J(ulius) Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) was born in New York City on April 22 of a privileged, assimilated German-Jewish family. Known widely as the "father of the atomic bomb," Oppenheimer also thought that physicists had special responsibilities as a result of their contributions to this development. He argued for international control of nuclear weapons and against the U.S. development of the hydrogen bomb. He died of throat cancer in Princeton, New Jersey, on February 18.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1904–1967. The American physicist made fundamental contributions to theoretical physics and was director of the atomic energy research project at Los Alamos, New Mexico. (National Archives and Records Administration.)

Education and Career

Oppenheimer received a liberal and wide-ranging education in New York City, at Harvard University, and at several leading scientific centers in Europe, receiving his Ph.D. under Max Born in 1927. His most creative scientific work was performed...