J. Robert Oppenheimer

J. Robert Oppenheimer is best known for being the scientific director for the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico. He was given the duty to direct and handle the operation of creating the first ever atomic bomb.

He was born in New York City on April 22, 1904 to Julius S. Oppenheimer and Ella Friedman. He excelled in the subjects of science and mathematics throughout his education and attended Harvard University. Even though he excelled in the subjects of science, he also was a very versatile man and went beyond the realms of science courses such as Greek, architecture, art, and literature. He graduated summa cum laude in three years and majored in chemistry.

A great physicist, he contributed to the scientific community in theoretical astrophysics, nuclear physics, spectroscopy, and quantum field theory. Physics was more than just a friend to him. He developed levels of discomfort and psychological troubles and so physics played the important role in helping him through his depressive states.

Communism and the "Red Scare" existed during his time. As a young man who was very intellectual and had money due to inheritance, Oppenheimer became involved and supported Communist ideas. Much of his support was through donations and hosting fund-raisers. However, his political stance was not exact as he never joined the Communist party.

As the scientific director of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, Oppenheimer showed a strong sense of taking control. This created tension between General Groves and himself. Both were on different levels with Oppenheimer seeking for scientific advancement and General Groves wanting an atomic bomb. There interaction was very tense especially with the fact that Oppenheimer was seeing a lady, who was communist, during his activities in the Manhattan Project. This became a hesitant state but over time Oppenheimer decided to end the relationship and concentrate on the project and not ruin his reputation and career or hurt her.

After the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Japan, Oppenheimer worked with various positions in some relations to nuclear-physics. He was an advisor for nuclear related issues such as projects, laboratory construction and policies. He later became senior professor of theoretical physics, which used to be held by Albert Einstein.

In 1953, Oppenheimer was found as a "security risk" and appeared to have he showed communist sympathies as a radical professor even before war. During his hearing of being accused of being a communist sympathizer, Oppenheimer became "a martyr to McCarthyism" because he did not name names to save his reputation. Although stripped of political activities, Oppenheimer continued to lecture, write and work in the field of physics. Oppenheimer in his later years began to drift into a more spartan life style and lived on Saint John in the Virgin Islands. In 1967, Robert Oppenheimer died of throat cancer in Princeton, New Jersey.