Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project: insights into J. Robert Oppenheimer, ''Father of the atomic bomb''

182 Pages·2006·1.636 MB·English

by  Cynthia C. Kelly

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Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
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USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
OPPENHEIMER AND THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Insights into J Robert Oppenheimer, “Father of the Atomic Bomb”
Copyright © 2006 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
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Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN 981-256-418-7
ISBN 981-256-599-X (pbk)
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore.
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
DEFYINGTHEODDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
CynthiaC.Kelly
PresidentoftheAtomicHeritageFoundation
CHAPTER1:INTRODUCINGOPPENHEIMER . . . . . . . . 9
OPPENHEIMERRECONSIDERED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
TheHonorableJeffBingaman
UnitedStatesSenatorfromNewMexico
ROBERTOPPENHEIMER:KINGOFTHEHILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
RichardRhodes
AuthorofTheMakingoftheAtomicBombandDarkSun
ANOVELIDEAOFOPPENHEIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
JosephKanon
AuthorofLosAlamosandTheProdigalSpy
CHAPTER2:LIFEATLOSALAMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
PRESERVATIONONTHEPAJARITOPLATEAU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
StuartAshman
Director,OfficeofCulturalAffairs,StateofNewMexico
J.ROBERTOPPENHEIMERANDTHESTATEOFNEWMEXICO:
ARECIPROCALRELATIONSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
FerencSzasz
Professor,DepartmentofHistory,UniversityofNewMexico
v
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vi Contents
ROBERTOPPENHEIMER:AWINDOWONHISLIFEATLOSALAMOS . . 66
KaiBird
FellowattheWoodrowWilsonInternationalCenter
forScholars
MartinSherwin
ProfessorofHistoryatTuftsUniversity
CHAPTER3:OPPENHEIMER’SPLACEINHISTORY . . . . . 77
STANDINGONTHESHOULDERSOFGIANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
EveretBeckner
DeputyAdministratorforDefensePrograms,NationalNuclear
SecurityAdministration,DepartmentofEnergy
THECAUTIONARYTALEOFROBERTOPPENHEIMER . . . . . . . . . . 86
GreggHerken
Professor,SchoolofSocialSciences,HumanitiesandArts,
UniversityofCalifornia,Merced
THEEARLYYEARSOFROBERTOPPENHEIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
JonHunner
AssociateProfessor,DirectorofPublicHistoryProgramat
NewMexicoStateUniversity
GENERALGROVES’INDISPENSABLESCIENTIST . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
RobertS.Norris
NaturalResourcesDefenseCouncil
CHAPTER4:PERSONALREFLECTIONSONOPPENHEIMER 117
OPPENHEIMERASATEACHEROFPHYSICSANDPH.D.ADVISOR . . . . 119
EdwardGerjuoy
ProfessorEmeritusofPhysics,UniversityofPittsburgh
REMEMBERINGOPJE:TEACHER,SCIENTISTANDFRIEND . . . . . . . 141
DavidPines
InstituteforComplexAdaptiveMatter,Universityof
CaliforniaOfficeofthePresident,Oakland,California
J.ROBERTOPPENHEIMER:CONSUMMATEPHYSICIST . . . . . . . . . 148
MauriceM.Shapiro
Professor,UniversityofMaryland
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Contents vii
AFEWWORDSFROMANOPPENHEIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
AndrewR.Oppenheimer
APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
APPENDIXI—AGENDAFOROPPENHEIMERANDTHE
MANHATTANPROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
APPENDIXII—CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
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November15,2005 9:50 B318:OppenheimerandtheManhattanProject(Ed:YunChengMok) introduction
Introduction
1