American Prometheus (110 page)

91
“The work is fine”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 159 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, fall 1932).

91
Unlike many European theorists:
Rigden,
Rabi: Scientist and Citizen,
p. 7.

91
“Had Oppenheimer gone”:
Decades later, Oppenheimer himself thought all copies of these syllabus/lecture notes had disappeared. JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/20/63, p. 28; Royal,
The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
pp. 64–65. Actually, Sherwin obtained a copy from Herve Voge. It will be donated to an appropriate archive.

91
“I need physics”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 135 (letter of 10/14/29).

91
When Julius found out:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 138.

91
“Natalie was a dare-devil”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 172, 191; Helen Campbell Allison, correspondence with Alice Smith, undated (circa 1976), Alice Smith interview notes. Natalie Raymond died in 1975.

92 “young wives falling for Robert”: Helen C. Allison, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76.

92
“Everyone wants rather”:
JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 10/14/29; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 135.

92
“the jeunes filles Newyorkaises”:
JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 10/14/29; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 135.

93
“His mere physical appearance”:
Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, pp. 1–2.

Chapter Seven: “The Nim Nim Boys”

94
The stock market crash:
Cassidy,
J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century,
p. 123.

94
“reconstructed Chrysler emitted”:
Julius Oppenheimer to Frank Oppenheimer, 3/11/30, folder 4–11, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, UCB; Michelmore,
The Swift
Years,
p. 33.

94
“How far is it wise”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 139 (3/12/30).

94
“We did everything”:
Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, pp. 2, 9.

94
“I’ll be back presently
and subsequent quotes: San Francisco Chronicle,
2/14/34, p. 1; Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 27; Serber, interview by Jon Else, 12/15/79, p. 26.

95
In 1934:
Royal,
The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 63; Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 25; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 149, 186; Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 13; Robert Serber, interview by Jon Else, 12/15/79, p. 23.

95
“the most beautiful harbor”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 143 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 8/10/31). For the description of the Shasta house, see Edith A. Jenkins,
Against
a Field Sinister,
p. 28, and Robert Serber, interview by Jon Else, 12/15/79, p. 23.

96
His long bony fingers:
Chevalier,
Oppenheimer,
pp. 20–21.

96
“They copied his gestures”:
Rabi, et al.,
Oppenheimer,
p. 20; Rigden,
Rabi,
p. 213.

96
“He [Oppie] was like a spider”:
Jeremy Bernstein,
Oppenheimer,
p. 62.

96
“We weren’t supposed”:
Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, p. 15.

96
“He read a good deal”:
Harold Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 10.

97
“so that Robert”:
Herbert Smith, interview by Weiner, 8/1/74, p. 14.

97
“knew all the best restaurants”:
Harold Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 8.

97
He always picked up:
Serber,
Peace and War,
pp. 29–31.

97
“The world of good food”:
Royal,
The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 63, quoting Serber.

97
Most people left:
Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, p. 15.

97
“Frank has done this work”:
Phillips, interview by Sherwin, pp. 9–11. Carlson later taught physics at Princeton and several other universities; in 1955 he committed suicide.

97
Each spring:
Rabi, et al.,
Oppenheimer,
p. 19.

98
“Shut up, Pauli”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 141.

98
During the summer:
Frank Oppenheimer to Royal, 2/25/67, folder 4–23, box 4, Frank Oppenheimer Papers, Bancroft Library.

98
“Mother critically ill”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 144–45 (JRO to Ernest Lawrence, 10/12/31, 10/16/31).

98
“I’m the loneliest man”:
Herbert Smith, interview by Weiner, 8/1/74, p. 12; Michelmore,
The Swift Years,
p. 33; Royal,
The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
pp. 61–62.

99
“They are very good fun”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 152–53 (Julius Oppenheimer to Frank Oppenheimer, 1/18/32).

99
“Nobody could make”:
Uehling, interview by Sherwin, 1/11/79, p. 31.

