EARLY LIFE
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 in New York City to a wealthy Jewish family. After graduating from Harvard, he continued his research at Cambridge University and the University of of Göttingen, where he developed his passion for theoretical physics.
Oppenheimer's connection to Los Alamos, New Mexico was developed early on when he spent several weeks in Los Alamos. He would later state his "two loves" were "physics and desert country." His early experiences in Los Alamos would later influence the Manhattan Project. "I think that the world in which we shall live these next thirty years will be a pretty restless and tormented place; I do not think that there will be much of a compromise possible between being of it, and being not of it."
— J. Robert Oppenheimer in letter to Frank Oppenheimer, 1931 |
AFFILIATION WITH COMMUNIST PARTY
Though Oppenheimer wasn't politically prominent, his exposure to the widespread suffering brought about by the Great Depression caused him to become a leftist liberal. His future wife, Kitty Harrison urged him to become involved with Communist party. Though he never joined the party, this early affiliation would lead to later trouble.
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