Sunday, February 18, 2007
Oppie
Here's another review by Harvey Klehr, this time of a book about Oppenheimer. A complicated figure, that's for sure. By the way, did you know about him "poisoning his tutor's apple, an act that almost got him charged with attempted murder"? You don't say! I wonder what would happen to your randomn grad student if he tried such a stunt with a prof -- you think he'd get in hot water?
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3 comments:
Insightful, certainly characteristic of other intelligent men (and women) who initially subscribed to the idealistic promises made by communism and marxism (George Orwell and Richard Hofstadter come to mind). Of course, true intelligence will at some point recognize the absurdity of the construct of a great utopia (in one way a form of escapism to get away from dealing with reality now and in the future). The last time I read about Oppie was in R. Rhodes thick history of the a-bomb. I remember that Truman quote too. Good article, AI. I enjoyed it.
Good to hear that. I've discovered recently the writings of this guy, and he looks quite good to me. Here's a passage worth repeating:
Despite these disturbing facts, General Leslie Groves, commander of the Manhattan Engineering District, concluded that Oppenheimer alone had the requisite skills and vision to oversee the development of an atomic weapon. When Army security officials balked at providing a security clearance, Groves ordered them to do so on the grounds that Oppenheimer was indispensable. He had concluded that his "overweening ambition" and his wife's desire to advance his career would trump his political past. More practically, Groves threw a cordon of security around Oppenheimer, monitoring his movements and communications so closely that unauthorized communications would have been very difficult.
Leslie Groves was good. Did they ever make a movie after this? Sounds like a good subject to me.
Some good screenwriters could really do wonders with a flick involving Fermi, Szilard, Teller, Oppie, (of course) Einstein, et. al. To do it right (which wouldn't happen), it'd have to almost be a three part movie, a trilogy of sorts. Hollywood has seriously neglected this aspect of the Second World War and the history of 20th century science (but maybe that's a good thing).
One thing we know for certain, AI: thank someone for the Jewish intellect. Absolutely amazing.
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