El Padre de la Bomba Atomica.
A book review of American Prometheus.
“El Padre de la Bomba Atomica.”
When he traveled through South America, that was the name a newspaper called him.
That was the identity he was known by all over the world- The father of the atomic bomb. It was an identity that was forged in the middle of his life. At 39, Oppenheimer became the Director of Los Alamos, the laboratory site that would develop the Atomic Bomb for the United States during the Second World War.
Before that, he was a brilliant lecturer and a troubled teenager, and after that, he became the public image of science, only behind Einstein, a martyr for science and reason and a victim of America's paranoia about communism.
Robert Oppenheimer was born into privilege. He had no need. He attended the best schools and received all the love possible from his parents. His interests were broad. He was the quintessential Renaissance man. He loved literature, he read poetry, he collected rocks, he loved deciphering the laws of nature, and he loved science. With the encouragement of his teacher, he settled to be a theoretical physicist. This is where his legend will be forged. As a lecturer, he supported his students; he went beyond board to help his students succeed. For Oppie, the love of knowledge and the love of sharing knowledge superseded everything else. Science was his girlfriend. Sorry, science was his god. And he was the prophet.
He had a remarkable mind, a mind that could learn everything about anything. He was impatient with those he considered to be fools.
While his marriage to science was beautiful, his love life with humans and girls was something else. His love for Dr. Jean Tatlock was fierce, but it ended when Jean called it off. She will regret that decision to her death. He married Kitty, the widow of an ex-communist who died in Spain, volunteering to fight against fascism. This marriage will produce a son and a daughter. It was not an easy marriage, but it had some lessons for today's world. The couple stayed with each other right through the end. Oppie loved Kitty to a fault; he loved her beyond reproach. He just accepted her the way she was.
On the other hand, Kitty was totally devoted to the life and career of Oppie. The way she was herself was that she was the guardian of his life. They were buried at the same spot on the water at Gibney Beach.
As the Second World War began, it became clear that anyone ahead in science would win the war. Scientists had dabbled with the thought of creating a big bomb for a while. They weren't sure that scientific knowledge could lead. One day, Oppie was informed by his friend that it was theoretically possible to develop such a bomb, and the Nazis were up to it. At first, he didn’t believe it. He shouted, “Impossible!”. By listening, he came around to see that it was possible. From that moment on, Oppie became the most prominent advocate of America, pouring its industrial might into developing this bomb. His logic was simple- The Germans were already on this; if they had developed this bomb, America and the whole world would be finished; in fact, civilization as they knew it was over. Therefore, America had to develop this bomb
.
A few months earlier, Leo Szilard had written a letter that he got Albert Einstein to sign and send to President Franklin Roosevelt. This letter was instrumental in the US establishing the Manhattan Project, which eventually led to the atomic bomb. A secret site was built from scratch at Los Alamos, and its Director was Dr. Robert J Oppenheimer. This guy who had troubled teenage years, who was socially awkward but obviously a genius, became a leader of men of science and military, a marriage between a group that hated authority and others whose existence and actions are based on authority. Surprisingly, Oppie managed this team well. Oppie became a leader in this strange environment. He matured and led from the front. All those who worked with him, including the generals, came to respect him. Of course, they succeeded in developing the atomic bomb and using it against Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Oppie has been criticized over the years; conservatives and liberals have criticized him at various points. To some, he is the ultimate image of evil for creating the atomic bomb. I do not agree. You have to understand Oppenheimer by looking at the whole man and the context of his day. America was in a war. The whole Western world was a war with a nation whose chief objective was to destroy everyone that stood in its way, Nazi Germany. You can be sure that if Hitler had developed the atomic bomb, he would not have a single question about using it. Before joining the Manhattan Project, Oppie was one of those citizens who were deeply concerned about the welfare of others. He was involved in various humanitarian projects. It was his quest to ameliorate the suffering of humanity that would eventually end his career. In the period he was involved in helping the less privileged, he did most of his work with communist party members; although he never became a communist, his enemies will use his association with communists to destroy him more than 20 years later.
Oppie had become influential in Washington policy circles by the end of the war. He disagreed with many steps the government sought to take. He opposed the Hydrogen bomb that America sought to create. Because he was Oppenheimer, the popular scientist and charming fellow, his enemies in Washington rallied to stop him. Unfortunately, they succeeded. His story became a repeat of Galileo's. His story continued in the order of the battle between science and government. This man who had served his government faithfully became an outcast. Outside the government, Oppie continued to provide insight into the atomic bomb and its impact on the world. At the age of 61, he was diagnosed with cancer, and that began a gradual decline for the man whose life had a big impact on the trajectory of the 21st century. The greatest of men are still men. This mortal coil will be rolled up on each of us. For Oppie, his light went off on February 18, 1967.
Oppie will remain a subject of controversy for as long as humans continue to live. As a man, he was one of the best of us. As a father, he was average. As a scientist, he plugged the forbidden fruit. Now, we have to live with the consequences.
This book was an excellent read. I enjoyed it very much. American Prometheus has won the Pulitzer Prize. This book inspired the recently released movie by Christopher Nolan. I heard it was 25 years in the making; it was worth it. Oppie has been properly immortalized for the ages. You can see him in his wholeness within this book.
A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY.
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