Kai Bird

Martin J. Sherwin

A portrait of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, discusses his role in the twentieth-century scientific world, as well as his roles as family man and head of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Triumph And Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

American Prometheus

The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Physicist and polymath, as familiar with Hindu scriptures as he was with quantum mechanics, J. Robert Oppenheimer – director of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb – was the most famous scientist of his generation. In their meticulous and riveting biography, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin reveal a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man, profoundly involved with some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.

The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

A page-turner. Really well written and researched. Never got bored reading it. 

Jeff Dlouhy

Ashlyn

Christopher Nolan is making a film based on this biography (release date Summer 2023), so you know it's *that* good. Make sure to read it before watching the movie (in theaters, since I bet Nolan will include a Trinity test scene that is bound to be the best cinematic rendering of a nuclear explosion ever).

Kyle S

Whew, this book was a long one, and to be honest, I've put it down a few times for a few weeks or months at a time since I started it. J. Robert Oppenheimer's life was a biographer's dream: with having most of it documented both publically and privately, whether Oppenheimer wanted it or not. As a high-profile physicist, statesman, and suspected spy there was nothing in his life that wasn't captured, either through interviews or FBI wiretaps. However, I think that this excessive documentation, although great for documentarians, has its drawback. The authors of the book do a great job of sticking to the truth as much as possible but at times it feels like they're just listing off quotes which can get pretty dry as a reader. With that being said, if you're interested in the man behind the atomic age I highly recommend this book as the definitive biography on J. Rober Oppenheimer. (Note: The author of this review has only ever read this biography of Oppenheimer).

Bob Simone

This was super awesome. Sometimes I forget about that. Hot-dog!

Intan Puspitasari

Conor Smith

El 16 de julio de 1945, en el desierto de Nuevo México, se detonaba en secreto la primera bomba atómica. Impactado por el poder destructivo de su creación, J. Robert Oppenheimer, director del Proyecto Manhattan, se comprometería desde entonces a luchar contra el desarrollo de la bomba de hidrógeno y contra la guerra nuclear. Sospechoso de comunista para los Estados Unidos de la era McCarthy, fue perseguido por el FBI, calumniado como espía de la Unión Soviética y obligado a dimitir de cualquier función pública. Su vida privada fue arrastrada del mismo modo hacia el esperpento; su casa fue allanada con micrófonos ocultos, y su teléfono, intervenido. No sería hasta 1963 que el presidente Kennedy lo rehabilitaría y, con ello, su figura obtendría otro cariz para los ciudadanos del mundo entero.
Treinta años de entrevistas a familiares, amigos y colegas; de búsqueda en archivos del FBI; de análisis de las cintas con discursos e interrogatorios, y de hallazgos de documentos privados del físico nuclear dieron como resultado este monumental libro. Una biografía de una enorme minuciosidad que ofrece una visión íntima del científico más famoso de su generación; una de las figuras icónicas del siglo xx para quien el triunfo y la tragedia se unieron en un nudo gordiano.

American Prometheus The Triumph And Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

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