusion device, the force of which was 800-1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
Oppenheimer lectures Ed Murrow on physics during the making of the television programme See It Now.
Oppenheimer with Paul Dirac and Abraham Pais at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Oppenheimer, Toni and Peter at Olden Manor, Princeton
Lewis Strauss
Edward Teller congratulates Oppenheimer on his Fermi Prize award in 1964, attracting icy looks from Kitty.
Oppenheimer giving a speech during his last visit to Los Alamos in 1964.
Oppenheimer photographed for Life magazine, 1949.
Notes and References
The page references in this notes correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the notes, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
IN THE NOTES below Oppenheimer is referred to as ‘JRO’; his archive of papers, deposited at the Library of Congress, as ‘JRO papers, LOC’; Smith and Weiner (1980) as ‘S & W’; Bird and Sherwin (2005) as ‘B & S’; United States Atomic Energy Commission, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Transcript of Hearing before Personnel Security Board as ‘ITMO’; and Oppenheimer’s co-correspondents, family members, biographers and interviewers as follows:
AE Albert Einstein
AIP American Institute of Physics (see list of interviews on page 784)
AKS Alice Kimball Smith
CA Carl Anderson
CW Charles Weiner
ECK Edwin C. Kemble
EOL Ernest O. Lawrence
ET Edward Teller
EUC Ed Condon
FF Francis Fergusson
FO Frank Oppenheimer
GU George Uhlenbeck
HC Haakon Chevalier
HWS Herbert W. Smith
IIR Isidor Isaac Rabi
JBC James B. Conant
JE John Edsall
JEH J. Edgar Hoover
JW Jeffries Wyman
KDN Major General Kenneth D. Nichols
LRG Leslie R. Groves
MB Max Born
MJS Martin J. Sherwin
NB Niels Bohr
PAMD Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
PE Paul Ehrenfest
PH Paul Horgan
PWB Percy W. Bridgman
REP Raymond E. Priestley
TSK Thomas S. Kuhn
WP Wolfgang Pauli
Dates are given in the British (rather than the American) style, so that, for example, 1.2.1964 means 1 February 1964, not 2 January 1964.
Preface
x. ‘Oppie did his physics’: Kelly (2006), 136
xi. highly derivative: compare Pais (2006) Chapter 6 with Robert Serber’s article, ‘Particle physics in the 1930s: a view from Berkeley’, in Brown and Hoddeson (1983), 206–21
Part I: 1904–1926
1. ‘Amerika, du hast es besser’: Oppenheimer’s German Jewish Background
3. ‘a man who’: Rigden (1987), 231
3. ‘never got to be’: ibid., 229
3. ‘tried to act’: ibid., 228
3. ‘you carried on’: Bernstein (2004), 3
3. ‘I understood his problem’: ibid.
3. ‘These are my people’: Rigden (1987), 229
4. Rabi was a ‘Polish Jew’: see Rigden (1987)
4. In New York: what follows is based on the accounts of the history of the Jewish community in New York given in Barkai (1994), Cohen (1984), Diner (1992), Gay (1965), Klingenstein (1991), Kosak (2000), Mauch & Salmons (2003), Raphael (1983), Ribalow (1965) and Sorin (1992).
5. Haskalah: see Barkai (1994), Cohen (1984), Diner (1992) and Pulzer (1992)
5. ‘Amerika, du hast es besser’: see Goethes Werke, Weimar: Hermann Bahlau, Volume 1, 137, quoted in Cohen (1984), 17. In full, the poem reads:
Amerika, du hast es besser
Als unser Kontinent, das alte,
Hast keine verfallene Schlösser
Und keine Basalte.
Dich stört nicht im Innern,
Zu lebendiger Zeit,
Unnützes Erinnern
Und vergeblicher Streit.
Benutzt die Gegenwart mit Glück!
Und wenn nun eure Kinder dichten,
Bewahre sie ein gut Geschick
Vor Ritter-, Rauber- und Gespenstergeschichten.
An English translation, published in Fraser’s Magazine in May 1831, reads:
America, thou hast it better
Than our ancient hemisphere;
Thou hast no falling castles,
Nor basalt, as here.
Thy children, they know not,
Their youthful prime
to mar,
Vain retrospection,
Nor ineffective war.
Fortune wait on thy glorious spring!
And, when in time thy poets sing,
May some good genius guard them all
From Baron, Robber, Knight, and Ghost traditional.
