J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Father of the Atomic Bom
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer played a pivotal role as the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during the development of the atomic bomb. Following the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, Oppenheimer was chosen to oversee the Manhattan Project, a program aimed at creating the first nuclear weapon during World War II. After resigning in 1945, he assumed the role of chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission. President John F. Kennedy, prior to his 1963 assassination, announced Oppenheimer as the recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award for his contributions to physics, with President Lyndon B. Johnson presenting the award in December of that year. The "Father of the Atomic Bomb" passed away from cancer in 1967 at the age of 62. Born on April 22, 1904, in New York City, J. Robert Oppenheimer was the son of German Jewish immigrants, Julius Oppenheimer, a wealthy textile importer, and Ella ...