Who built world's first atomic bomb; used to read Bhagavad Gita; his family had to flee Germany due to Hitler's fear, name is...
World's first atomic bomb: J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York in 1904. He was the son of first-generation Jewish immigrants who came to America from Germany. By the age of 9, he had read literature and philosophy in Greek and Latin. He would send letters related to his research to the prestigious Mineralogy Club. Born in New York City, Oppenheimer graduated in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1925 and then earned a doctorate in Physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany. Oppenheimer's reputation in quantum physics and quantum mechanics resounded throughout the world.
Katherine chose Oppenheimer as her partner and also assisted him in the research related to the first atomic weapon of the Manhattan Project. At one point, feeling unsuccessful in achieving something significant, Oppenheimer even contemplated taking his own life.
During the Second World War, when there was a race to create atomic bombs in Germany, Russia, and America, the search for a director for the Manhattan Project intensified. The great physicist Einstein was also in favour of Oppenheimer. When General Groves of the U.S. Army proposed Oppenheimer's name, there was an uproar. His leftist thinking was cited as an example. Oppenheimer's appointment is mentioned in the 1988 book 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb'.
Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, was appointed as the director of the Los Alamos Lab under the Manhattan Project by the then American President during World War II and given the responsibility for the development of the atomic bomb. After three years of hard work, July 16, 1945, was the day when the first atomic bomb was tested. It was named Trinity. July 16, 1945, was doomsday for Robert Oppenheimer in the deserts of New Mexico. America's atomic test was codenamed Trinity. Oppenheimer was in a bunker with his colleagues, from where the world's first nuclear test was conducted 10 kilometers away.
In August 1945, atomic bombs named Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Approximately 250,000 people were killed in total. Japan surrendered, and World War II came to an end.
This devastation shook Oppenheimer. He described atomic weapons as destructive and a product of the devil. He told then American President Harry Truman that he held himself responsible for this massacre.
In the biography of Oppenheimer, historians Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin wrote that when the atom bomb with the intensity of 21 kilotons of TNT exploded, the shock of the earthquake was felt up to 160 kilometers away. Robert Oppenheimer recited a verse from the Bhagavad Gita: 'Kaal: Asmi Lokakshhayakritpraviddho Lokansamaahartumih pravrittah,' meaning 'I am now death, the destroyer of worlds.'
Oppenheimer strongly opposed the creation of the hydrogen bomb after the atomic bomb. An investigation was set up against him, and his security clearance was revoked. However, the American government acknowledged its mistake in 1963 and honoured him with the Enrico Fermi Award.
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NDTV
6 hours ago
- NDTV
Harvard's US-Funded Defence Projects Totaled $180 Million: Report
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Time of India
8 hours ago
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Hindustan Times
15 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Harvard's US-funded defense projects totaled $180 million in recent years, study shows
* Trump administration cut an estimated $180 million in Harvard's defense projects * Funding cuts affect military medical and scientific research, Govini analysis shows * Harvard sues, claiming cuts violate free-speech rights WASHINGTON, - When the Trump administration cut federal funding to Harvard University, it abruptly ended an estimated $180 million that the federal government had poured into U.S. military projects at Harvard in recent years, according to an analysis from a defense software company. The Trump administration announced in April that it was moving to freeze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University. President Donald Trump said he was trying to force change at Harvard - and other top-level universities across the U.S. - because in his view they have been captured by leftist "woke" thought and become bastions of antisemitism. Some of the grants paid for military-specific medical research, studies on countering weapons of mass destruction and research on lasers, among numerous other topics, Reuters found. The abrupt halt stopped years-long projects and upended programs spread across several universities, not just Harvard. In 2025 alone, an estimated 103 grants totaling about $14 million will grind to a halt, according to an analysis by Govini, a defense software company. For example, U.S. officials ended Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Professor Katia Bertoldi's $6 million Pentagon-funded project developing shape-changing structures with military applications two weeks ago, despite being at a critical juncture in its research cycle. "We've been in year three, so we set up all the tools, and now we're really gaining momentum, and now it stops," Bertoldi said. Funded through the Department of Defense's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, she was developing technology based on origami that would lead to reconfigurable antennas, and deployable shelters like field hospitals. Since 2020 the Pentagon, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and every branch of the U.S. military have given Harvard 418 grants valued at $180 million, according to the analysis by Govini. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth "directed the termination of several programs, contracts and grants that were not aligned with the Department's priorities to cut wasteful spending, implement the President's orders, and reallocate savings to mission-critical priorities," a Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters. The bulk of those grants went to military medical research, basic scientific research and applied scientific research, Govini found, with the Army providing the most funding. The administration has frozen approximately $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard, with Trump complaining on Truth Social that Harvard has hired "Democrats, Radical Left idiots and 'bird brains'" as professors. On Monday, Trump said he is considering redirecting billions of dollars of previously awarded scientific and engineering research grants from Harvard to trade schools. Harvard has sued to restore the funding, calling the cuts an unconstitutional attack on its free-speech rights. The research cancellations affect extensive collaborative networks. Bertoldi's project included researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgia Tech. Scientists warn these cuts may have strategic implications as China has heavily invested in research. Bertoldi said, "In China, as far as I know, colleagues that moved back to China, there's a lot of support for this type of research."
