The Real Story of Oppenheimer

"Now I am become death. The destroyer of worlds. Hello, friends. 16th July, 1945. Around 5.30 in the morning. In the desert of New Mexico State, America, a bomb explodes. But this is not an ordinary bomb explosion. This is the first time a nuclear bomb is being tested.

This nuclear test is codenamed Trinity. And the project was led by the scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was shocked to see this bomb blast. He had expected the size of the explosion to be around 0.3 kt of TNT. But actually, this blast was 50 times more dangerous. 15-20 kt of TNT. This blast caused such a huge heat that the steel tower there evaporated. Its shockwave was felt till 160 km away. And the mushroom cloud that erupted from the, went up to 12 km in the sky. Upon seeing all this, Oppenheimer was so shocked that a line from Bhagavad Gita came out of his mouth. "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

What was his story? How did he develop the nuclear bomb? Was Oppenheimer a hero or a villain? And how did he feel when millions of people lost their lives with the help of his creation? Let's find out in today.

Julius Robert Oppenheimer. He is called the father of the atomic bomb. He was the director of the Manhattan Project. Who made the first nuclear weapon in the world. His story starts from his childhood. He was born in 1904 in New York City. In a German Jewish family in New York. And he was considered a child genius since childhood. He was studying high-level physics and chemistry at the age of 10. And he was very knowledgeable about mineralogy. About the property of minerals. He was so knowledgeable that he was invited to give a lecture in the mineralogical club of New York at the age of 12, he was invited to give a lecture in the mineralogical club of New York.

Later, in 1922, when he went to Harvard to study, he completed his degree in 3 years. He was at the top of his class. He majored in chemistry and had knowledge of many subjects. Physics, philosophy, literature, and even Eastern religion. But from all these subjects, he realized in Harvard that his real passion was Physics. Later, in 1927, at the age of 23, he did his PhD. But there was a dark side hidden behind this genius. His friends said that Oppenheimer had self-destructive tendencies. He was a chain smoker and a victim of depression. At one time, he told his brother, "I need physics more than friends." He was only focused on his studies. And he didn't know much about what was going on in the rest of the world. Until early 1930s, when Adolf Hitler's rise was seen in Germany. He gradually became more politically aware. Because of Hitler's tyranny, many German scientists were leaving Germany and running to America. There were many big names in this list. Like Albert Einstein. John von Neumann. Who pioneered the modern computer. Leo Szilard. Who will play an important role in our story. Hans Bethe. Who discovered fusion in stars. Edward Teller. Who is called the father of the hydrogen bomb. And Enrico Fermi. Who will play an important role in our story.

All these scientists were mostly German-Jewish. Because Oppenheimer himself was from a German-Jewish family. When he started seeing the atrocities on Jews, his interest in politics increased. This is his quote from 1936. "I started understanding how political and economic events have a profound impact affect people's lives. I felt the need to participate in this community." Being influenced by the left-wing ideology, I went to many political meetings. And donated money to many labour unions and striking farm workers. In September 1939, Hitler invades Poland which starts World War II. And America was not interested in being involved in this war. But still America was preparing for the worst. Actually, what happened was that a month before the war started, in August 1939, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard wrote a letter to the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In this letter, they warned the American President that Hitler is working on nuclear weapons. It is possible that he will be successful in making this extremely powerful bomb. That's why America should be prepared.

After reading this letter, the American President set up an advisory committee on Uranium. The action was taken immediately. A team of scientists and military officials was formed. Their job was to research the potential of Uranium. Whether Uranium can be made into a weapon. After the findings of this committee, the American government started funding Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard. Research was done on how nuclear chain reactions work. How different isotopes of uranium be separated? The thing is, friends, that the uranium found on the earth naturally, is a Uranium-238 isotope. Uranium less than 1% is actually a U-235 isotope. And this U-235 isotope could be used to make the bomb.

The first challenge for the scientists was to find a way to make Uranium 235 from Uranium 238. But the scientists working on this project were told not to tell Albert Einstein anything. Because the American government was afraid that Albert Einstein's thinking was very left-wing. It could be a potential security risk. You know, Albert Einstein was one of those people who used to sleep for 10 hours in a night. He knew the importance of sleep and he used to take strategic naps in his day. Compare this to today's social media motivational gurus who tell you that you should not waste time in sleeping. They tell fraud stories that how successful people sleep only 5-6 hours a night. All this is a lie. The real thing is that regular and sufficient sleep is very important for every person. Apart from some exceptions, every person needs to sleep for 7-9 hours to be on top health. Especially if you want to maximize your productivity and happiness.

Oppenheimer was doing his own research on nuclear fission. With Edward Teller and other scientists. In December 1940, apart from the Uranium-235 isotope, another radioactive element is found. Scientists believe that it can also be used to make nuclear weapons. The name of this element is Plutonium. On 11th October 1941, the American President sends a message to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He says that both the countries should collaborate together for the development of the atomic bomb. It was not even two months that on 7th December 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. And America officially enters World War II.

A state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. American President Roosevelt announces that America will become a part of the Allied Forces which are fighting against Germany and Japan. But at this point of time, one thing becomes clear. The scientific mission of developing nuclear weapons, had now turned into a military mission. America spends $2.2 billion in this one project. Take inflation into account, it is equal to $24 billion today. Almost 2 lakh crore rupees. American military had an engineering wing which was called the Army Corps of Engineers. It made things like ports and airfields for the army. Their involvement was approved by President Roosevelt in June 1942. Now their North Atlantic Division's office was in Manhattan, New York City. And when they got the responsibility to make nuclear weapons, he made it in his headquarters on the 18th floor. These headquarters were named Manhattan Engineer District. And from this point of time, the Manhattan Project officially started. The date was 13th August, 1942.

