Oppenheimer: The Father of the Bomb

just before we get started with today's video i do want to thank brilliant fur making it possible to support biographics and learn more about brilliant go to brilliant.org biographics and sign up for free his was the brain that oversaw the most destructive project in all of human history it won a war by unleashing unimaginable horror in the process catapulting the world into the nuclear age for his efforts he was accused of being a russian spy and sidelined by the government in this week's biographics we're taking a look at the life and the work of j robert oppenheimer julius robert oppenheimer was born on april 22 1904 in new york city his father julius had fled jewish persecution in europe as a teenager his mother bella was also jewish with her family having been in new york for several generations the couple were married in 1903 with julius who was known as robert being their first child a second son frank came along in 1912 when robert was eight years old the family lived in an upscale apartment on new york's west side julius had built a successful textile importing business and ella was a painter they employed a cook servants and a chauffeur life for young robert was structured and formal with dinners requiring a suit and tie [Music] when robert was five years old the family took a vacation to germany there he met his grandfather who gave him a collection of minerals he was mesmerized by the stones leading to a lifelong obsession with rock collecting when he was 11 he joined the new york mineralogical club a year later he presented his first scientific paper julia sent his son to the best school he could find the new york school for ethical culture robert attended from the second grade right through to college graduation the focus of the education was science literature and moral law robert was an a grade student who completely devoted himself to his studies as a result he didn't have much of a social life friends they were few and far between in fact according to his high school english teacher he once said i'm the loneliest man in the world robert was extremely socially awkward as a teenager from the start he considered himself the smartest guy in the room and this led to an arrogance which was off-putting to his peers they were also put off by his prim and proper nature [Music] after graduating from high school he attended harvard in order to pursue serious scientific studies he majored in chemistry but soon fell in love with physics he was admitted into graduate studies in physics and began studying under the famous experimentalist percy bridgman oppenheimer knew straight away that this was what he wanted to do with his life he took a rigorous course load each semester which allowed him to graduate in just three years at that time the american colleges couldn't compete with the physics laboratories in europe the science world was enthralled with the physics revelations of albert einstein and for any serious up-and-coming american physicist crossing the atlantic was an essential requirement in 1924 oppenheimer was admitted to cavendish laboratory in cambridge england this was one of the most renowned nuclear physics labs in the world the lab was under the direction of ernest rutherford who had already won the nobel prize for splitting the atom oppenheimer was assigned to a team of researchers under the leadership of j.j thompson who in 1897 had discovered the electron it was the ultimate setting for a budding physics genius but oppenheimer quickly realized that he wasn't really cut out for it he and experimental physics they just didn't gel he was unable to keep up with the required workload and he almost suffered a mental breakdown by now he had developed a habit as a chain smoker and often neglected basic hygiene and nutritional practices as he got bogged down with his work but try as he may he was unable to keep up with the required workload a depressed and overwhelmed oppenheimer went to see a psychiatrist who told him that he was suffering from schizophrenia the prognosis was not good with long-term institutionalization being the standard treatment at the time opponent refused to believe this diagnosis he took a vacation to paris with his friend francis ferguson however he wasn't exactly good company being consumed with his own melancholy ferguson tried to cheer him up by breaking the news that he was going to marry his girlfriend when he heard this something inside oppenheimer's fragile mind snapped and he leaped upon ferguson and proceeded to strangle him ferguson was able to fend him off but from then on he became convinced that his friend had serious mental problems [Music] in 1926 opponent took up a position at the university of gottingen in germany this was the center of theoretical physics in europe and oppenheimer landed right in the middle of a revolution in the field he found himself rubbing shoulders with and learning from the premier names in quantum physics including enrico fermi wolfgang paulie and werner heisenberg here finally oppenheimer found his perfect fit in 1927 he received his phd in physics over the next two years he established himself as one of the leading physicists in europe publishing 16 papers on quantum physics american physicists had been left behind by the european quantum physics revolution many of the