Leader of Manhattan Project
In June 1942, General Leslie Groves selected Oppenheimer to lead the Manhattan Project. Many people did not believe Oppenheimer had the leadership skills necessary to make the project successful.
Articulated Vision
Robert Oppenheimer had a vision of a community of top scientists who could work around the clock for their nation developing a working atomic bomb.
Robert Oppenheimer in an interview said, "This thing will never get on the rails unless there is a place where people can talk to each other and work together on the problems of the bomb...there has to be a place where people are free to discuss what they know and what they do not know and how to find out that what they can."
Robert Oppenheimer had a vision of a community of top scientists who could work around the clock for their nation developing a working atomic bomb.
Robert Oppenheimer in an interview said, "This thing will never get on the rails unless there is a place where people can talk to each other and work together on the problems of the bomb...there has to be a place where people are free to discuss what they know and what they do not know and how to find out that what they can."
Confronting Issues and Challenges
Oppenheimer's first challenge was to set up a top secret lab in a mostly undeveloped location. His second challenge was to entice scientists to work on the top secret project. Oppenheimer next had to lead scientists and technicians under the careful supervision and secrecy of the wartime military. The final challenge was to turn theory into an actual working weapon.
Oppenheimer's first challenge was to set up a top secret lab in a mostly undeveloped location. His second challenge was to entice scientists to work on the top secret project. Oppenheimer next had to lead scientists and technicians under the careful supervision and secrecy of the wartime military. The final challenge was to turn theory into an actual working weapon.
Leadership – Effective Decisions
Oppenheimer selected an area in the New Mexico desert, Los Alamos. Within months, a top notch lab under Oppenheimer's leadership came into being.
Oppenheimer visited leading research facilities to lure top physicists and scientists to work at Los Alamos.
“I traveled all over the country talking with people who had been working on one or another aspects of the atomic energy enterprise…the notion of disappearing into the New Mexico desert for an indeterminate period disturbed a good many scientists.” Robert Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer selected an area in the New Mexico desert, Los Alamos. Within months, a top notch lab under Oppenheimer's leadership came into being.
Oppenheimer visited leading research facilities to lure top physicists and scientists to work at Los Alamos.
“I traveled all over the country talking with people who had been working on one or another aspects of the atomic energy enterprise…the notion of disappearing into the New Mexico desert for an indeterminate period disturbed a good many scientists.” Robert Oppenheimer
Idea to Working Weapon-Motivating Others
Oppenheimer's gift as a leader was his ability to draw out ideas from scientists and synthesize them into a working model. When faced with an obstacle, Oppenheimer stepped in, verbalized the problem, summarized solutions, and got the teams back on track.
Oppenheimer said in 1945, “Time and time again we had in the technical work almost paralyzing crises. Time and again the laboratory drew itself together and faced the new problems and got on with the work.”
Oppenheimer said in 1945, “Time and time again we had in the technical work almost paralyzing crises. Time and again the laboratory drew itself together and faced the new problems and got on with the work.”
“His greatest strength was being able to quickly understand the many scientific and technical problems involved with the project so that he could help the various specialists work together to solve a problem that required insights from a wide variety of fields. . . Oppenheimer was not a specialist with metals, and yet he would slip in when they were having a meeting to try to solve a particular problem and very often offer just the clue they needed to produce a solution.” Catherine Westfall, Michigan State University (Email to Authors)
Success
On July 16, 1945, Oppenheimer’s leadership was successful in the detonation of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert with the Trinity test.
(Ben Diven, Interview from Voices of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation)