American Scientist:

Robert Oppenheimer

Main Life Accomplishments:

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his role as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project: the World War II effort to develop the first nuclear weapons at the secret Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. For this reason he is remembered as "the father of the atomic bomb". In reference to the Trinity test in New Mexico, where his Los Alamos team first tested the bomb, Oppenheimer famously recalled the Bhagavad Gita: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

After the war Oppenheimer was a chief advisor to the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission and used that position to lobby for international control of atomic energy and to avert the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. After provoking the ire of many politicians with his outspoken political opinions during the Red Scare, he had his security clearance revoked in a much-publicized and politicized hearing in 1954. Though stripped of his direct political influence Oppenheimer continued to lecture, write, and work in physics. A decade later President John F. Kennedy awarded him (and President Lyndon B. Johnson presented him) the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation.

As a scientist Oppenheimer is remembered most for being the chief founder of the American school of theoretical physics while at the University of California, Berkeley. At the Institute for Advanced Study he would hold Einstein's old position of Senior Professor of Theoretical Physics. Oppenheimer's notable achievements in physics include the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, work on electron-positron theory, the Oppenheimer-Phillips process, quantum tunneling, relativistic quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, black holes, and cosmic rays.

 

Basics:

Born:  April 22, 1904 New York, New York, U.S.

Died:  February 18, 1967 (aged 62) Princeton, New Jersey

Nationality:  American

Religion:  Jewish 

Fields:  Science

Main Accomplishments:  He was a famous physicist from United States of Jewish religion.
 

Chronology of Life Events:

1904
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22, 1904.

1925
He graduated from Harvard University in 1925 and went to England to do research at Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory.

1927
In 1927 he received his doctorate from Gottingen University in Germany, where he met other prominent physicists such as Niels Bohr and P.A.M. Dirac.

1943
Upon his return to the United States, he became a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley and California Institute of Technology. In 1943 Oppenheimer selected the Los Alamos site for the laboratory.

1945
On July 16, 1945, Oppenheimer witnessed the first explosion of an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. "We knew the world would not be the same," he said. Within a month, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese cities. Japan surrendered on August 10, 1945.

1947
After the war he resigned is post, and from 1947 to 1966 he was the director of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study.

1925

After graduating Harvard in 1925, he sailed to England to study quantum mechanics at the University of Cambridge, where he worked with Ernest Rutherford, one of the pioneers of atomic theory.

1927
Further studies at Gottingen University yielded his doctorate in 1927. He returned to the United States to teach physics at the University of
Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology.

1930's
During the 1930's, Oppenheimer was able to put together teams of talented, young theoretical physicists, and his early research was devoted to subatomic particles, including electrons, positrons, and cosmic rays.

1954
In 1954, during the period of anti-Communist hysteria promoted by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, the federal Personnel Security Board withdrew his military security clearance. Oppenheimer thus became the worldwide symbol of the scientist who becomes the victim of a witch-hunt while trying to solve the moral problems rising out of scientific discoveries.

1963
His clearance was reinstated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1963, and he was given the Enrico Fermi Award of the Atomic Energy Commission.

1967
On February 18, 1967, he died of throat cancer at Princeton. (1)

Honors and awards

1963

The Enrico Fermi Award of the Atomic Energy Commission.

 

Early Life:

J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York on April 22, 1904. It was the perfect time and place for the future physicist to have entered the world: the turn of the century ushered in a golden age of technological advances, and the power of science seemed infinite. In the few years before and after the birth of the twentieth century, day-to-day life changed radically. Suddenly, buildings had electric power, people were connected by telephone lines and radios, cars filled the roadways, and skyscrapers rose into the sky. And New York was the center of it all.

Into this hopeful and newly electrified world, Oppenheimer was born. His father, Julius, had fled the Old World–Europe–as a teenager, hoping to escape the religious persecution of which, as a Jew, he was a prime target. While anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jews) did exist in the United States, it was not nearly so pronounced or institutionalized as it was in Europe. Julius joined a flood of émigrés searching for religious freedom in the New World. Oppenheimer's mother, Ella, was also Jewish, but her family had been in New York for generations. Julius and Ella married in 1903, and Robert, their first son, was born a year later. They had a second son, Frank, the younger brother to whom Oppenheimer would remain close all his life.

Growing up, Oppenheimer lived in a swanky apartment on New York's Upper West Side, enjoying all the benefits of a life of privilege. The family employed a cook, servants, and a chauffeur; family dinners were formal and even the children were required to wear proper attire–usually, a suit and tie.

From the start, Oppenheimer seemed destined for science. When young Robert was five years old, the Oppenheimer family went on a trip to Germany to visit their remaining relatives there. Oppenheimer's grandfather gave him a collection of minerals, and Oppenheimer was immediately entranced–he became a devoted rock collector. As soon as he got home, he began taking trips into the countryside, searching for new specimens. At the age of eleven, Oppenheimer joined the New York Mineralogical Club, and one year later, he made his scientific debut there, presenting his first scientific paper.

Hoping to give him the best education possible, Oppenheimer's parents sent him to the famous New York School for Ethical Culture, which he attended from second grade through his graduation from high school. The school was run by another European émigré, Felix Adler, who believed in teaching his students science, Ancient Greek and Roman classics, literature, and "moral law." By the time he graduated, Oppenheimer could speak five languages and had gained a lifelong passion for art, literature, and philosophy.

Oppenheimer was a good student–earning As in almost all his classes–but socially, he was not quite as successful. The young scholar was too focused on his studies and too sure of his own brilliance to make many friends. His peers thought of him as arrogant, excessively proper, and unpleasantly distant, and for the most part, they stayed away. Oppenheimer did make a couple close friends. To one of them, his high school English teacher, he once confessed, "I'm the loneliest man in the world."

Arrogant, ambitious, and alone, Oppenheimer graduated from high school and left New York to embark on a new challenge–Harvard University–to begin his scientific career. Arrogant as he was, even Oppenheimer couldn't have imagined the phenomenal success that was to greet him in his professional life.

 

Wife Background:

Katherine (Kitty) Puening Harrison Oppenheimer, born Aug. 8, 1910 Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Wife of Nuclear Physicst J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967). Died while taking a round the world boat cruise.

 

Father Background:

His father, Julius Oppenheimer, was a German immigrant who worked in his family's textile importing business.

 

Mother Background:

His mother, Ella Friedman, was a painter whose family had been in New York for generations.

 
 
SuperAttainer

ANALYSIS SECTION:

 
 
1. Early Success
 

When did the SuperAttainer first display ability that was greatly above average and what were his accomplishments? 
 

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2. Contrarian

 
What actions did the SuperAttainer take that demonstrated a mindset that was very different from those around him?
 

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3. Conceited
 
What are the actions and documented statements that exhibit an elevated sense of self importance of the SuperAttainer? 
 
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4. Hard-Knocked 
 
During what events did the SuperAttainer experience personal misery and severe anxiety?
  

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5. Loner
 
Is there evidence of the SuperAttainer being comfortable spending time apart from others? 
 

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6. Mentored & Motivated
 
Who was vital to developing the SuperAttainer and guiding his career and what significant actions were taken?
 

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7. Discontent
 
What evidence is there that the SuperAttainer was unsatisfied with even great personal accomplishment?
 

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8. Promoted
 
What actions or events were responsible for publicizing the tremendous achievements and abilities of the SuperAttainer?
 

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Overall Score:

x out of 8 = xx% 

PASS

SuperAttainer Type:

Describe the factors in the SuperAttainer’s background to indicate whether he is a Come-From-Nothing or Aristocratic type..

Conclusion:

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