Oppenheimer, (Julius) Robert 1904-67
US nuclear physicist

Born in New York City, he studied at Harvard, Cambridge and under Max Born at G�ttingen University, Germany, where he received his doctorate in 1927. He returned to the USA and established schools of theoretical physics at Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His work included studies of electron-positron pairs, cosmic-ray theory and deuteron reactions. During World War II he was selected as leader of the atomic bomb project, set up the Los Alamos laboratory and brought together a formidable group of scientists. After the war he became director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University and continued to play an important role in US atomic energy policy from 1947, promoting peaceful uses of atomic energy and bitterly opposing development of the hydrogen bomb. In 1953 he was declared a security risk and was forced to retire from political activities. He delivered the BBC Reith Lectures in 1953, and received the Enrico Fermi award in 1963.

Bibliography: Michel Rouze, Oppenheimer (1962, Eng trans Robert Oppenheimer: The Man and His Theories, 1965)