professors refused to accept the new counter-intuitive theories that went against the grain of everything they had known this left a slew of eager physicists excited about what was happening in europe left out in the cold opponent saw himself as the vehicle by which the european advances in quantum physics could be introduced to american physicists [Music] his first position back in the states was as a professor at the university of california at berkeley he now had a head brimming with knowledge and lecture halls filled with students who were eager to learn from him the problem was he didn't know how to teach his social awkwardness certainly didn't help either he would become tongue-tied in front of his students when he did speak his ideas would come out as a jumbled mass of words that simply served to confuse those in attendance by the end of his first semester there was just one student remaining who was taking his class for credit fortunately though things got better he applied himself to his teaching and slowly improved his ability he managed to cut out the verbiage to pare down his lectures making them both understandable and exciting as a result the students who referred to him as opie began flocking to his lectures within a couple of years a cult of personality had developed around him and he had his own groupies who were known as opie's boys he relished the attention and he gave his time generously to his students often discussions would be held after class with students even ending up at his home the subject usually morphed from physics to science to art and literature and would be fueled by generous quantities of alcohol while teaching at berkeley oppenheimer continued his physics research he published more papers on quantum physics but did not make any ground-breaking discoveries he did however convert the berkeley lab into a world-class facility establishing the new quantum physics as a legitimate science in america oppenheimer totally immersed himself in his work in the adulation of his students he did not own a phone a radio or even read the newspaper when his mind wasn't on physics he would be studying hindu mythology or the ancient classics as a result he was totally divorced from the outside world when the great depression struck following the 1929 wall street crash he was simply none the wiser being insulated from the effects thanks to a trust fund now just before we get into oppenheimer's work during the war let me take a quick break to tell you a bit about brilliant as always i know mid-roll ads in the middle here they're not perfect but when we started biographics we really wanted it to be a longer form content channel and well sponsors they make it possible now you've heard me talk about brilliant before they're a learning platform that focuses on active learning this is where you're given a short bit of information on a scientific concept and then you're asked to solve a problem based on that information it's an incredibly effective way to learn right now brilliant have something that would be perfect as a new year's resolution even if that new year's resolution is coming a little bit late it's called daily problems and it's five minutes a day that you can use to exercise your brain and learn something new each problem provides you the context and framework that you need to tackle it that means you can learn concepts by applying them that's that act of learning again this sort of short daily practice can lead you from curiosity to mastery in far less time than you would like so go to brilliant.org forward slash biographics and finish your day a little smarter and for the first 200 of you that do so you'll get 20 off the annual subscription and you can also view all of the problems from the archives so how's that again brilliant check them out link in the description below let's get back to oppenheimer it was the effect that the depression had on the lives of his students that made oppenheimer aware of its devastating impact this brought him an awareness of just how much political and economic events could affect people's lives this awareness it was strengthened as he began to take notice of what was happening in nazi germany having jewish heritage himself he looked on with great concern at the rise of hitler yet it took a woman to transform oppenheimer's political concerns into action gene tatlock was a graduate student who was studying for a degree in psychology she was also a member of the communist party talog introduced opponent to the world of radical politics he joined a number of institutions aligned with the communists though there is no evidence that he actually became a card-carrying member of the communist party however in 1936 his brother frank moved california and he did join the party oppenheimer he fell in love with tatlock and they pursued a tempestuous relationship between 1936 and 1939. with the ends of his contact with tatlock his interest in communism it waned and by the 1940s he had become rather disenchanted with it mainly due to hearing reports of what life was really like in the soviet union yet despite his later assertions that his flirt with communism was nothing more than a boyhood fling accusations that he was a russian sympathizer would dog him for the rest of his life in the wake of his breakup with tatlock oppenheimer began a