Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center with Ray Monk | Institute for Advanced Study

Ray Monk
Professor, University of Southampton
May 15, 2013
In this lecture, Ray Monk, author of Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center, Random House, 2013, will tell the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Institute’s third Director (1947-66), in the context of the momentous developments in which he played a leading part. It will describe the community in which he was brought up, his development as a physicist, his involvement in left-wing politics in the 1930s, and his unlikely choice as director of the laboratory in Los Alamos that produced the world’s first atomic bomb. It will also describe his attempts after the war to secure international control over atomic energy, his opposition to the hydrogen bomb, and the security hearing of 1954 that stripped him of his security clearance. As the lecture will show, however, by the time he died in 1967 his reputation-as a scientist, a statesman, and a loyal U.S. citizen-had been truly re-established.

[@Redhand1949]

Super impressive lecture. I can only imagine the research that went into it. It was absolutely fascinating to learn about his "German Jewish" ethnicity in the context of "Our Crowd" in NYC at the time. This really broadened my knowledge of this aspect of Jewish-American social history. Very enjoyable and instructive lecture. Thank you again.

[@huachinangui]

This is the best complement to the just released Oppenheimer movie. (Veritasium's video actually feels like a summary version of this lecture.)

[@marthareal8398]

Amazing biography! Great presentation thank you for your work.

[@lishanmulugeta4589]

The best presentation of a biography I have ever known. Excellent job!

[@ericderbez2599]

1:09:20 Was that Ed Witten asking the question? Sure sounds like him. Also wasn't it Ed Teller who driver Leo Szilard to meet Einstein?

[@krazybubbler]

This biography is my fav book since years. Thank You

[@Kid_Ikaris]

Yooo same. Years was such a great book.

[@tgylfason]

Excellent lecture.

[@marsy1480]

What a brilliant lecture!

[@tricia6338]

excellent bio of a complex man! Tyvm!👌 y

[@Davemac1116]

Wonderful.

[@PhedraBcn]

Thank you! Fascinating

[@edl617]

Another book to read is “The American Atom” documentary history of nuclear policies from 1939 to 1984 “. Editors Robert C. Williams and Phillip L. Cantelon.

[@francesschaefer]

Thank you for posting this lecture: I have an avid interest in biography, and yes science, when I was much younger, did not pursue literature or science as a career, but still have those interests. OMG J R Opp was an amazing genius.

[@francesschaefer]

so interesting about his young life, and also his education~

[@CaryInVictoria]

What a wonderful lecture!

[@BlueSoulTiger]

Dijkgraaf finally stops talking at 4:29

[@artoftravelbestselle]

Hard not to recognize the voice of the first person who asked a question

[@lovelyjohn1742]

Amazing Work

[@bernardofitzpatrick5403]

Fascinating !

[@JB-uv4hm]

He was a genius who didn’t for a second take into acct the fallout or the waste we still deal with from his ‘baby.’ Oh and he smoked 5 packs a day and mysteriously died of throat cancer. The wisdom is this: even the brilliant have blind spots. As do their biographers.

[@MistressGlowWorm]

Thanos vs Oppenheimer ERB brought me here.

[@mmartinu327]

I didnt know that the letter to president was written by physicist Leo Szilard, and not Einstein. Thanks for nice lecture.

[@ChrisBrengel]

1:04:42 reconciliation with the American people , TV program by Edward R. Murrow

[@stratovation1474]

I saw a talk by Rotblatt shortly before he died. Rotblatt cofounded Pugwash conferences.

[@robbie_]

Ed Witten asked the first question? I'd recognise that voice anywhere... 😂

[@PhysicsNative]

My personal take is that Oppenheimer is over-rated in his part of the making of the atomic bomb. Szilard was the original influence for the Manhattan Project, and his work at Chicago with Fermi key, on achieving a sustained fission reaction with the graphite reactor. The Germans had tried to achieve similarly but failed due to impurities in their graphite. He also knew where to get the Uranium (now the DRC). He had patented both the ideas of a nuclear chain reaction and the cyclotron. As Monk remarks in his talk here, he was a “nobody.” Groves apparently refused to work with him (and many others that were suggested as possibilities for the MP scientific lead). Instead Groves opted for Oppie, ho could explain ideas in simple terms and as easier to get along with. Even Bethe admitted the geniuses behind Szilard and the (unlikely) Groves. One wonders whether Szilard would have designed a bomb far more efficient and demonstrable without the massive fallout and casualty, ending a war and making the point. But he was refused the chance, and we now get endless revisionist history lionizing Oppie over what was a massive project involving many moving parts (including Feynman’s notable project roles).

[@janklaas6885]

📍1:05:35 1:12:29 fackt, he didn't like Bohm 1:10:00 ‼️

[@user-uk9vj3zi8w]

Atomic bombs are alien meals

[@Johnconno]

He knew nothing about the 1929 stock market crash. Plus ca change.

[@howardleekilby7390]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@Jungleland33]

Really enjoyed book. Teller was some backstabbing POS.

[@johncipolla8335]

I am reading this now Not going to the movie

[@docastrov9013]

As psychopaths go he did well...

[@stratovation1474]

Re aging, also long time heavy smoking.

[@adityaraman7745]

I'm a 15-year-old high school student I feel out of place here lol.

[@marley9800]

same

[@Johnconno]

So was Oppenheimer, for a while.

[@mikemassino]

Study science in college and then watch it again

[@RainbowHera]

You are learning, which is great!

[@francesschaefer]

Don't feel out of place! I started reading biographies and had a lot of interest in science as well in HS, about your age!!!

[@marley9800]

why am i here

[@marley9800]

@@godiloveminininjas4278 i cant i dont have any chakra left

[@godiloveminininjas4278]

@@marley9800 Didn't expect that from someone who spams the mangekyo and has most resistance and durability out of any ninja

[@marley9800]

@@godiloveminininjas4278 are you testing me?!

[@godiloveminininjas4278]

@@marley9800 Perhaps. I mean you were able to survive a border, multiple rasengans, extractions of every tailed beast and the rinne rebirth jutsu

[@theshadow8900]

Just do your homework kid

[@blackbuddhaa]

Harvard 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 25:54