Abraham Pais

Robert P. Crease

An illuminating portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer chronicles the story of one of the most charismatic and enigmatic figures of modern physics, from his precocious youth to his seminal role in developing the first atomic bomb, and beyond.

A Life

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Prme-Sah

"By the time of my arrival in Berkeley, Oppie's course in quantum mechanics was well established. Oppie was quick, impatient, and had a sharp tongue. In the earliest days of his teaching he was reputed to have terrorized the students.

Now, after five years of experience, he had mellowed—if his earlier students were to be believed. His course was an inspirational as well as an educational achievement. He transmitted to his students a feeling of the beauty of the logical structure of physics and an excitement in the development of science. Almost everyone listened to the course more than once, and Oppie occasionally haddifficulty in preventing students from coming a third time. 

One Russian woman attempted to come a fourth time, and defeated Oppie's efforts to dissuade her

by going on a hunger strike. [His students] carried [the course], each in his own version, to many campuses."

J. Robert Oppenheimer A Life

Highlights