relationship with a woman named kitty harrison there was however one problem and that's that kitty was married she was in fact on her third marriage with her husband being a british doctor she soon divorced the doctor with oppenheimer becoming her fourth husband on november 1 1940 [Music] the bombing of pearl harbor on december 7 1941 changed the lives of senior physicists in the united states profoundly overnight their theoretical research it was being called upon to help win the war the first challenge presented to the physicists was to develop a radar system the country's top physicists they gathered at the massachusetts institute of technology's radiation laboratory ready to throw themselves into what they thought would be the great work that would win the war then in september of 1942 work began on a program that proved to be far more impactful than the radar project and that was of course the development of a nuclear bomb in 1939 three german physicists had discovered nuclear fission which enabled a massive amount of energy to be released when neutrons struck a uranium nucleus among the first to recognize the massive destructive potential of this technology if it could be harnessed into the form of a bomb were two hungarian scientists they made it their mission to warn the president of the united states that he needed to develop such a bomb before the germans did but these minor scientists could not get anyone to listen to them it was only when they secured the support of the world famous scientist albert einstein that they were able to get president roosevelt's attention as a direct result of a letter he received from einstein roosevelt created the advisory committee on uranium the committee began to stockpile uranium but didn't move fast enough for roosevelt it was soon dissolved and replaced with the national research defense council the nrdc the council was put in the hands of the army with brigadier general leslie groves having oversight the project was given an innocuous name as to not give away its purpose groves called it the manhattan project since 1932 oppenheimer had been doing his own private research into nuclear physics he desperately wanted to get involved in the project in any way that would advance america's security in 1941 he was invited to a top secret meeting of scientists to brainstorm how to build a nuclear bomb he was put in charge of the physics group who were given the task of actually designing said bomb by july of 1943 he had officially joined the manhattan project the manhattan project it was not based in one single location rather there were a number of laboratories located around the country each tackling a specific aspect of the project the biggest challenge was the creation of the bomb itself and this task was to be overseen by oppenheimer the base of the operation was los alamos a deserted area in the north central part of new mexico this location which was selected by oppenheimer himself was to be his home for the next three years an old boys school was renovated to serve as a base camp with a number of barracks being moved in to serve as homes for the physicists who would work on the project with the facility ready oppenheimer traveled the country in search of the best scientific minds to help him build the bomb in addition to former students he called on top physicists a number of whom were exiles from nazi germany if he was concerned that he wouldn't find the people he needed he needn't have been he originally estimated that he would need 30 people but scientists from all over the country were energized by the opportunity and by the end of the war there were more than 6 000 people living at los alamos despite the primitive living conditions and the oppressive desert heat the scientists relished their time at los alamos many of them had their families with them and spend their time off hiking and skiing all over the southwest what they weren't keen on was the seemingly over-the-top secrecy imposed by the military who were ever present every scientist was under constant surveillance and none more so than oppenheimer himself during his time at los alamos the government tapped his phone opened his mail and had men follow him everywhere as overseer of the project oppenheimer had to not only contend with the invasion of his own privacy but to mediate between the often feisty scientists and the military he constantly reminded the physicists to keep the big picture in mind they were involved in a once-in-a-lifetime struggle for the very salvation of mankind by february of 1945 the brains at los alamos had come up with two designs for the atomic bomb they were codenamed little boy and fat man little boy was a uranium based bomb while fat man used plutonium the scientists were so confident in the design of little boy that they deemed it unnecessary to test but fat man he required testing oppediment decided to test fat man near alamogordo new mexico it was a 60-mile stretch of desolate landscape from north to south and 40 miles east to west to carry out the explosion safely they had to ensure that the wind was traveling in the right direction if it wasn't radioactive dust and debris could travel over residential areas they had to wait for what seemed like forever just to get the right conditions during this time oppenheimer was wound up with stress that