American Prometheus (142 page)

Government Document Collections

Atomic Energy Commission, National Archives

Manhattan Engineering District, Harrison-Bundy files, RG 77, NA

National Defense Research Council and Office of Scientific Research and Development, RG 227, NA

Federal Bureau of Investigation records on J. Robert Oppenheimer, FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC (Name files: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Katherine Oppenheimer, Frank Oppenheimer, Haakon Chevalier, and Klaus Fuchs)

Los Alamos National Laboratory Archives, numerous files

Secretary of Defense Papers, RG 330, NA

Secretary of War Papers, RG 107, NA

Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, RG 128, NA

Special Committee on Atomic Energy, RG 46, NA

Department of State, AEC files and the records of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for atomic energy matters, RG 50, NA

Interviews

The interviews listed here were conducted by Martin Sherwin (MS), Kai Bird (KB), Jon Else (JE), Alice Kimball Smith (AS), and Charles Weiner (CW). The Sherwin and Bird interview transcripts are in the possession of the authors. The Jon Else interviews were conducted for use in Else’s 1980 documentary film
The Day After Trinity—
and we are grateful for his permission to quote from them. The Smith and Weiner interviews were conducted in connection with their edited collection of Oppenheimer’s letters,
Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections.
While Smith and Weiner graciously gave us copies of these interviews for use in this biography, most of their interview transcripts are on file with MIT’s Oral History Program in Cambridge, MA.