99
“He is an astounding person”:
Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 5; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 143, 165;
Time,
11/8/48, p. 75.

99
“He liked things that”:
Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 11.

99
“It is very easy”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 143, 165; Royal,
The Story of
J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 64.

99
Robert was so enraptured:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 164; Michelmore,
The Swift
Years,
p. 39.

100
Like many Western:
For an exploration of the influence of the Bhagavad-Gita on Western intellectuals, see Jeffery Paine,
Father India.

100
“Therefore,” he concluded:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 155–56 (JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 3/12/32).

100
“Why not the Talmud?”:
Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82.

101
“The Meghaduta I read”:
James A. Hijiya, “The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer”; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 180.

101
“Vanquish enemies at arms”:
Hijiya, “The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” p. 146; Barbara Stoler Miller, trans.,
Bhartrihari: Poems,
p. 39.

101
“From conversations with him”:
Friess,
Felix Adler and Ethical Culture,
p. 124; Rabi, et al.,
Oppenheimer,
p. 4.

101
“I may, as we all have to”:
We are indebted to James Hijiya for suggesting this interpretation of Oppenheimer’s fascination with the Gita (Hijiya, “The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer,”
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
vol. 144, no. 2 (2000), pp. 161–64; JRO,
Flying Trapeze,
p. 54).

102
In June 1934:
Serber,
Peace and War,
pp. 25–29.

102
Charlotte took her politics:
JRO FBI file, doc. 241, p. 12, 1/31/51, declassified 2001.

102
“no definite evidence”:
Ibid.; Barton J. Bernstein, “Interpreting the Elusive Robert Serber,” p. 12.

103
“one of the few really first-rate”:
Bernstein, “Interpreting the Elusive Robert Serber,” p. 11; Bernstein cites JRO to Ernest Lawrence, 7/20/38, box 16, Lawrence Papers, UCB.

103
“For the first few days”:
Serber,
Peace and War,
pp. 38–39.

104
The next morning:
Else Uhlenbeck, interview by Alice Smith, 4/20/76, pp. 11–12.

104
“To many of my friends”:
JRO hearing, p. 8.

104
“an unworldly, withdrawn un-esthetic person”:
Robert Serber, 1972 J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize acceptance speech, biographical file, Oppenheimer Memorial Prize, AIP Archives.

104
“active member of the Communist Party”:
JRO FBI file, doc. 241, p. 13, 1/31/51, declassified 2001.

105
A young professor:
Chevalier,
Oppenheimer,
p. 29.

105
“Never since the Greek tragedies”:
Jenkins,
Against a Field Sinister,
pp. 23, 27. Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 43.

105
“We were not political”:
Phillips, interview by Sherwin, 6/15/79, p. 1. In 1947, the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover claimed that Phillips had “reportedly distributed Communist pamphlets” at Brooklyn College (Hoover to Commerce Secretary Averell Harriman, 9/6/47, folder:
Arms Control,
1947, Harriman Papers, Kai Bird Collection). In the early 1950s, Phillips was subpoenaed for questioning by the McCarran Committee. She refused to cooperate with the committee and was dismissed from Brooklyn College and the Columbia Radiation Laboratory. In 1987, Brooklyn College publicly apologized.

105
“I know three people”:
Nedelsky, interview by Alice Smith, 12/7/76; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 195.

105
He immediately agreed:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 173.

105
Similarly, Max Born:
“Obituary: Prof. Max Born,”
The Times
of London, 1/7/70.

106
Although Sinclair lost:
Stephen Schwartz,
From West to East,
pp. 226–46.

106
“We were sitting up high”:
Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 31.

106
“It was very nice”:
Frank Oppenheimer oral history, interview by Weiner, 2/9/73.

107
friendship as “very close”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 194–95.

107
“made a sweet island”:
JRO, interview by Kuhn, 11/18/63, p. 19.