See Melz (1949) and Riley (1952)
6. beginning in the 1820s: see Diner (1992)
6. ‘the beautiful ground’: quoted in Barkai (1994), 5
7. ‘Third Migration’: see Sorin (1992)
7. their first reaction: ibid., 50
7. ‘the privileges and duties’: ibid., 87
7. ‘These uptowners’: ibid., 86
7. August Schönberg: Birmingham (1967), 24–5
8. Joseph Seligman: ibid., 132
8. Joseph Seligman’s children: ibid.
8. Robert Anderson: see Lawson and Lawson (1911)
8. his birth certificate: see Bernstein (2004), 12, footnote 4
8. ‘As appears’: Percy Bridgman in a letter of recommendation to Ernest Rutherford, 24 June 1925. See S & W, 77
9. ‘an unsuccessful small businessman’: JRO, interview with TSK, 18.11.1963. See S & W, 3
9. his son, Julius: the following account of Julius, his uncles and his siblings relies on that given in Cassidy (2005), Chapter 1
9. ‘Our Crowd’: see Birmingham (1967)
10. ‘Our crowd here’: Sachs (1927), 219, quoted in Birmingham (1967), 256
10. in December 1862: see Cohen (1984), 148–53
10. ‘how thin’: Cohen (1984), 149
11. Max Lilienthal: see Barkai (1994), 122
11. On 3 January 1863: ibid.
11. ‘becoming more Americanized’: Birmingham (1967), 116
12. ‘the first gentile’: ibid., 118
12. ‘The Bank’: ibid., 119: italics in the original
12. ‘Seligman Affair’: ibid., Chapter 18
12. The comic weekly Puck: quoted in ibid., 145
12. ‘Gentile and Jew’: ibid., 145–6
12. ‘Hebrews need not apply’: ibid., 147
12. ‘The Jews and Coney Island’: reprinted in Raphael (1983), 260–3
12. ‘We cannot bring’: ibid., 261
13. ‘was to have’: Birmingham (1967), 147–8
13. Felix Adler: see Neumann (1951), Radest (1969)
13. ‘The Judaism of the Future’: see Radest (1969), 17
13. ‘was not given’: ibid.
14. in 1876, Adler gave a talk: ibid., 27
14. ‘We propose’: ibid., 27–8
14. ‘Adler’s proposal’: ibid., 28
14. February 1877: ibid., 45
14. ‘The Sunday Meeting’: ibid., 46
14. ‘Ethical Culture seemed’: ibid., 47
15. In 1874–5: Cassidy (2005), 5. Cassidy reports that Solomon alone is listed, and later (23) he says that Sigmund was still in Europe at this time. As he points out himself (page 5, footnote 11), however, Sigmund’s death certificate gives his year of immigration into the United States as 1869, so I am inclined to think that the company listed in the New York City Directory for 1874–5 actually included both brothers.
15. they appear: see Cassidy (2005), 23. Since Sigmund had been in America since 1869, I am inclined to believe that he and Solomon were both founder members of the Society.
15. funeral service: see Birmingham (1967), 149
15. In 1887: ibid., 258
15. ‘our good Jews’: ibid.
15. ‘the first recognisably’: ibid.
15. Solomon and Sigmund Rothfeld: Cassidy (2005), 6
15. ‘Race Prejudice at Summer Resorts’: reprinted in Raphael (1983), 263–70
15. ‘Only within’: ibid., 263
16. ‘In seeking reasons’: ibid., 265
16. The American Jew: parts of it are reprinted in Raphael (1983), 270–8
16. ‘the book that’: ibid., 259
16. ‘their hooked noses’: ibid., 271
16. ‘long coats’: ibid.
