How Did Robert Oppenheimer Change The World
Robert Oppenheimer forever changed the world with his work on the Manhattan project during WWII, contributing to the Cold War, creating a nuclear warfare, and showed the potential for nuclear energy. He was the lead scientist of this world-shattering project. The Manhattan Project developed the atomic bombs that were nicknamed “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” that put an end to WWII and forever changed the way the world fights wars. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 250,000 people directly from the explosion, and indirectly from the radiation, however, it additionally saved millions of lives by ending WWII. J. Robert Oppenheimer was key to the creation of these bombs by leading a team of 200 of the top nuclear physicists in
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His parents were Julius Oppenheimer and Ella Friedman. His father was a German textile importer. His mom painted. He had one brother, Frank, who likewise became a physicist. His family was very rich and even had several Van Gogh paintings in their house. As a young child, he loved math and science, and was also very shy. He picked up languages quickly and studied Greek, Latin, Dutch, German, and French. His early schooling was at the Ethical Culture School of New York. He studied chemistry, math, physics, languages, and mineralogy. He graduated in 1921 at the top of his class. He married Katherine Harrison in November of 1940. He died in 1967 from throat cancer.
He contracted colitis in 1921, which delayed his entry into Harvard after graduating. He began college at Harvard in 1922, majoring in chemistry, however, further studied a broad range of topics, from mathematics to philosophy. Percy Bridgman, one of his physics professors, caused his interest to shift from chemistry to physics. He continued his study in chemistry and graduated from Harvard in 1925 with a chemistry degree summa cum laude. His education helped him reach his momentous achievement by interesting him in physics and giving him the background information to create the …show more content…
At the University of Gottingen he worked with Max Born to create a paper called the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation, which discussed electronic motion as negligible in mathematical calculations. He worked on theoretical astronomy, including cosmic rays, the stability of neutron stars, and quantum tunneling, which expanded his thinking to new topics and gave him more understanding of nuclear physics. He developed a theory with Melba Phillips which is still used today, called the Oppenheimer-Phillips process, that explains artificial radioactivity in heavy nucleuses. He got most of his experience with radioactive materials and their characteristics by writing many of these
His parents were Julius Oppenheimer and Ella Friedman. His father was a German textile importer. His mom painted. He had one brother, Frank, who likewise became a physicist. His family was very rich and even had several Van Gogh paintings in their house. As a young child, he loved math and science, and was also very shy. He picked up languages quickly and studied Greek, Latin, Dutch, German, and French. His early schooling was at the Ethical Culture School of New York. He studied chemistry, math, physics, languages, and mineralogy. He graduated in 1921 at the top of his class. He married Katherine Harrison in November of 1940. He died in 1967 from throat cancer.
He contracted colitis in 1921, which delayed his entry into Harvard after graduating. He began college at Harvard in 1922, majoring in chemistry, however, further studied a broad range of topics, from mathematics to philosophy. Percy Bridgman, one of his physics professors, caused his interest to shift from chemistry to physics. He continued his study in chemistry and graduated from Harvard in 1925 with a chemistry degree summa cum laude. His education helped him reach his momentous achievement by interesting him in physics and giving him the background information to create the …show more content…
At the University of Gottingen he worked with Max Born to create a paper called the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation, which discussed electronic motion as negligible in mathematical calculations. He worked on theoretical astronomy, including cosmic rays, the stability of neutron stars, and quantum tunneling, which expanded his thinking to new topics and gave him more understanding of nuclear physics. He developed a theory with Melba Phillips which is still used today, called the Oppenheimer-Phillips process, that explains artificial radioactivity in heavy nucleuses. He got most of his experience with radioactive materials and their characteristics by writing many of these