American Prometheus : : the Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

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Call Number: Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / Science & Technology / Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 921 Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 921 Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 921 Oppenheimer, J.Robert
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch

Originally published: New York : Knopf, 2005.
I. "He received every new idea as perfectly beautiful" -- "His separate prison" -- " I am having a pretty bad time" -- "I find the work hard, thank God, & almost pleasant" -- "I am Oppenheimer" -- "Oppie" -- "The Nim Nim boys" -- II. "In 1936 my interests began to change" -- "[Frank] clipped it out and sent it in" -- "More and more surely" -- "I'm going to marry a friend of yours, Steve" -- "We were pulling the New Deal to the left" -- "The coordinator of rapid rupture" -- "The Chevalier affair" -- III. "He'd become very patriotic" -- "Too much secrecy" -- "Oppenheimer is telling the truth..." -- "Suicide, motive unknown" -- "Would you like to adopt her?" -- "Bohr was God, and Oppie was his prophet" -- "The impact of the gadget on civilization" -- "Now we're all sons-of-bitches" -- IV. "Those poor little people" -- "I feel I have blood on my hands" -- "People could destroy New York" -- "Oppie had a rash and is now immune" -- "An intellectual hotel" -- "He couldn't understand why he did it" -- "I am sure that is why she threw things at him" -- "He never let on what his opinion was" -- "Dark words about Oppie" -- "Scientist X" -- "The beast in the jungle" -- V. "It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" -- "I fear that this whole thing is a piece of idiocy" -- "A manifestation of hysteria" -- "A black mark on the escutcheon of our country" -- "I can still feel the warm blood on my hands" -- "It was really like a never-never land" -- "It should have been done the day after trinity" -- "There's only one Robert".
J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress. In this biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimer's life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War. --From publisher's description.

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Remember this from high school submitted by cbitsko on June 29, 2023, 1:57pm I read this in high school, but it was the book that got me into biographies. I thought it was really well written and definitely read more like a story than cut and dry facts. Shockingly, they spend almost no time on the science or on the dropping of the atomic bombs in WWII. Instead, the authors chose to focus on narratives of Oppenheimer and those closest to him, and the values they held. Mostly, how his values were shaped and changed over time. Also a surprising amount of humor from letters and recollections of friends.

honest submitted by aayushis on July 24, 2023, 1:36pm Honest depiction about the father of atomic bomb

When science submitted by Noah Oron on August 4, 2023, 8:26pm And conscience meet and how the people that surrounded him affected his life and work