June 21, 2024

Uy Pham

11th Grade

Fountain Valley High School

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. A line from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita recited by Julius Robert Oppenheimer on national television in 1965 when describing the extent and implications of the development of the atomic bomb, and an iconic line uttered by Cillian Murphy, who plays the role of Oppenheimer in the respective 2023 biographical film.

In the summer of 2023, the “Barbenheimer” craze struck movie theaters across the country with intrigued viewers flocking to watch two simultaneously-released movies: Warner Bros. Pictures’ Barbie and Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer. In particular, directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer centers around J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, and the development of the atomic bomb in the infamous Manhattan Project for the United States during World War 2. It is based on the Pulitzer-prize-winning biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. 

Who was Julius Robert Oppenheimer?

Often referred to as the “father” of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist, studied at Harvard University, the University of Göttingen, and the University of Cambridge before moving to teaching roles at the University of California, Berkeley, and the California Institute of Technology. Besides his leadership in the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer is also known for his work in cosmic rays, neutron stars, and molecular structure, which was done in conjunction with Niels Bohr. 

After his work on the Manhattan Project, he received roles as the Chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He famously opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, which would be a thousand times more destructive than the powers of the atomic bomb. However, during a time of the Second Red Scare and hysteria against communism, his stance was seen as controversial and concerning, especially since the Soviet Union and the United States Were locked in an arms race to develop weapons during the Cold War. 

Culminated with accusations of affiliations with the Communist Party, his security clearance was revoked following a series of hearings, which were showcased in the film as well; however, Oppenheimer continued his work in teaching and research in the field of physics. Later on, in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Oppenheimer the Fermi Award, an AEC award for scientists and their lifetime achievements related to energy. Most recently, in 2022, Secretary of the Department of Energy Jennifer Granholm revoked the AEC’s previous decision to revoke Oppenheimer’s security clearance. Granholm justified the decisions intending to clear Oppnehimer’s record based on new historical evidence that demonstrated Oppenheimer's dedication and loyalty toward the United States.

The Science of Oppenheimer

The development of the atomic bomb, as portrayed in the film and real life, centers around the rise of the scientific field of quantum physics, the study of the nature and energy interactions of atoms. Oppenheimer represents American students who studied abroad in Europe and brought back advances in this growing scientific field to further study. As discovered through revelations in the Los Alamos Laboratory, Oppenheimer and fellow scientists in the Manhattan Project discovered that by bombarding neutrons with plutonium and uranium, a nuclear fission reaction would occur. A nuclear fission reaction is when a neutron slams into a larger atom and causes this larger atom to split into two or more smaller nuclei. This cascade of neutron bombardment causes more nuclei to be split and release more neutrons. All these reactions caused a high amount of energy, culminating in the effects of the atomic bomb. 

Previously, the element uranium was discovered by Martin Klaproth in 1789, and Marie Curie uncovered the element’s radioactive nature, meaning that the element emitted electromagnetic particles as its atoms disintegrated. In the 1930s, built on the theories of physicist Leo Szilard regarding the possibility of nuclear fission and chain reactions, physicist Lise Meitner and chemist Otto Hahn successfully carried out the first fission of uranium. Based on increasing German presence in Europe and control over various prominent physicists, Szilard recruited Albert Einstein to write a letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to warn him about the potentially devastating effects of bombs being created from such nuclear fission reactions. Eventually, the goal shifted to produce plutonium, a more powerful radioactive metal capable of nuclear fission and an isotope (equal protons, different number of neutrons) from uranium. Based on a reactor built by Enrico Fermi that generated a self-sustaining nuclear reaction of a uranium pile to power a light bulb, physicists discovered that plutonium-239 and uranium-235 would be both paths to build atomic bombs. 

Although there are two types of atomic bombs (fusion bombs and fission bombs), the work of the Manhattan Project led to two nuclear fission bombs. One bomb was a gun-method uranium bomb, and the other bomb was an implosion-method plutonium bomb. The gun method would use an explosive propellant to fire a piece of fissile material into other pieces of fissile material and was the more known, popular method of producing bombs. However, due to the nature of plutonium, this method would not work. Implosion methods, suggested by mathematician John von Neumann, would help to preserve plutonium resources and be a more effective, symmetrical implosion due to the high velocities. Implosion utilized symmetrical triggered explosives on the outside of the bomb that would send shock waves toward a shell, trigger a fission chain reaction, and a resulting nuclear explosion.  Specifically, due to the new nature of an implosion method of highly reactive plutonium, Oppenheimer was tasked with testing the implosion-method plutonium bomb in Los Alamos.

These two bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War 2 and played a larger role in the eventual surrender of the Japanese. The implosion-method bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the gun-method uranium bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. 

What the Movie Gets Right and Wrong 

To culminate the work of the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos Laboratory, the film shows the Trinity test, one of the tests of the atomic bomb near the laboratory site. To simulate and emulate the characteristics of this test explosion, director Christopher Nolan chooses to use practical effects rather than CGI. In particular, the delayed roar and sound following the initial bursts of light is accurate to how such an explosion would appear to the human eye. Regarding the potential for the explosion to destroy the atmosphere, physicists generally agree that such concerns were overemphasized by the movie. 

Furthermore, there are several moral questions raised by the characters of the movie on whether such bombs should be utilized or even developed in the first place. In one of the pinnacle scenes of the movie, although fictitious, Oppenheimer expresses his concern to then-President Harry Truman about the effect on human lives that dropping the atomic bomb would bring to Japan. Oppenheimer questions the implications of creating such a destructive weapon and entertains the ideas of what would happen if two sides had the power of nuclear weapons, especially with the desire to develop a more powerful hydrogen bomb. Several scientists throughout the movie grapple with the idea of developing this in secret, unbeknownst to the public, while foreign adversaries such as then Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union race to develop their weapons demonstrating the heightened tensions of political ideology during the time. 

The film selectively chooses to not display any real footage of the effects of the bomb on the Japanese people, as Oppenheimer only views the effects of the bomb in the movie. It’s important to recognize the moral implications and the reality that the atomic bombs killed about 140,000 in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki. The effects of radiation from the bombs caused health effects such as leukemia, cancer, and a multitude of other chronic diseases. Rain became radioactive, and ground temperatures reached 4,000 degrees Celsius. Fires ravaged through buildings, and many people faced severe burns; without medical personnel and standing hospitals, many victims had no help and struggled with lasting effects.

Furthermore, the portion of the film regarding the development of the atomic bomb focuses on the work of physicists stationed at Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. However, the entirety of the Manhattan Project also consisted of sites in Hanford, Washington, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and these sites were left out of the film. Furthermore, although Oppenheimer is portrayed as the brain and leader behind the project in the film, several physicists clarify that Oppenheimer was not an originator of the ideas but rather the voice that unified and explained the ideas toward the project’s objective. 

Overall it's important to recognize that as a movie, Oppenheimer serves as a form of entertainment with directors and actors exercising creative leisure over various depictions of specific conversations and actions between those involved in the Manhattan Project. However, the reality of the movie’s events, the development of the atomic bomb, undoubtedly shaped the world we live in today, with nine countries currently possessing nuclear weapons. From the days of mutually assured destruction, as the Soviet Union and the United States of America faced off with their nuclear arsenals during the Cold War to the development of hydrogen bombs, the debates over the disarmament of hosting such weapons have extended to the present day and will shape global politics for the foreseen future.