The trailer of Christopher Nolan-directed biographical film ‘Oppenheimer‘ recently dropped. It has impressed every film fan with its ambiance, great visuals, and of course, Cillian Murphy. The film is based on theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer is called the “father of the atomic bomb” and was the mind behind the creation of atomic bombs. Murphy plays the titular character in Nolan’s biographical film. Let’s find out in detail about the life and work of the theoretical physicist.
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Who Was J. Robert Oppenheimer?
Born on April 22, 1904, in New York City, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s parents were Ella and Julius Seligmann Oppenheimer, a painter and a wealthy textile importer respectively.
After initial studies, Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the age of 23 in March 1927 and was given a United States National Research Council fellowship at the California Institute of Technology.
He eventually became a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. As a part of the Manhattan Project, he became the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory to develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II.
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The Manhattan Project
During World War II, the Manhattan project was started by the United States to develop the first nuclear weapons. For his role in the project, Oppenheimer has been called the “father of the atomic bomb“.
He was one of the people who oversaw and supervised the Trinity test in New Mexico, where the first nuclear detonation took place on July 16, 1945. After the explosion, Oppenheimer quoted Bhagvat Gita and said, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
The weapons were used in August 1945 to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. After the war, Oppenheimer become an advocate for international control of nuclear power and joined the General Advisory Committee of AEC. He was diagnosed with throat cancer because of his chain smoking in 1965 and died on February 18, 1967, at age 62.
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