Physicist pioneered nuclear reaction

Web posted Saturday, November 4, 2000

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By Brandon Haddock
Staff Writer

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer puffs on a pipe during an interview at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., April 5, 1963. Oppenheimer, who directed the Manhattan Project that developed the first atom bomb, regretted his participation in the program in his later years. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In service to his country, Julius Robert Oppenheimer led the design of the most devastating weapon the world has ever known. In return, his nation deemed him unworthy of the secrets of his own creation.

Dr. Oppenheimer, known as ``the father of the atomic bomb,'' led the United States' efforts to develop a nuclear weapon and founded the national laboratory at Los Alamos, N.M., that designed the first atomic bombs and those since.

A brilliant physicist and a Harvard graduate, Dr. Oppenheimer spent years studying in Europe's intellectual centers before returning to the United States in 1929 to settle in Berkeley, Calif., as a professor.

In 1942, he joined the Manhattan Project, the supersecret effort to develop the atomic bomb - a task achieved within three years.

Like Dr. Frankenstein reacting to his monster, Dr. Oppenheimer came to resent and fear his creation. As he watched Trinity - the first successful test of an atomic bomb July 16, 1945 - the physicist famously quoted Hindu scripture: ``I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.''

Shortly afterward, Dr. Oppenheimer resigned the directorship of Los Alamos National Laboratory, although he subsequently served as a top adviser to the federal Atomic Energy Commission. He also was one of several scientists who pushed for international regulation of atomic energy in order to curb the growing threat of nuclear warfare.

But by 1953, the physicist found himself victimized by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy's ``Red Scare.''

Dr. Oppenheimer was forced to defend himself against allegations of treason, brought about by a youthful dalliance with communism, suspected ties to Soviet Russia and his opposition to development of the hydrogen bomb - a position the scientist shared with many fellow fathers of the Atomic Age.

Dr. Oppenheimer was found innocent but was stripped of access to military secrets and of his role as adviser to the Atomic Energy Commission.

Years later, the nation attempted to atone for its mistreatment of one of its most renowned scientists. In 1963, President Johnson presented Dr. Oppenheimer with the Atomic Energy Commission's Enrico Fermi Award.

Four years later, the scientist's tumultuous life and service to his country came to an end. On Feb. 18, 1967, at age 62, Dr. Oppenheimer died of throat cancer.

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