Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer remains in the news. This film has been released in Indian cinemas on 22 July. And earning fast.

This film of about three hours is based on the story of Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who made the world’s first atomic bomb. Oppenheimer is played by Cillian Murphy in the film.

Oppenheimer was born in a very rich family, but his life was full of simplicity. At the time when Oppenheimer was engaged in strengthening his academic career, he decided to read the Bhagavad Gita. For this he learned Sanskrit. In fact, Oppenheimer wanted to read the original form of Gita instead of its translation.

Oppenheimer had mentioned only the verse of Gita in an interview. He had said, ‘I am now Kaal, who destroys the worlds.’

Family immigrated to America from Germany

Robert Oppenheimer was born on 22 April 1904 in New York. He was the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany who settled in America. The Oppenheimer family had a clothing business, from which they earned a lot of wealth and fame.

Oppenheimer earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1925. After this, in 1927, he did PhD in Physics from Göttingen University, Germany.

After completing his studies, Oppenheimer joined the Physics Department of the University of California as a researcher. Later on, in 1936, he became a professor here.

‘Need more physics than friends’

– Oppenheimer’s stature was thin. He was quite shy. But his mind was very sharp.

He had a tremendous addiction to cigarette smoking. He was a chain smoker. It is said that he often lived in depression. But he was very engrossed in his work as well. Many times he used to get so engrossed in his work that he even forgot to eat food.

– There is an anecdote. Once one of his friends jokingly told him that he wanted to marry his girlfriend to divert his attention from depression. Oppenheimer got so angry on this that he tried to strangle him.

Oppenheimer remained in depression for the rest of his life. Once he told his brother, ‘I need physics more than friends.’

manhattan project

This was the period when the Second World War had started. In October 1941, two months before America’s entry into World War I, US President Franklin Roosevelt approved the program to build the atomic bomb.

In May 1942, the chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, James B. Conant called Oppenheimer to calculate fast neutrons. Conant was the one who had been Oppenheimer’s lecturer at Harvard.

In June 1942, the US Army created the Manhattan Engineer District for the atomic bomb project.

In September, General Leslie Groves was made director of the Manhattan Project. He handed over the responsibility of handling the Secret Weapon Lab to Oppenheimer. This decision of Groves was surprising. He had two reasons. The first is that Oppenheimer was influenced by leftist ideology. And second, he had no record of handling such a large project.

– But General Groves knew very well that only a scientist like Oppenheimer is needed to make an atomic bomb. General Groves saw something in Oppenheimer that others did not.

Later, Oppenheimer and General Groves decided that they would have to build a research lab at a remote place. Los Alamos of Mexico was chosen for this. It was not easy to reach this place, because the road was very bad. But the place was perfect for testing the atomic bomb.

nuclear test again

Oppenheimer and his team kept working on making the atomic bomb for many years. The atomic bomb was made and now it was yet to be tested.

– The day of July 16, 1945 was chosen for the test. This test was to be held near Alamogordo in New Mexico. Oppenheimer gave the code name of this test ‘Trinity’.

Oppenheimer was very nervous that day. Due to working on atomic bomb for three years, his weight was reduced to 52 kg.

As the time of the blast was getting closer, the tension on Oppenheimer’s face was increasing. Finally, when there was an explosion, everything became blurred. There was an explosion with a force of 21 kilotons of TNT. Its shock was felt up to 160 kilometers away.

After this successful test, Oppenheimer had told that this explosion was so bright that seeing it, he remembered the verse of Gita. This verse was- ‘If the light of thousands of suns burst forth in the sky at once, it would be like the glory of the mighty.’

‘I have become Kaal’

Years later, in an interview, Oppenheimer said that after the blast, a verse from the Gita came to his mind. This verse was- ‘I have become Kaal, the destroyer of the world.’

Oppenheimer said, ‘We knew that the world would not be the same. Some people cried, some laughed and some remained silent. At that time, I remembered the verse of Gita in which Lord Krishna was explaining to Prince Arjuna that he should keep on doing his work. To impress him, Shri Krishna showed his Dashavatar and said, ‘Now I have become Kaal, the destroyer of the world.’

Oppenheimer was accompanied by his brother Frank and Brigadier General Thomas Farrell on the day of the nuclear test. Referring to that day, Farrell said in an interview, ‘There was a lot of pressure on Oppenheimer. As the last second drew near, the tension on his face was increasing. He could hardly breathe. He kept looking in front till the last few seconds. As soon as the explosion happened, relief was visible on his face.

Then the world saw the devastation

In July 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb was successfully tested. And in the very next month, in August, the world saw its devastation as well.

During World War II, when Japan did not agree to surrender, America attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs.

– America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and on Nagasaki on 9 August. Lakhs of people were killed in this attack. The skins of thousands were scorched. Lumps of flesh were hanging from the bodies of some. When the bomb fell, the temperature of the ground surface reached 4000 degree Celsius.

‘My hands are stained with blood’

Oppenheimer was very happy after the successful nuclear test. It is said that he also had arrogance. But his arrogance ended within a month.

On August 17, a few days after the nuclear attack on Japan, Oppenheimer wrote to the then US President Harry S. Truman met.

During this meeting, Oppenheimer told Truman, ‘I have blood on my hands.’ It is said that this angered Truman and the meeting ended here.

It is said that after the nuclear attack, Oppenheimer started staying away from the common people. He had reduced the coming and going among the people.

He had throat cancer because of being a chain smoker. Oppenheimer went into a coma on 15 February 1967. Finally, on 18 February 1967, Oppenheimer died at the age of 62.