Anderson, Carl, 3/31/83 (MS)
Bacher, Jean, 3/29/83 (MS)
Bacher, Robert, 3/29/83 (MS)
Barlas, June, 1/19/82 (MS); 3/28/01 (KB)
Bernheim, Frederic, 10/27/75 (CW)
Bethe, Hans, 7/13/79 (JE); 5/5/82 (MS)
Bohm, David, 6/15/79 (MS)
Boyd, William, 12/21/75 (AS)
Bradbury, Norris, 1/10/85 (MS)
Bundy, McGeorge, 12/2–3/92 (KB)
Chance, Ellen, 5/10/79 (MS)
Cherniss, Harold F., 4/21/76 (AS); 5/23/79 (MS); 11/10/76 (AS)
Chevalier, Haakon, 6/29/82, 7/15/82 (MS)
Chevalier, Haakon, Jr., 3/9/02 (MS)
Christy, Robert, 3/30/83 (MS)
Colgate, Sterling, 11/12/79 (JE)
Compton, Margaret, 4/3/76 (AS)
Crane, Horace Richard, 4/8/83 (MS)
Dale, Betty, 1/21/82 (MS)
Denham, Irva Claire, 1/20/82 (MS)
Denham, John, 1/20/82 (MS)
DeWire, John, 5/5/82 (MS)
DuBridge, Lee, 3/30/83 (MS)
Duffield, Priscilla Greene, 1/2/76 (AS)
Dyer-Bennett, John, 5/15/01 (KB phone interview)
Dyson, Freeman, 12/10/79 (JE); 2/16/84 (MS)
Ecker, Allan, 7/16/91 (MS)
Edsall, John, 7/16/75 (CW)
Edwards, Steve, 1/18/82 (MS)
Ericson, Sabra, 1/13/82 (MS)
Fergusson, Francis, 4/23/75, 4/21/76 (AS); 6/8/79, 6/18/79, 6/23/79, 7/7/79 (MS)
Fontenrose, Joseph, 3/25/83 (MS)
Fowler, William A., 3/29/83 (MS)
Frank, Sis, 1/18/82 (MS)
Freier, Phyllis, 3/5/83 (MS)
Friedan, Betty, 1/24/01 (KB)
Friedlander, Gerhart, 4/30/02 (MS)
Garrison, Lloyd, 1/31/84 (KB)
Geurjoy, Edward, 6/26/04 (KB)
Gibney, Ed, 3/26/01 (KB)
Gibney, Eleanor, 3/27/01 (KB)
Green, John and Irva, 2/20/82 (MS)
Goldberger, Marvin, 3/28/83 (MS)
Goldberger, Mildred, 3/3/83 (MS)
Gordon, Lincoln, 5/18/04 (KB phone interview)
Hammel, Edward, 1/9/85 (MS)
Hawkins, David, 6/5/82 (MS)
Hempelmann, Louis, MD, 8/10/79 (MS)
Hein, Hilde Stern, 3/11/04 (KB)
Hiilivirta, Inga, 1/16/82 (MS); 3/26/01 (KB)
Hobson, Verna, 7/31/79 (MS)
Horgan, Paul, 3/3/76 (AS)
Jadan, Doris and Ivan, 1/18/82, 3/26/01 (MS); 3/28/01 (KB)
Jenkins, Edith Arnstein, 5/9/02 (interview by Gregg Herken); 7/25/02 (KB phone interview)
Kamen, Martin D., 1/18/79 (MS)
Kayser, Jane Didisheim, 6/4/75 (CW)
Kelman, Dr. Jeffrey, 2/3/01 (KB)
Kennan, George F., 5/3/79 (MS)
Langsdorf, Babette Oppenheimer, 12/1/76 (AS)
Lilienthal, David E., 10/14/78 (MS)
Lomanitz, Rossi, 7/11/79 (MS)
Manfred, Ken Max (Friedman), 1/14/82 (MS)
Manley, John, 1/9/85 (MS)
Mark, J. Carson, 12/19/79 (JE)
Marks, Anne Wilson, 3/5/02, 3/14/02, 5/9/02 (KB)
Marquit, Irwin, 3/6/83 (MS)
McCloy, John J., 7/10/86 (KB)
McKibbin, Dorothy, 1/1/76 (AS); 7/20/79, 12/10/79 (JE)
Motto, Dr. Jerome, 3/14/01 (KB phone interview)
Mirsky, Jeanette, 11/10/76 (AS)
Morrison, Philip, 6/21/02 (MS); 10/17/02 (KB phone interview)
Nedelsky, Leo, 12/7/76 (AS)
Nelson, Steve and Margaret, 6/17/81 (MS)
Nier, Alfred, 3/5/83 (MS)
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 11/18/63 (interview by T. S. Kuhn), AIP, APS
Oppenheimer, Frank, 2/9/73 (CW); 3/17/75, 4/14/76 (AS); 12/3/78 (MS)
Oppenheimer, Peter, 7/79 (MS); 9/23–24/04 (KB)
Peierls, Sir Rudolph, 6/5–6/79 (MS)
Phillips, Melba, 6/15/79 (MS)
Pines, David, 6/26/04 (KB)
Plesset, Milton, 3/28/83 (MS)
Pollak, Inez, 4/20/76 (AS)
Purcell, Edward, 3/5/79 (MS)
Rabi, I. I., 3/12/82 (MS)
Rosen, Louis, 1/9/85 (MS)
Rotblat, Joseph, 10/16/89 (MS)
St. Clair, Fiona and William, 2/17/82 (MS)
Serber, Robert, 3/11/82 (MS); 12/15/79 (JE)
Sherr, Patricia, 2/20/79 (MS)
Silverman, Albert, 8/9/79 (MS)
Silverman, Judge Samuel, 7/16/91 (MS)
Smith, Alice Kimball, 4/26/82 (MS)
Smith, Herbert, 8/1/74 (CW); 7/9/75 (AS)
Stern, Hans, 3/4/04 (KB phone interview)
Stratchel, John, 3/19/80 (MS)
Strunsky, Robert, 4/26/79 (MS)
Smyth, Henry DeWolf, 3/5/79 (MS)
Tatlock, Hugh, 2/01 (MS)
Teller, Edward, 1/18/76 (MS)
Uehling, Edwin and Ruth, 1/11/79 (MS)
Uhlenbeck, Else, 4/20/76 (AS)
Ulam, Stanislaw L., 7/19/79 (MS)
Ulam, Stanislaw and Françoise, 1/15/80 (JE)
Voge, Hervey, 3/23/83 (MS)
Wallerstein, Dr. Robert S., 3/19/01 (KB phone interview)
Weinberg, Joseph, 8/11/79; 8/23/79 (MS)
Weisskopf, Victor, 3/23/79; 4/21/82 (MS)
Whidden, Georgia, 4/25/03 (KB)
Wilson, Robert, 4/23/82 (interview by Owen Gingrich)
Wyman, Jeffries, 5/28/75 (CW)
Yedidia, Avram, 2/14/80 (MS)
Zorn, Jans, 4/8/83 (MS)

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint illustrations
appearing on the pages indicated:

American Institute of Physics, Emilio Segrè Visual Archives (AIP)

AP/Wide World Photos (AP)

The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (Bancroft)

Bird-Sherwin Collection (BS)

Joe Bukowski (Bukowski)

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
courtesy AIP, Emilio Segrè Visual Archives (AIP-BAS) Courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Alfred Eisenstadt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images (Eisenstadt)

Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection (AIP-PTC)

Nancy Rodger © Exploratorium,
www.exploratorium.edu

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Courtesy of the Harvard University Archives (Harvard)

Herblock © 1950 The Washington Post Co., from
Herblock’s Here and Now
(Simon & Schuster, 1955) (Herblock)

Inga Hiilivirta (Hiilivirta)

J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee Photographs (JROMC)

Yousuf Karsh/Retna Ltd. (Karsh)

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley)

Los Alamos National Laboratory Archives (LANL)

Anne Wilson Marks (Marks)

National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

National Archives (NA)

Niels Bohr Archive, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives (Bohr)

Courtesy Northwestern University Archives (Northwestern)

Alan W. Richards, Princeton, N.J., courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives (Richards) Barbara Sonnenberg (Sonnenberg)

