One of Ethical Culture Fieldston’s most famous alumni is John Robert Oppenheimer ‘21, theoretical physicist who directed the science, and the machinery behind the science, of the Manhattan Project, the secret war-time project that manufactured the world’s first atomic bombs. Oppenheimer started at Ethical in 1911 in the second grade. After skipping 8th grade and later becoming valedictorian, he began studying physics at Harvard. The Oppenheimer family was incredibly important to Fieldston. Both J. Robert Oppenheimer and his younger brother Frank studied here and their father was a deeply committed member of the Ethical Culture Society. J. Robert Oppenheimer is the subject of a new film, set to be released in July of 2022.
The film is directed by writer/director Christopher Nolan, an acclaimed figure in the world of film (The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Dunkirk.) The film, starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr., will follow the story of creating the atomic bomb and its use in World War II, with a focus on Oppenheimer and his personal story. To get ready for the film, I sat down with some Fieldston physics teachers and Toby Himmel, from the Alumni Relations office, to learn more about Oppenheimer and how Fieldston influenced his career.
Oppenheimer was America’s best known physicist in the 1930s. Oppenheimer, as chief scientist and project head, coordinated efforts in Manhattan, Chicago, Tennessee and New Mexico and created an “open atmosphere” of creativity and collaboration amongst his researchers. Best known for his work as the “manager of scientists” on the Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer is often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb.” The project, based in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was groundbreaking for the time, and led to a number of advances in both science and, unfortunately, war.
After the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer grew increasingly critical of the use of atomic power for warfare. He ran afoul of Edward Teller, a rival physicist, and a believer in a large nuclear arsenal, and as Cold War politics intensified, both Oppenheimer and his brother, Frank, fell from prominence, and were blacklisted from any academic work or future government service. The two were both heavily involved in science and the political sphere, and this was a devastating blow for them. J. Robert Oppenheimer ceased his involvement in the scientific world, while his brother went on to found the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California. There’s no question that the pair have had enormous influence on our country, and the world as a whole.
While at Fieldston, Oppenheimer explored a number of paths, discovering and exploring his love for physics in the final years of his time here. Upper School physics teacher Jonathan Lambert spoke about a trip Oppenheimer took to the Southwest in his final years at Ethical Culture. It was a kind of arduous physical and spiritual journey at the same time. During this trip, he visited a sleepy western hamlet called Los Alamos with his teacher, immediately becoming interested in the work being done at the location. He later went on to create the atomic bomb working at this same facility.
Despite attending The Ethical Culture School, Oppenheimer was never educated on the Fieldston campus (the first graduation was 1928). Considering when the Fieldston campus was built, Robert’s younger brother, Frank Oppenheimer, would’ve been in the first graduating class to set foot on the campus. Even so, many of us are familiar with the Oppenheimer laboratory at Fieldston, located in the 400s building, in which you can find scientific instruments dating back to the early 1900s.
Upper school physics teacher Benjamin Wearn spoke about the physics department during the time of the Oppenheimers, from which there are equipment catalogs in German and old physics equipment. “We have old physics equipment that goes back a hundred years, some of it is clearly older than the building of this campus, so I do like to think that Oppenheimer used some of this equipment… and I get the sense there was a good physics teacher here then.”
At the time, the field of physics was much different than it is today. “It was like going from nothing, from sort of like the classical electromechanics work of the 19th century to a nearly modern interpretation, a contemporary 21st century interpretation of physics in the span of like 20 years,” says Lambert. Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project propelled the world of physics, specifically nuclear science, into the next century. While we don’t know much about the physics department during his time, his later work has certainly impacted the modern study of physics, at Fieldston and beyond.
In terms of our school’s impact on Oppenheimer, Toby Himmel expanded upon his connection with Herbert Smith, former Ethical Culture principal and a mentor for J. Robert Oppenheimer, noting his role in Oppenheimer’s recuperation after health issues he experienced in 1921. Toby has also shown scholars report cards and other Oppenheimer artifacts and hosted biographers David Cassidy and Kai Bird; both used Fieldston archives, now available at The New York Historical Society, for their work.
Lambert noted that Oppenheimer most likely crossed paths with Felix Adler, whose hands-on involvement at Fieldston’s development would’ve overlapped with both of the Oppenheimer brothers’ time at our school. “I definitely think Oppenheimer would’ve had experience with Adler directly.” Lambert spoke about how intertwined Oppenheimer’s political work, which leaned towards progressive causes, was aligned with the mission of our school.
Expectations for the film at Fieldston are varied, with some hoping for discussions of his time post-Manhattan Project, and some wanting to hear about his time at our school. However, Oppenheimer and his legacy are difficult to address.
Even though Oppenheimer made incredible contributions to the scientific world, it seems as though he didn’t comprehend the weight of what he was doing. As Lambert said, “He was so focussed on the goal… he didn’t sort of pause to think about the ramifications and the implications of the ethics around it.”
There is a striking 1945 interview with Oppenheimer, after the testing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico, in which he quotes the Bhagavad Gita saying “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” This is a horrifying vision. In it, some have said, Oppenheimer glimpses extinction. In that sentence is a sense of the enormity of the issues he faced and the conflict between pure science and the pursuit of science under wartime exigencies.
Oppenheimer’s legacy has been clouded by debates on the atomic bomb, and while I can’t speak to the ethics of his actions, I can say that, without Oppenheimer, it’s unclear where nuclear weapons would be today. Bob Montera, in the history department says:
“How does a person, trained as a kid in ethical debates and discussion, build, as an adult, a weapon of mass destruction? It is important to remember that Hitler’s Germany was pursuing a superweapon, an atomic bomb policy under Werner Heisenberg. Einstein warned Roosevelt of this, which set the research in motion. It is an ethical dilemma and minefield and, very indirectly, tells us a good deal about Oppenheimer’s mental landscape; any scientist’s mental landscape under the exigencies of war. By the time the atomic bomb was tested, July 1945, Germany had been defeated. But then it was directed against Japan. That had a lot to do with the high casualties and suicidal resistance late in the Pacific War. There was no Japanese atomic bomb program. By August 1945 almost 90 percent of Japan’s cities were in ruins. The air force had been wholly destroyed. So, why use it? And that had to do with politics and policy. And that was bigger than Oppenheimer.”
While it’s certain that ethical debates about nuclear weapons will continue for decades, one thing that I think many here at Fieldston can agree on is a shared excitement to see this biopic and how it tackles the issues associated with one of our most influential alumni.
