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Oppenheimer. A Profile in Science.

Tue, 04/22/2008 - 21:31 — ajhartzell
Category: 
Biography
Synopsis: 

This biography takes the reader through the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer from his days as a child prodigy up until after Oppenheimer’s time of judgment and dealings with accusations of disloyalty. The reader is shown Oppenheimer’s accomplishments beginning with his induction into the Scientific Society Mineralogical Club of New York at the age of eleven. The next major accomplishments pointed out are Oppenheimer’s investigations before his work on the atomic bomb. Those investigations dealt with radiation, exploration of properties of matter, modern physics, and philosophical ideas. The most important part of the biography tells of Oppenheimer’s heyday with atomic bomb research and the consequences that followed his research.

Context for time depicted: 
During Robert Oppenheimer’s atomic research, the Soviet Union, and other countries as well, were working on creating an atomic bomb. The book does an accurate job of depicting what was going on politically, socially, and economically during the time of Robert Oppenheimer. Nazism was at its peak during the years Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project partners were working on the atom bomb. It was in 1939 when Oppenheimer became interested in uranium fission. At this time there was a strong sense of nationalism in Germany, and racism and discrimination was at its peak. In 1941 Oppenheimer devoted serious study time to the nuclear bomb. In 1945, three years after Oppenheimer was put in charge of the laboratory where the atomic bomb was being studied, WW2 put an end to the Nazi regime.
Context for time of production: 
The context for the time when this biography was written was generally the same as when it actually took place. This biography was written 10 years or less after some of the major occurrences with Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb so the context is generally the same. The only major difference in the context for the time is that the Nazi regime had been suppressed.
Assessment: 
This biography would make for a good discussion because Oppenheimer’s madness or badness seems to differ based on time and perspective. Over time Oppenheimer grows increasingly more immoral. Oppenheimer is bad and not mad because he does not seem to have the characteristics of a mad scientist such as obsession, reason or motives, and intentions; however, some of his moral choices are questionable and categorize him a bad scientist. Perspective also effects whether Oppenheimer is immoral or not based on whether people think he betrayed the United States or not.
References: 

Rouze, Michel. Robert Oppenheimer. The Man and his Theories. New York. Paul S. Eriksson Inc., 1965.

Pais, Abraham. J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Life. New York, N.Y. Oxford University Press Inc., 2006.

How would this be used?: 
The first reference is the actual biography. The second reference is also a biography, but it is a more recent outlook of what exactly happened with Oppenheimer. These two very different resources in terms of time of authorship can be compared and new discoveries will be brought out.