[58x14]

I heard recently (on Lex Fridman's podcast with Marc Andreessen) that Oppenheimer was called a "cry-baby scientist" by President Truman, and that his groveling campaign was considered by many to be self-aggrandizing, albeit in a self-deprecating way.

Apparently, his involvement was less significant than many others in the Manhattan Project, but his name became one of the most well-known due to his public outcries, and of course his iconic quote.

I haven't yet seen the movie and I'm looking forward to it; I wonder how much of this is portrayed.

Funny enough, I'm planning a double feature with Oppenheimer and the Barbie movie. Maintaining a healthy relationship involves tradeoffs.

[falcrist]

> Apparently, his involvement was less significant than many others in the Manhattan Project

He was essentially the project manager, so I'm not sure how this is possible.

Are people simply suggesting that he wasn't the one who did most of the actual science? If so, that seems like missing the point.

[matthewdgreen]

Alternatively, have you considered that the guy organized and ran the development of the atomic bomb and that those specific podcasters might not be particularly objective in their analysis?

[beezle]

He both ran Project Y and contributed to it in meaninful ways. And managing the project was not simple on a technical/engineering level nor as "big science" (as Project Y essentially invented the term).

[dralley]

> on Lex Fridman's podcast with Marc Andreessen

There's two to talk.

[dgllghr]

General Leslie Groves thought very highly of Oppenheimer, and if you got the stamp of approval from Groves, you were doing something right.

Oppenheimer was dragged through the mud during the red scare and his name is still tarnished because of that. It is ironic and a little sad that he was awarded the Fermi medal once his name was finally cleared because Fermi worked for him during the Manhattan Project. It probably would have been the Oppenheimer Medal if it weren’t for Senator McCarthy.

Oppenheimer beat Heisenberg (also a pretty smart guy) to the bomb and not by a little either. And thank whatever higher power is out there he did.

Oppenheimer was a genius both in theoretical and practical physics work. It is a shame that he doesn’t have a better reputation today. And when it comes to his “campaign”, well, he had good reasons for his concerns. The second atomic bomb dropped on Japan was dropped without the president’s knowledge! He realized that we were not ready for that weapon and still aren’t to this day.