J. Robert Oppenheimer Essay - 1313 Words

â€Å"There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. Our political life is also predicated on openness. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as [we] are free to ask what [we] must, free to say what [we] think, free to think what [we] will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress.† J. Robert Oppenheimer A man who is almost synonymous with the development of the atomic bomb as well as with the conflicts between the desires of the government†¦show more content†¦He obtained his PhD afterward in Germany from the prestigious University of Gà ¶ttingen. Oppenheimer was always a brooding and intense man. As a youth he suffered some degree of torment from kids his age for his bookish tendencies. During his college years, he sustained several bouts of depression. Looking back at his college years, Oppenheimer remarked that virtually everything aroused â€Å"a very great sense of revulsion and wrong.† He had a tendency to ask difficult questions of his professors. After his oral PhD exam, one of his evaluators was reputed to have said that â€Å"Phew, I’m glad that’s over. He was on the point of questioning me.† In 1929 Oppenheimer returned to the United States to take up teaching positions at Berkeley and Cal Tech. During the 30’s, Oppenheimer began to become associated with a variety of heavily left-wing organizations affiliated with Communism. This was mainly due to the repression of several Jewish relatives in Nazi Germany. He married Katherine Harrison in 1940, who was a member of the Communist party and had two children. He also started to distance himself from his former leftist friends and groups. This was probably largely done to make himself more attractive to obtaining the post of head of development for atomic bombs. Historian Daniel Kevles called World War II the â€Å"Physicist’s War.† World War II represented the greatest expenditure on a physics program in history. It developed two main technologies: radar and the atomicShow MoreRelatedThe Play Oppenheimer Follows The Story Of J Robert Oppenheimer1052 Words   |  5 PagesThe play Oppenheimer follows the story of J Robert Oppenheimer and his colleagues on their journey to discover and invent the atomic bomb. As the book is about the creation of this atomic weapon, the entirety of it relates to morals in some shape or form. Throughout the reading of the play I kept thinking about the moral implications of the work they were doing and what might each individual character be thinking of it. There were two parts of the play that made me really come up with this questionRead MoreThe Manhattan Project Led By J. 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RobertRead MoreBriefly outline the features of big science. What is the significance of the Manhattan Project in understanding the development of big science?1605 Words   |  7 Pagescenturies and therefore Weinberg must not consider Big Science to be a new phenomenon. Others have argued that the scale of science has been growing steadily for centuries, and that it is impossible to pinpoint a definite start for Big Science. Derek J. de Solla Price explained that the scale of science had been increasing over the 300 years up to the start of the Second World War, and suggested that Big Science signified the near end of this scientific era. (Capshew Rader, 1992, p. 7) He also postulatedRead MoreEssay on Krishnas World View1422 Words   |  6 PagesBomb† J. Robert Oppenheimer has cited the Bahagavad Gita as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. 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