Oppenheimer’s Second Act

The current residents of the famous Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, NJ were enjoying the Oppenheimer movie celebration at the Oscars last night!

"... If Oppenheimer’s first act was dedicated to building a technology (the “Gadget”), his second was devoted to an institution. The Institute was already famous when Oppenheimer joined it in 1947. It was home to some of the world’s most remarkable minds, each worthy of a biopic, including Albert Einstein, John von Neumann (who helped design the A and H bombs, invented the architecture for stored program computing, and conceived of game theory), Kurt Gödel, Erwin Panofsky, and many others. But with Oppenheimer’s arrival, he and his colleagues doubled down on the founding values of the Institute, convinced that those values could underwrite the kind of knowledge and discovery needed to meet a rapidly emerging crisis of humanity. ..."

Oppenheimer’s Second Act - Ideas | Institute for Advanced Study

From the archives: Robert Oppenheimer in 1965 on if the bomb was necessary

Very recommendable! This interview was two years before his death! You will see an emotional scientist in doubt. He pointed out how the enemies of the Cold War changed their behavior to avoid a nuclear Armageddon. And how would China avoid a misunderstanding.

J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Defense of Humanity

I would say nobody ever wants to walk in the shoes of J. Robert Oppenheimer!

I don't know how many biographies, articles etc. were written about this man.

Just learnt (or refreshed my memory) that his 1927 PhD was from the University of Göttingen, Germany. At the time, Max Born led the theoretical physics group at this university. Unfortunately, this premier German university has little to offer on one of its most famous students (when using the university's own search engine). Disappointing!

His father grew up in Hanau, Germany, where my paternal grandparents lived for many years.

"From the moment the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 until his death in 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer was perhaps the most recognizable physicist on the planet. During World War II, Oppenheimer directed Los Alamos Laboratory, “Site Y” of the Manhattan Project, the successful American effort to build an atomic bomb. He went on to serve for almost 20 years as director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., home to some of the world’s leading scientists, including Albert Einstein. ..."

J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Defense of Humanity - WSJ After helping invent the atomic bomb, the physicist spent decades thinking about how to preserve civilization from technological dangers, offering crucial lessons for the age of AI