16. ‘Let the Jews’: ibid., 276
16. ‘The Jew must go!’: ibid., 278
17. he is listed: Cassidy (2005), 23
17. ‘New York’s leading Jewish banker’: see Birmingham (1967), 230
17. ‘not a personal matter’: ibid., 239
17. ‘His bitterness’: ibid., 240
17. It moved its office: Cassidy (2005), 9
18. younger brother Emil: Cassidy (2005), 4 and 9
18. In 1900: ibid., 9
18. In 1903: ibid.
18. Ella Friedman: what follows is based on the accounts given in Cassidy (2005), 10–11, and B & S, 10–11
18. According to her son: see Thorpe (2006), 21
18. her family tree: see http://americanjewisharchives.org/pdfs/stern_p021.pdf
18. mentioned several times: see Morais (1894), 104, 105, 193, 250
19. ‘a gentle, exquisite’: see Life magazine, 10 October 1949, 124
19. When a girlfriend: Goodchild (1980), 22
19. Both suggestions: see, e.g., Cassidy (2005), 11
19. ‘spent his free hours’: B & S, 10
19. ‘proper gentlemen’: Goodchild (1980), 10
20. ‘there are special occasions’: Adler (1886), 85–6
20. Upon Sigmund’s death: Cassidy (2005), 9
20. the men who succeeded Felix Adler: Radest (1969), 95
21. In the old days: ibid., 136
21. ‘supremely enviable’: Adler (1915), 165
21. ‘I would urge’: ibid., 167: italics in the original
21. ‘plea to the wealthy’: ibid., 172
21. ‘The habit’: Adler (1886), 97
22. ‘haven’t enough physical courage’: Sachs (1927), 219
22. a society that set up: see Neumann (1951), 19ff.
23. ‘Two things fill’: the famous opening sentence of the conclusion of Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason
23. ‘The moral law’: Adler (1886), 33, 60
23. ‘act only’: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1997), 31
23. ‘The rule reads’: Adler (1933), 147
23. ‘high endeavour’: Adler (1886), 15
23. ‘Truly disinterestedness’: ibid.
23. ‘The pursuit of the artist’: ibid.
23. ‘the Ideal’: ibid., 89
2. Childhood
24. ‘My life’: Time magazine, 8 November 1948, 70
24. ‘an unctuous’: ibid.
24. ‘Not religion as a duty’: Adler (1886), 97
24. ‘a hearty’: FF, interview with MJS, 8.6.1979, quoted B & S, 13
24. A friend later recalled: HWS, interview with CW, 1.8.1974, quoted B & S, 27
24. ‘a woman who’: B & S, 13
25. ‘a general distrust’: FO, interview with CW, 9.2.1973, quoted Cassidy (2005), 16
25. Lewis Frank Oppenheimer: see Bernstein (2004), 6
25. ‘a mournful person’: PH, interview with AKS, 14.4.1976, quoted S & W, 2
25. ‘I think my father’: JRO, interview with TSK, 18.11.1963, quoted S & W, 5
26. ‘Just as I do’: Michelmore (1969), 4. A slightly different version of the story is given in Royal (1969), 19. Neither gives a source for the story.
26. ‘I repaid’: Royal (1969), 16
26. he met Benjamin Oppenheimer: JRO, interview with TSK, 18.11.1963, quoted S & W, 3
26. in October 1910: Cassidy (2005), 29
27. in 1878: see Cassidy (2005), 33
27. ‘a broad and generous education’: Friess (1981), 100
27. in 1890: see Schweber (2000), 49
27. only 10 per cent: ibid.
28. ‘We all did’: B & S, 25
28. ‘The school is to be’: Cassidy (2005), 36
28. ‘To larger truths’: Adler (1886), 178
28. ‘spiritual fetters’: ibid.
28. ‘All over this land’: ibid., 178–9
28. in 1908: see Radest (1969), 94
28. ‘The Ame
rican ideal’: see Adler (1915), 73
29. Four times a year: see Cassidy (2005), 40–1
29. fabulously wealthy Guggenheim family: see Birmingham (1967), 271–5
29. ‘like a gentleman’: ibid., 274
29. ‘light complexion’: ibid., 272
29. ‘would not have surmised’: ibid., 273
30. He once remarked: see Bethe (1997), 176
30. ‘He was still a little boy’: S & W, 7
30. ‘rather gauche’: B & S, 22
30. ‘a great need’: ibid.
30. ‘Ask me a question in Latin’: ibid.
30. ‘so far ahead’: Cassidy (2005), 44
30. mostly A− and B+: ibid., 43
30. ‘When I was ten’: S & W, 3
31. New York Mineralogical Club: see B & S, 14–15
31. an expanded version: see Adler (1915)
31. ‘Many of our fellow-citizens’: ibid., 58
31. ‘Public opinion’: ibid., 58–9
31. ‘The German ideal’: ibid., 63
31. ‘The national ideal’: ibid., 68
31. ‘is that of the uncommon quality’: ibid., 73
32. ‘only a symptom’: ibid., 5
32. ‘If we wish’: ibid.
32. ‘The time will come’: quoted in Radest (1969), 191–2
32. high opinion’: New York Times, 31 January 1916, quoted in Cassidy (2005), 49
32. ‘Anything German’: ibid., 183
32. ‘the duty of every high school chap’: Inklings, 3 June 1917, quoted Cassidy (2005), 53
33. ‘In discussing the war’: Cassidy (2005), 55