Figure 1.--Robert had a privlidged childhood, loved and enourafed by rich poarents who doted on him. Here is Robert in 1912 wearing a white sailor suit. He would have ben 7-8 years old.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City (1904). He was a theoretical physicist who was appointed to lead the Los Alamows Laboratory (1943–45) developing the atomic bomb, making him one of the most important figure in World War II. In one of the great ironies of history. Not only were Jewish scientists key players in building the bomb, the whole projected was led by a Jewish scientist meaning that if Hitler had not been such an incompetent war leader and Germany would have done better--the whole country would have been obliterated essentially by Jewish scientists. Robert growing up in New York City had a privileged boyhood. His father was German immigrant who had made a fortune importing textile. Robert was doted on. What ever interested him, his parents indulged him. When he was interested in painting, he got an easel and oil paints. When he was got interested in geology, he got a rock collection. Robert was scary intelligent. He was speaking multiple language as a boy. His math and science understanding was phenomenal. The New York Geological Society invited him to deliver a paper he had submitted--not knowing he was a boy. Robert was smart and he knew at it. And he didn't mind letting other people know--not the best way to make friends. At school, he told another student. "Ask me a question in Lain and I will answer youb in Greek. His parents kept him away from other children and thus did not develop important social skills. He had one close friend at school. The boy was from New Mexico, and a visit there began a life-long enchanment wuith the raw natural beauty of the state. He entered Harvard at age 11 years old. He was accepted at age 9 years, but Harvard suggested he wait a couple years to grow up a bit. His undergraduate experience at Harvard University was unhappy because the other students treated him as a freak. He went to England to do Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, which, under the leadership of Lord Ernest Rutherford, had an international reputation for its pioneering studies on atomic structure. At the Cavendish. Again it was not a happy experience. His talents were in theoretical physics and the British put an emphasis on lab work that the was not good at. Max Born invited Oppenheimer to University of Göttingen and here he excelled. He he met other prominent physicists, such as Niels Bohr and P.A.M. Dirac, and received his doctorate (1927). He visited science centers in Leiden and Zürich. He returned to the United States to teach physics at the University of California at Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology. It was here he quietly made a name for himself. And he might have remained a respected academic unknown to tyh general public. This all changed with World War II. President Roosevelt set an American atomic bomb program in motion. The U.S. Army put Gen. Leslie Groves in charge of what became known as the Manhattan Project. And surprisingly mong aaft of Nobel lasuates, Grives selected Oppenheimer as the scientific director and insisted on him desopite the streno=uous opposition of DBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Created: 3:26 AM 12/5/2023
Last updated: 3:26 AM 12/5/2023