Next month, 17th September, Colonel Leslie Richard Groves is appointed as the head of this project. And he takes the decision to appoint Oppenheimer as the leader of the design of the atomic bomb. A secret location is decided to keep this project under cover. Oak Ridge, Tennessee State. This city is also called the secret city. Because the entire city is settled here for this project. Thousands of scientists, researchers and workers are moved to this city. And their job is only one. To make Uranium 238 into Uranium 235. The point is that Uranium-238 is not very fissionable. It cannot undergo a chain reaction so that a bomb can be made. It was very important to extract Uranium-235 here. Only Uranium-235 can undergo a chain reaction so that it can be made.

The plan was to try out four different ways to make Uranium-238 to 235. Gaseous diffusion, centrifuge, electromagnetic separation, and liquid thermal diffusion. After testing these four different technologies, two technologies proved to be successful to some extent. Electromagnetic separation and gaseous diffusion. In electromagnetic separation, a large magnet is used to separate U-235 from U-238. In gaseous diffusion, U-235 is passed through a porous membrane. The light U-235 molecules are passed through it. But the U-238 molecules are heavier. So they get filtered out.

Apart from this, in a different location in Washington, Plutonium production was also going on. Plutonium is also produced from Uranium 238. When an isotope of hydrogen is bombarded with Uranium 238, Plutonium is produced. Later, it is found that then plutonium is produced. Later it is found that plutonium is actually more radioactive and more fissionable as compared to Uranium 235. Apart from these two locations, a third location was also being tried to be found. Project Y. A location where the actual work would be done to make and design these bombs. General Groves wanted a remote location far away. So that the project could remain secret. And Oppenheimer knew exactly such a location. A place where Oppenheimer had spent his summers happily. Between the mountains and beautiful landscapes. New Mexico State's Pecos Valley.

After setting all these locations, there was only one obvious thing left to do. Practically, test out a chain reaction. Everything was going on theoretically till now. At least, someone should prove that the concept of atomic bomb, can it be done or not? 2nd December 1942. Scientist Enrico Fermi did his first successful practical experiment here. In a squash court of the University of Chicago, he conducted a chain reaction. With the help of which a bulb lights up. The clickety-clack of their instruments proved they had achieved the first human-made nuclear chain reaction.

By this point in time, General Groves was very impressed with Oppenheimer's capability. He wanted to make him the director of Project Y. But some senior members of the military had a doubt on Oppenheimer. The same doubt that Albert Einstein had. Many of Oppenheimer's friends, his wife, in fact his brothers were all strict communists. They themselves were very much influenced by the left-wing ideology. America was afraid that this communist ideology could be against their country. But despite these concerns, General Groves himself personally supports Oppenheimer and says that this project cannot happen without Oppenheimer. He is essential for this project. And because of this, on 20th July 1943, Oppenheimer is made the lead of this project.

To make an atom bomb, Oppenheimer's expertise was needed in the calculation of critical mass. Critical mass is basically a minimum amount of mass of Uranium-235 or Plutonium, which is required to make a chain reaction, to sustain a chain reaction. How much minimum amount of radioactive elements will we have to use, so that a chain reaction can take place a chain reaction. How much minimum we have to use of these radioactive elements, so that a chain reaction can take place and a bomb blast can take place. It seems easy to hear today, but there were many unknown factors at that time. We hardly knew anything about the properties of Uranium 235. Plutonium 239 was actually discovered in the year 1940. And by the end of 1943, only 2 milligrams of plutonium was produced. That's why America was developing two atom bombs here. The first bomb was based on Uranium-235. It was called Little Boy. The mechanism of this bomb is basically a gun-type design. In which two masses of Uranium-235 are taken. Which are all critical. Less than the critical value. And they are combined with each other very quickly. This combination reaches the critical mass. And a fission chain reaction is seen. Which causes an explosion.

The second bomb was the Plutonium bomb. Which was using Plutonium-239. And its name was Fat Man. It was more difficult to design. Here, the gun type design was not possible. Because if the two plutonium masses were combined, it would react too fast. And the fission reaction would end before the critical mass reaches. To avoid this, a new design was created. Which was called implosion design. In this, a core of Plutonium was surrounded by TNT explosives. Which were at an equal distance from the core. And there were 32 of these TNT explosives. In total, 32 explosives were used. This bomb design was such that when all the explosives would explode together, the core of Plutonium would be crushed. The core of Plutonium would be crushed from all sides. And a chain reaction would start. This was the idea. And it was also tested later. It was tested on 16th July 1945 in New Mexico State. The bomb blast was so dangerous that it was seen from 160 km away. And the mushroom cloud that erupted from it went up to 12 km in the sky.

This is where the famous quote from the Bhagavad Gita comes. "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." Scientists were shocked to see this. They never thought it would be so powerful. Many scientists couldn't sleep for many nights after seeing this. And the whole project was led by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Many people think that this statement was made by Oppenheimer at that time. But this is not true. Actually, this statement was made by Oppenheimer later. During an interview in the year 1965. When he was asked how he felt when he saw the first atom bomb blast. He replied in this way.

So this is Oppenheimer's story. And the story of the Manhattan Project. It is a very long and detailed story. I have tried to explain it in a very summarized manner. There are many books and documentaries made on it.