J Robert Oppenheimer

by Peter Goodchild

Book Overview

MEMORANDUM William Borden, Executive Director, The Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy J. Edgar Hoover J. Robert Oppenheimer In the pre-war period, there is evidence that Oppenheimer: 1.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880640219
• ISBN13: 9780880640213
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Fromm International
• Length: 301 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Couldn't Put It Down

Captivating look at the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project and other key figures. Full of interesting details that give the reader an inside view of the genesis of the effort and how it proceeded, the personalities involved, daily life at Los Alamos, scientific knowledge of the time and how theory was put into practice, the politics of WWII, etc. Highly recommended!

A Wonderful and Inspiring Read

J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatter of Worlds is a revolutionary biography that details the most important aspects of Robert Oppenheimer's life and accomplishments as a physicist and creator of a key bridge between government and science. Detailing his influences and inspirations such as Max Born and renowned scientist Albert Einstein, Peter Goodchild outlines Oppenheimer's political struggles as a far-leftist and his personal struggles with the aftermath of the creation of the atom bomb and the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II while simultaneously describing the challenges that his theories in physics raised to the prevalent world view of that time. He is exquisite in providing Oppenheimer with a simple but thorough recount of his life that showcases his accomplishments and influences when other biographies focused on his political associations and the charges of treason that arose during the Cold War. This biography is a profound piece of writing that is easy to follow and understand and will touch you personally as you trace the journey of a troubled and intelligent man from his early days to the peak of physics and science.

An excellent companion to the BBC documentary.

I thoroughly enjoyed the original BBC documentary and the book is an equally interesting companion. Oppenheimer comes acrossas a fascinating character in the history of science.He seems (to me) to be in the process of being written out ofhistory or at least reduced to a small footnote as an anonymoustechnician identified as "father of the atomic bomb". Thisvery readable biography show he was a complex man and aninfluential figure in twentieth century science and culture.

Robert Oppenheimer

After reading "Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic story" I felt that I knew Mr. Oppenheimer. The author wrote the book so that all the information could be learned and still be interesting. I learned every little fact about Mr. Oppenheimer and came out with a greater appreciation for him and his work. The reason he is worthy of a book is mostly because he was the man behind the atomic bomb. He is most famous for this but he also accomplished many other great things in nuclear fission and quantum physics.I started reading this book because I had to but after reading it I gained an appreciation and a greater understanding for a great man. If you are doing a report or are just interested in Robert Oppenheimer I strongly suggest that you read this book.

The Man Behind the Bomb

For those interested in the history of the atomic bomb, I strongly recommend this book. After reading Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", I was curious to read more about Oppenheimer and this book satisfied that yen.Goodchild's book is relatively thorough and moves quickly. I think his view of Oppenheimer is generally sympathetic and he does a nice job of showing how Oppenheimer managed the a-bomb project and kept abreast of each development in a number of then ground-breaking scientific achievements. And in a People Magazine fashion, the information about the various egos involved also made for interesting reading. This book was written for the layperson. The amount of technical information presented is limited and well-presented.It would have been nice to have just a little more detail on the Oppenheimer trial, but was there was well-done.