After the Trinity Test in 1945, the theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, the subject of a new film by Christopher Nolan, famously quoted Lord Vishnu from the Bhagavad Gita. The test resulted in the development of the world’s first atomic bombs, as well as a lifetime of guilt for Oppenheimer.
Robert Oppenheimer: Why In The News?
- The Theoretical Physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, The Subject Of A New Movie By Christopher Nolan, Famously Quoted Lord Vishnu From The Bhagavad Gita After The Trinity Test Of 1945.
- The Test Resulted In The Creation Of The World’s First Atomic Bombs And Left Robert Oppenheimer With A Lifetime Of Guilt.
Who Was J Robert Oppenheimer?
- Robert Oppenheimer Was A First-Rate Theoretical Physicist Best Known For Having Led The Manhattan Project, The Top-Secret American Effort In The 1940s That Resulted In The World’s First Atomic Bombs, The Ones That Were Dropped On Hiroshima And Nagasaki.
- Robert Oppenheimer Was Genuinely Proud Of The Scientific Feat Of Making The Atomic Bomb And Was Supportive Of Its Use On Hiroshima, But Fervently Hoped That That Would Be The Last Time It Would Ever Be Used. In Fact, He Became A Strong Anti-War Advocate, Just Like Einstein.
- But Robert Oppenheimer Was Suspected Of Being A Communist And A Soviet Spy, He Was Questioned, Humiliated And Stripped Off His Security Clearance In A Famous Hearing In 1954.
- That Meant He Was Not Considered Safe To Be Made Privy To National Secrets And Would Lose All His Advisory Positions In Govt. In December 2022, More Than 50 Years After His Death, The United States Formally Reversed That Decision And Restored His Security Clearance.
- The Institute Of Advanced Studies At The Princeton University, However, Continued To Keep Him As Its Director, A Position He Held With Distinction Almost Till His Death In 1967, Aged 63, Due To Throat Cancer.
Robert Oppenheimer: His Tryst With Gita
- Robert Oppenheimer’s Interest In Sanskrit And Hinduism Was Not Trivial. Many Other Scientists, Like Neils Bohr, Erwin Schrodinger And Werner Heisenberg, Have Been Inspired With The Messages In The Ancient Hindu Texts, But Robert Oppenheimer Was Among The Few Who Actually Learned Sanskrit, To Study These.
- The Influence Of Gita, Particularly Its Emphasis On Karma, Or Duty, And Detachment From The End Result, Is Seen As Having Played A Crucial Role In Oppenheimer’s Leadership Of The Atomic Bomb Effort. Like Many Others, He Was Of The Opinion That The Bomb Would Bring An End To All Wars.
- Robert Oppenheimer Was Part Of The Committee That Selected Hiroshima As A Target, Well After The Threat From Hitler Had Ended And Germany Surrendered. In His Later Years, He Was Repeatedly Asked Whether He Regretted Having Led The Los Alamos Laboratory, And He Always Replied In The Negative.
- His Farewell Speech At The Los Alamos Laboratory In November 1945 Brilliantly Captures The Prevailing Situation As He Saw It, The Steps That Needed To Be Taken Towards A War-free World, And The Role That Science And Scientists Should Play, And Remains A Highly recommended Read.
- But Robert Oppenheimer Was Not Unshaken By The Horrors Of The War And Remained Conflicted. He Once Remarked That Even Krishna’s Message In Gita On Detachment Wasn’t Able To Comfort Him, Probably Because He Was Not Hindu Enough.
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