Oak Ridge Guest House, U.S.
Photographer: Ed Westcott.
An outstanding theoretical physicist and a man of contradicting tastes, Robert J. Oppenheimer strikes a cool and composed pose with a Chesterfield cigarette wedged between his fingers in this photo taken on the 14th of February 1946 at the Oak Ridge guest house in Tennessee, U.S.
Oppenheimer at the time was attending a conference chaired by David Lilienthal and from which a month later had emerged the Acheson Lilienthal report – intended for the International Control of Atomic Energy. Which essentially was a short-lived proposal to allow an international scientific community to research nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Father of the Atomic age.
Honored as the father of the atomic age for the instrumental part he played in producing the world’s first atomic bombs. Oppenheimer’s role in the Manhattan Project was both phenomenal and tragic. A naturalized American citizen of German Jewish parentage with a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Gottingen in Germany. Although he was handpicked to steer the Los Alamos Scientific Community as its scientific director in 1942.
He was later accused of being a Soviet spy in lieu of his communist views, publicly humiliated and detached from the nuclear program. After he had refused to build a hydrogen bomb in the budding phase of the arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Selected by Major General Leslie Groves from among a throng of highly capable men. In spite of lacking the managerial experience to undertake an enormous project of critical importance. Let alone organize resources and lead an eminent panel of Nobel prize-winning scientists. Oppenheimer’s strength had lain in his impressive ability to quickly adapt to his environment, grasp details and execute decisions fast. As well as his intense devotion to seeing a project through.
Robert J. Oppenheimer Greetings Cards by Farbound.Net.
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Flicking the ash.
The last of which had come to the fore between 1944-1945. Despite the strain of work affecting his appetite and worsening his health. He had still forged ahead with rotting teeth and an unhealthy body weight of 115 pounds for a six-foot frame. As a result of living on an overdose of Gin, coffee and a hundred cigarettes a day.
The stressful period had eventually turned him into certified chain smoker for life and afflicted him with long bouts of smoker’s cough. His death in 1967 is attributed to throat cancer. Oppenheimer had the peculiar habit of flicking the ash of a cigarette with his little finger which almost always remained charred.
Oppenheimer is also remembered for the phrase he quoted from the Gita, after the detonation of the Trinity Gadget. See Farbound.Net story: I am death, destroyer of Worlds.
This photo by Ed Westcott, a U.S Government photographer, is archived with the Department of Energy, U.S.
