When World War II began, Oppenheimer became involved in the efforts to develop an atomic bomb, which were already taking up much of the time and facilities of the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley. He was invited to take over work on neutron calculations, and in June 1942 General Leslie Groves appointed Oppenheimer as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project.
Under Oppenheimer’s guidance, Los Alamos laboratories were constructed. There he was managing more than 3,000 people, as well as tackling theoretical and mechanical problems that arose.
He is often referred to as the “father” of the atomic bomb.
He is an asshole. My grandfather use to shine shoes at Los Alamos and Oppenheimer would always get his shoes shined and not tip. One day my grandfather said something about it and Oppenheimer said, “Go fuck yourself.” A real piece of shit.
Well, now they say he gradually descended into insanity, and he was never that stable to begin with.
I’m just going to get this over with because everyone quotes this but it’s still awesome. After the first bomb was tested he quoted the Mahabharat: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Wow, Drew is that true or just a joke?
And he really said that? “Destroyer of worlds”, that sounds strangely familiar. How come I never heard of this guy before, I need to include him in my book of epic.
Some of the greatest people are total assholes… look at Steve Jobs. He’s a master of design and marketing but he’s one of the biggest assholes in history. I hate him so much I can’t even bring myself to consider buying any of the few Apple products I actually like.
Oppenheimer was a stud that did more for the US than any 10 people I know.
I personally couldn’t care is he bent over and fucked the shoe shine guy – he would still be a stud compared to the rest of us.
Too bad he became mentally unstable. I guess extreme studliness can do that to a person.