Oppenheimer History Essay Research Coursework Paper

Oppenheimer
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Oppenheimer
The United States’ bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan introduced the world to the horrific aftermath of the arms race witnessed during the era of the Second World War following the former’s use of the atomic bomb. The bomb represented a scientific marvel for the American physicists charged with coming up with a weapon to end the war and establish the countries military superiority on a global scale. Julius Robert Oppenheimer was the lead physicist in the team enlisted by the United States military to develop the atomic bomb in what came to be known as the infamous Manhattan Project. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the death of approximately 166,000 and 80,000 people, respectively, in what came to haunt the conscience of Oppenheimer. Playwrights Carson Kreitzer and Tom Morton-Smith provide their unique versions of Oppenheimer’s experiences pre and post the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in their plays dubbed The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Oppenheimer respectively. The playwrights use different approaches and skills to develop their bibliographic accounts of Julius Robert Oppenheimer. Both plays showcase unique skills in content development or plot arrangement, characterization, and even creativity in the delivery of the same. Provided herein is a comparative analysis and evaluation of the two bibliographic plays showcasing Oppenheimer’s historical experiences during the era of the Second World War while highlighting the unique approaches taken by the two playwrights.
It is important to have a bibliographic understanding of Julius Robert Oppenheimer as a basis or background for evaluating the different perceptions of the physicist as presented in their plays. A short bibliography of J. Robert Oppenheimer published by the Royal Shakespeare Company reveals that the physicist came to the helm of American and global politics of the time at the peak of the arms race to create a weapon that would win the war. The spread of fascism across different countries around the world, including Spain and Germany, correlated to a global arms race with the Germans posing the greatest threat of unveiling a weapon of mass destruction through atomic fission. Oppenheimer sympathized with the communist ideologies and even voiced his dissent against the exploits of capitalism that earned him enemies among both the political and social elites, especially in the scientific world. However, his life takes an interesting turn as he is enlisted by the United States military to lead a covert operation dubbed the Manhattan project in a military laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico. It is his participation in the project and ensuing position on the use of the weapon they developed that sheds light on his private and public life. Oppenheimer’s interactions with his wife, colleagues, and members of the political elite come to life upon his invitation by the National Defense Research Committee in 1942 to participate in the Manhattan Project for fast neutron calculations. The project gave birth to the first nuclear bomb whose catastrophic effects, as observed during the Trinity Test of the same in July 1945, led to Oppenheim...