J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Book

Foreword   Ida Nicolaisen     xiii
Preface   Robert P. Crease     xvii
Introduction   Abraham Pais     xix
First Encounters     1
Background: Early Years     4
University Studies     8
Postdoctoral Studies     14
Harvard     14
Caltech     14
Leiden     15
Zurich     17
The California Professor as Teacher     20
The California Professor as Researcher     24
More on QED     24
Cosmic Rays     26
Electron-Positron Theory     28
Nuclear Physics     29
Shower Theory     29
Mesons     30
Astrophysics and Cosmology     31
Oppenheimer's Opinion of His Own Teaching and Research in California     33
Personal Life in the 1930s     34
"The Shatterer of Worlds"     39
In Which Oppenheimer Enters the World Stage     45
An Atomic Scientist's Credo     49
The Institute Prior to Oppenheimer's Arrival     59
The Flexner Years     69
The Aydelotte Years     73
In Which Oppenheimer Is ElectedDirector of the Institute and Chairman of the General Advisory Committee     77
Oppenheimer's Early Years as Institute Director     86
Oppenheimer and the World of Physics: 1946-1954     96
"The Great Charismatic Figure"     96
Building Up Physics at the Institute     102
F. J. Dyson     103
C. N. Yang     104
T. D. Lee     105
Of Some Who Came and Some Who Went     106
Hideki Yukawa     106
Sin-itiro Tomonaga     106
David Joseph Bohm     107
John von Neumann     108
Oswald Veblen     109
Oppenheimer as Leader of Conferences     110
Shelter Island, June 1947     110
Pocono, March/April 1948     114
Solvay, September/October 1948     116
Old Stone, April 1949     117
Rochester I, December 1950     117
Rochester II (January) and III (December) 1952     118
IBM, April 1953     119
A Book Review, October 1953     121
Japan, September 1953     121
Rochester IV, January 1954     122
Further on Oppenheimer the Man     123
Los Alamos Vignettes     123
Robert Wilson     123
Hans Bethe     125
Edward Teller     126
Enrico Fermi     129
Richard Feynman     130
Luis Alvarez     130
Robert Serber     130
Niels Bohr     131
Young Wives' Tales     134
Elsie McMillan     134
Bernice Brode     134
Robert Oppenheimer     136
More Personal Recollections     139
Atomic Politics in the Early Postwar Years     144
1945-1946     144
October 3, 1945     144
August 1, 1946     144
October 1946     145
December 1946     145
The Acheson-Lilienthal Plan     146
The Baruch Plan     151
1946 as the Highest Point of Oppenheimer's Political Contributions     155
Oppenheimer's Public Expressions on Atomic Policy: 1947-1948     157
Of the First Serious Enemies and of the First Russian A-Bomb     163
In Which the First Clouds Appear     163
The First Soviet A-Bomb     166
Of the Superbomb and of Spy Stories     168
Varia: 1947-1949     168
Shall the United States Develop the Super?      171
Emil Klaus Julius Fuchs et al.     177
The New Super     183
The Teller-Ulam Invention     183
Oppenheimer's Views on the Super     187
Oppenheimer's Participation in Panels: 1950-1953     188
The Long Range Objectives Panel     188
Project Gabriel     189
Project Charles     189
Project Vista     189
Project Lincoln     190
1952: Oppenheimer Leaves the General Advisory Committee     191
Atomic Politics in the Early 1950s     193
The Doctrine of Massive Retaliation     193
Operation Candor     194
The Opening Salvos of the Attackers     196
May 1953     197
June 5, 1953     198
June 20, 1953     198
July 3, 1953     198
July 7, 1953     198
July 1953     198
August 1953     198
August 20, 1953     198
November 12, 1953     198
November 1953     201
November-December 1953     201
In Which the Excrement Hits the Ventilator     202
The Oppenheimer-Strauss Meeting, December 1953     202
Eisenhower Erects a "Blank Wall"      204
Preparations for the Hearings     208
Oppenheimer and McCarthy     212
In Which the News of the Hearings Is Made Public     214
How Einstein and I First Heard     214
First Newspaper Comments     216
Supplemental Material   Robert P. Crease
"Open Book": The Hearing in the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer     227
The Hearing: April 12-May 6, 1954     232
Findings, Appeal, Decision: May 17-June 29     250
No Final Judgment     259
First Judgments     259
Post-Mortems     264
Cultural Judgments     265
The Sense of Tragedy     268
Insider in Exile     272
Institute Director     273
Science Impresario     278
Speaker and Author     285
St. John     292
Rehabilitation and Retirement     295
Cloaked Mountain Peak     300
Notes     311
Principal Sources Used     335
Index     337