“Oppenheimer is the most important man who lived. His story has to be seen to be believed.”

is to bring viewers closer to the figure of the “father of the atomic bomb” Robert Oppenheimer – a physicist who headed the Manhattan Project, and after World War II sought international control of atomic energy and tried to prevent an atomic arms race with the Soviet Union. His views even led to the fact that for a long time the American government suspected him of spying, and only President Kennedy publicly and politically rehabilitated him.

Director Christopher Nolan received a budget of 100 million from the producers for the production of the film dedicated to this character, and he wrote the script based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Oppenheimer. The Triumph and Tragedy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Kai Bird after watching Nolan’s film said: “I’m stunned at the moment and I need to emotionally recover from this screening” –

Robert Oppenheimer. Biography of the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”

Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 in New York City, the eldest son of Julius Oppenheimer, a wealthy textile importer, and Ellie Friedman, a painter. The family emigrated from Germany to the USA in 1888, and thanks to their good financial situation, they could afford to provide the best education for the young Oppenheimer.

From an early age, Robert was eager to learn and learned very quickly. He studied ancient languages ​​and was fascinated by chemistry. Even before starting his studies, he set up his own laboratory, where he conducted various experiments under the supervision of a teacher. He also went to Europe, where he visited Jachymow – there were the largest uranium mines in Europe, which particularly interested the young scientist.

In 1922, Robert Oppenheimer entered Harvard and focused on chemistry, but Percy Bridgeman convinced him to study physics. Three years later, he graduated with honors and went to work at the University of Cambridge. It was there that he came to the conclusion that his chemical experiments were not going as well as he wanted, which caused him to have bouts of depression. After meeting the scientist Niels Bohr, he became convinced that physics was the best choice for him and moved to the University of Göttingen, which in 1926 was the world center of theoretical physics. Oppenheimer met the leading physicists of his time there, and in 1927 he defended his doctorate – he was less than 23 years old.

Oppenheimer’s research contributed greatly to the development of quantum theory. In the early 1930s, he developed the concept of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. This has become one of the most fundamental in quantum chemistry and spectroscopy, and enables the separation of the motion of electrons and nuclei in a molecule. In addition, his greatest scientific achievements are: the theoretical description of the Oppenheimer-Phillips process (this is a type of deuteron-induced nuclear reaction), the development of the theory of quantum tunneling, relativistic quantum mechanics, field theory, the theory of black holes and cosmic radiation, as well as his work on electrons and positrons. Oppenheimer is the founder of the American School of Theoretical Physics, and took over the position of Senior Professor of Theoretical Physics from Albert Einstein.

In May 1942, Oppenheimer was invited to participate in the secret government science program leading to the creation of the atomic bomb – today known as the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer accepted the position of scientific head of the project and outlined a plan of action, including the separation of four scientific departments (theoretical and experimental physics, chemistry and metallurgy, and explosives). Years later, the physicist Victor Weisskopf who worked in his team recalled that Oppenheimer was not a typical boss by those times and standards. He did not manage the work from behind the desk, but actively participated in the work of all research groups, which had an exceptionally good effect on the morale of the group and the atmosphere of creative work.

It was Oppenheimer who decided to change the detonation technology to the implosion method instead of the cannon method, and thanks to the enormous effort of the whole team, the design of the experimental plutonium bomb was born. On July 16, 1945, the Trinity experiment successfully detonated an atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer was indeed perceived as an erudite and very volatile person with broad horizons, capable of a broad understanding of science. However, he was not an emotionally stable man. He was depressed and his friends thought he was self-destructive. However, as a rule, his associates considered him a rather ascetic person, something of a reserved genius. Those unfavorable to him thought that he was pretentious, insecure and prone to pretense.

Even before the Manhattan Project got underway, American counterintelligence had raised serious doubts about Oppenheimer’s candidacy. Before the war, the scientist maintained contacts with members of the communist party, his radical political views were also troublesome. This problem returned a few years later. In 1946, Oppenheimer became chairman of the advisory committee of the US Atomic Energy Commission and used his position to rather cool down enthusiasm for building a hydrogen bomb.

His desire to develop a system of international control of atomic energy and stop the arms race with the USSR led to a political trial against him in 1954. As a result, he was deprived of access to secret government documents, which, however, did not prevent him from continuing his scientific work – until 1966 he was the director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He died on February 18, 1967 of laryngeal cancer.

“Oppenheimer”. What do you need to know about the movie?

“Oppenheimer” is Christopher Nolan’s first screenplay written in the first person – the director was particularly keen to show the main character’s perspective. The filmmaker also opted for color and black-and-white scenes to emphasize the differences between objective and subjective perspectives. Color shots are to show Oppenheimer’s point of view, and a more objective view of things is to provide viewers with black and white shots taken from the perspective of other characters. The film crew also decided to visualize Oppenheimar’s ideas about the quantum world and waves of energy.

Nolan also decided to show the difficulties of Oppenheimer’s life, especially those related to the sexual sphere. The director decided to raise the topic of the affair with Jean Tatlock and her influence on the life of the physicist – she was a communist, which later had serious consequences for him. The production is also to address concerns about the potential consequences of a nuclear catastrophe. The team was supposed to put a lot of effort into reproducing the explosion of the atomic bomb, which was reportedly shocking.

In the nearly three-hour film, viewers will see a whole galaxy of Hollywood stars. Cillian Murphy starred in the title role, and Emily Blunt played the scientist’s wife, Katherine Oppenheimer. Matt Damon portrayed Leslie Groves, while Robert Downey Jr. (who claims it to be the best film of his acting career) portrays Lewis Strauss. The production also includes Oscar nominee Florence Pugh, Oscar winners Rami Malek and Gary Oldman, as well as Kenneth Branagh and Josh Hartnett. Emily Blunt said in one of the interviews that the script of the film is very emotional and she has the impression that the director turned a biographical film into a thriller using the Trojan horse method.