Letter from Tom Nichols, Professor of National Security Affairs, Naval War College, Newport, RI
"1. What were Robert Oppenheimer's greatest strengths as a leader of the Los Alamos project?
I would say that Oppenheimer's natural brilliance was part of the success of the Manhattan Project. No one had ever done what the scientists at Los Alamos were trying to do. Although we knew how to split atoms and create fission due to the work of Enrico Fermi and others, making an actual bomb was a wartime project that was very difficult. It was an effort that required people of serious intelligence who could make great leaps of intuition and brilliance, and Oppenheimer had those kinds of abilities.
2. What do you think was his greatest legacy?
I believe Oppenheimer's most important legacy was a political one, rather than scientific. The day the first bomb exploded, Oppenheimer was one of the scientists who realize that from that moment on, the world would never be the same. He immediately had a sense of dread about the huge power that his project had unleashed in creating a bomb. Oppenheimer had real concerns about how nuclear bombs would change the world and how they would be used in the future. He expressed these concerns, and because he had these doubts, many people in the government questioned his loyalty to the United States. But his worries were an important lesson: just because we can invent powerful things doesn't mean we've solved all our problems. In the case of the first atomic bomb, the success of the Manhattan Project helped to end World War II, but in turn created a need to manage nuclear arms that we live with to this day.
Good luck with your project!
Thank you.
Mason, Jackson, Jakob, Danny, and Sean
Tom Nichols
Professor of National Security Affairs
Naval War College
Newport, RI "
"1. What were Robert Oppenheimer's greatest strengths as a leader of the Los Alamos project?
I would say that Oppenheimer's natural brilliance was part of the success of the Manhattan Project. No one had ever done what the scientists at Los Alamos were trying to do. Although we knew how to split atoms and create fission due to the work of Enrico Fermi and others, making an actual bomb was a wartime project that was very difficult. It was an effort that required people of serious intelligence who could make great leaps of intuition and brilliance, and Oppenheimer had those kinds of abilities.
2. What do you think was his greatest legacy?
I believe Oppenheimer's most important legacy was a political one, rather than scientific. The day the first bomb exploded, Oppenheimer was one of the scientists who realize that from that moment on, the world would never be the same. He immediately had a sense of dread about the huge power that his project had unleashed in creating a bomb. Oppenheimer had real concerns about how nuclear bombs would change the world and how they would be used in the future. He expressed these concerns, and because he had these doubts, many people in the government questioned his loyalty to the United States. But his worries were an important lesson: just because we can invent powerful things doesn't mean we've solved all our problems. In the case of the first atomic bomb, the success of the Manhattan Project helped to end World War II, but in turn created a need to manage nuclear arms that we live with to this day.
Good luck with your project!
Thank you.
Mason, Jackson, Jakob, Danny, and Sean
Tom Nichols
Professor of National Security Affairs
Naval War College
Newport, RI "