Oppenheimer, J. Robert
Oppenheimer, J. Robert (1904–1967), physicist.Perhaps the most controversial scientist of this century, J. Robert Oppenheimer was awarded kudos in the 1940s for his contributions to the war effort and censure for allegedly betraying the country of his birth. Born in New York City and educated at Harvard and Görringen, Oppenheimer earned his Ph.D. in 1927 and quickly became recognized as a leader in theoretical physics, simultaneously rising through the academic ranks at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley, and gathering large numbers of the best scientific minds in the United States to his seminars and laboratories. In so doing, he became the catalyst for the emergence of American theoretical physics as preeminent in the world.
At the National Academy of Scientists in 1941, Oppenheimer led a group of scientists in theoretical discussions of nuclear bombs. Although intensely ambivalent...
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