things could go wrong and that they would unleash destruction on the citizens of new mexico finally the conditions were right the explosion took place on july the 16th 1945 the resulting flash was visible from three states the mushroom cloud rose 38 thousand feet into the air while the crater that was blown into the ground was half a mile wide the other scientists gathered at the site cheered enthusiastically in the wake of the explosion but not oppenheimer he found the situation apt to quote from the hindu text the bahakvat gita now i am become death the destroyer of worlds [Music] the decision to make use of the bombs was now in the hands of president harry s truman after much soul-searching he decided to use it on the japanese in order to force them to surrender on august 6 1945 the b-29 bomber in nola gay dropped little boy over the city of hiroshima 90 percent of the buildings were instantly destroyed along with 66 000 people however the immediate japanese surrender was not forthcoming on august 9 fatboy was dropped on the city of nagasaki causing 42 000 further deaths the double whammy was too much on august 14 1945 emperor hirohito announced the japanese surrender when he first heard that the bombs had brought about the desired effect oppenheimer rejoiced along with the rest of the nation on later reflection however he took in the realization of just what he had unleashed upon the world on october the 16th 1945 oppenheimer relinquished his position at los alamos he returned to caltech before taking up a position as director of the institute of advanced study at princeton university but after three years of excitement power and cutting-edge research he found university life all rather mundane with information about the manhattan project now in the public domain oppenheimer became a household figure with his face appearing on the cover of time magazine he now used his position of prominence to lecture around the country on what he felt the united states should do with their newfound nuclear technology from his unique perspective he appreciated both the technological achievement as well as the killing potential that it had unleashed he now felt a responsibility to ensure that its future use was for good and not evil he advocated for international sanctions on nuclear power but all to no avail at the same time he appreciated that having nuclear power was a huge advantage to the american defense program so rather than trying to stop it he worked on how to keep it from going out of control now in the post-war years a new enemy of the united states emerged the soviet union a cold war ensued leading to an arms race between what were now the two world superpowers the americans of course they had the nuclear advantage but all of that changed in september of 1949 when the soviets set off a nuclear explosion of their own the americans were taken off guard having believed that the russians were well behind them the u.s government suspected that spies must have shared vital information with the soviets oppenheimer came under immediate suspicion thanks to his former connection with the communist party [Music] meanwhile the americans rushed to find a response to the russian bomb discussions were held about a new type of bomb one that was a thousand times more destructive than those that had been dropped over japan it was a bomb that was going to be powered by hydrogen omena was opposed to the hydrogen bomb fearing that it would become a weapon of genocide but president truman decided to go ahead anyway and the hydrogen bomb codenamed mike was exploded in 1952. in november of 1953 the fbi received a letter from a former government official alleging that oppenheimer was a soviet spy it was enough to bring the full power of the mccarthy communist witch-hunt down upon him oppenheimer's security clearance it was immediately revoked a three-man investigation was then undertaken as it progressed it became obvious that he was really being investigated for his opposition to the hydrogen bomb project rather than his supposed ties to the soviets the resulting report permanently shut oppenheimer out of any involvement in government affairs due to what it termed the proof of fundamental defects in his character following the humiliation of his ouster from the government oppenheimer returned to the institute for advanced study in 1963 with the mccarthy red scare long in the past the government offered an olive branched oppenheimer by awarding him the enrico fermi award for excellent nuclear research still he never fully recovered from the humiliation of the 1950s four years later on february the 18th 1967 he died of throat cancer he was 62 years old so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do give us a thumbs up below also don't forget to check out brilliant you'll find a link in the description below subscribe to this channel for brand new videos several times a week and as always thank you for watching you

Channel: Biographics

Views: 786,689

Keywords: Oppenheimer, J. Robert Oppenheimer, robert oppenheimer, who was oppenheimer, manhatten project, who invented the atomic bomb, nukes, who invented nukes, bombing of japan, little boy, fat man, oppenheimer biography, biography of oppenheimer

Id: kow3Q8Q4V7A

Length: 20min 38sec (1238 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 18 2019