Ulli Steltzer (Steltzer)

Dr. Hugh Tatlock (Tatlock)

Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images (Getty)

United Press International, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives,
Physics Today
Collection (UPI)

Courtesy of University of North Carolina Archives (UNC)

Herve Voge (Voge)

R.V.C. Whitehead/J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee (Whitehead)

Yosuke Yamahata, Nagasaki, August 10, 1945, National Archives. © Shogo Yamahata/ courtesy: IDG Films. Photo restoration by TX Unlimited (Yamahata)

Insert Page 1: Julius with baby JRO, JROMC; portrait of Ella, Sonnenberg; portrait of Julius, Sonnenberg. Page 2: JRO playing, JROMC; Ella and JRO, LANL; JRO with chin in hand, JROMC. Page 3: JRO on horseback, JROMC; JRO as young man, AIP; young JRO and Frank, AIP. Page 4: Paul Dirac, NA; Max Born, NA; JRO with Kramers, AIP; JRO and others on a boat, AIP. Page 5: Fowler, JRO, and Alvarez, AIP; JRO in Caltech courtyard, Caltech; Serber at blackboard, Berkeley. Page 6: Lawrence with JRO leaning on car, AIP; JRO with horse, LANL; The authors at Perro Caliente, BS. Page 7: JRO with Fermi and Lawrence, Berkeley; Joe Weinberg, Lomanitz, Bohm, and Freidman, NA; Niels Bohr, AP. Page 8: Jean Tatlock facing camera, Tatlock; Dr. Thomas Addis, NAS; FBI document, FBI. Page 9: Hoke Chevalier, Johan Hagemeyer Portrait Collection, Bancroft; George Eltenton, Voge; Col. Boris Pash, NA; Martin Sherwin with Chevalier, BS. Page 10: Kitty in jodhpurs, BS; Kitty passport photo, BS; Kitty in lab, BS. Page 11: JRO’s lab pass, BS; Kitty smoking on couch, JROMC; Kitty smiling, JROMC. Page 12: Kitty and Peter, JROMC; JRO feeding baby Peter, JROMC. Page 13: JRO at Los Alamos party, LANL; Dorothy McGibbin, JRO, and Victor Weisskopf, LANL. Page 14: JRO et al. at a lecture, LANL; Hans Bethe portrait, NA; Frank Oppenheimer inspecting instrument, Berkeley; Groves with Stimson, NA. Page 15: JRO pouring coffee, AIP; JRO silhouetted, LANL; Trinity test explosion, LANL. Page 16: Panorama of Hiroshima, NA; Mother and child survivors in Nagasaki, Yamahata. Page 17: JRO et al. at machine, AIP-PTC; Physics Today cover, UPI; JRO, Conant, and Vannevar Bush in tuxedos, Harvard. Page 18: Frank Oppenheimer in lab, NA; Frank and cow, AP; Anne Wilson Marks in boat, Marks; Richard and Ruth Tolman, BS. Page 19: Cover of
TIME,
Getty; JRO et al. with airplane, LANL; JRO et al. at Harvard, Harvard. Page 20: Olden Manor, BS; Kitty, Toni, and Peter outside Olden Manor, Whitehead. Page 21: JRO, Toni, and Peter in grass, Sonnenberg; Kitty in greenhouse, Eisenstadt. Page 22: JRO and Neumann in Princeton, Richards; JRO teaching class, Eisenstadt. Page 23: JRO with Eleanor Roosevelt and others, Getty; JRO portrait, NA; JRO with Greg Breit, NA. Page 24: Herblock cartoon, Herblock; Lewis Strauss portrait, NA; JRO walking with cigarette, Getty. Page 25: Ward Evans, Northwestern; Gordon Gray, UNC; Henry DeWolf Smyth, NA; Eugene Zuchert, NA; Roger Robb, Getty. Page 26: Toni on horse, BS; Kitty and JRO, BS; Peter in coat and tie, JROMC. Page 27: Kitty sailing, BS; JRO sailing, BS; Oppenheimer family on beach, JROMC. Page 28: Neils Bohr and JRO on couch, Bohr; Kitty and JRO in Japan, JROMC. Page 29: Oppie smoking pipe, Steltzer; JRO and Jackie Kennedy, Getty; Frank Oppenheimer at Exploratorium, Exploratorium. Page 30: JRO with Kitty receiving Fermi prize, JROMC; JRO with LBJ, Berkeley; JRO shaking hands with Teller, Getty. Page 31: JRO at beach house, Bukowski; Toni on floor, BS; Toni, Inga, Kitty, and Doris on swing, Hiilivirta. Page 32: Portrait of JRO, Steltzer. Part Title I: JRO as young man, AIP-BAS. Part Title II: JRO at blackboard, JROMC. Part Title III: JRO and Groves at Trinity site, AP. Part Title IV: Einstein and JRO, Eisenstadt. Part Title V: JRO in profile, Karsh.