Oppenheimer is well-known as a top physicist and leader of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War II. What he died of and his fortune explored.
Following his death in 1967, the world is gaining insight into the highly-polarizing life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, aka “the father of the atomic bomb,” decades later.
Christopher Nolan’s Certified Fresh Oppenheimer details the creation of nuclear weaponry that ended World War II and killed approximately 200,000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Inspired by real events that occurred in the theoretical physicist’s life, it’s no wonder viewers are curious about the man behind the Manhattan Project.
Here’s what you need to know about Oppenheimer’s cause of death, academic career, and estimated net worth.
What was J. Robert Oppenheimer’s cause of death?
On February 18, 1967, Oppenheimer died at the age of 62 in Princeton, New Jersey. According to the Atomic Archive, the theoretical physicist passed from throat cancer.
The New York Times broke the news of the death of “the father of the atomic bomb” on February 19, 1967, writing, “A spokesman for the family said Dr. Oppenheimer died at 8 o’clock in his home on the grounds of the Institute for Advanced Study. He had been ailing since early last year with cancer of the throat.”
SFGate revealed that Oppenheimer had a habit of smoking five packs of cigarettes daily, resulting in a throat cancer diagnosis leading to his passing two years later.
“His cremated remains were scattered off St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the Oppenheimers had lived for a time,” the publication reports.
Where did J. Robert Oppenheimer go to school?
Being tasked with the development of the nuclear weaponry that ended World War II required Oppenheimer to be an expert in his field. And his impressive academic accomplishments assisted with just that.
Before college, the theoretical physicist attended the Ethical Culture Society School in New York before starting his undergraduate career at Harvard in 1922.
In 1925, Oppenheimer graduated summa cum laude and proceeded to conduct research alongside British physicist J.J. Thompson at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory in England.
From there, the atomic bomb creator obtained his Ph.D. at age 22 when he studied under German-British physicist Max Born at the University of Göttingen in Germany.
‘Oppenheimer’ is entirely based on a true story, as well as on a book.
Oppenheimer is a biographical story inspired by a novel about its central character. In the case of Oppenheimer, writer-director Christopher Nolan took his inspiration from the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. However, that book is based on the true story of Robert J. Oppenheimer’s life.
Robert J. Oppenheimer, played in the film by Cillian Murphy, is known today as the “father of the atomic bomb,” but he was a much more complex character. He wasn’t just an evil warmonger excited to bomb Hiroshima. In fact, he was more likely the opposite. But his gray areas of morality make him a perfect titular character.
Christopher even said to Total Film magazine (via Games Radar), “I think of any character I’ve dealt with, Oppenheimer is by far the most ambiguous and paradoxical. Which, given that I’ve made three Batman films, is saying a lot.” It sure is!
Oppenheimer is now a household name because of his leadership on the Manhattan Project. Without him, the hundreds of thousands of civilians who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have lived much longer. But he’s lauded as a complicated figure; without the atomic bomb, the war would have likely lasted much longer and taken many other lives (although probably not as many innocent lives).
Regardless, Oppenheimer may have been unaware of exactly how the atomic bomb would be used when he built it. At first, he and the team were told they were in a race against Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapon development. But when Germany surrendered before either developed the weapon, the atomic bomb’s use was less clear.
After the devastating bombings in Japan, Oppenheimer spent much of his life advocating against using nuclear weapons. He was so far left politically that he was actually stripped of his security clearance during the Red Scare. In addition, probes into his personal life to see if he had Communist ties led to the publicity of his affair with Jean Tatlock, who suffered from depression and took her own life amid their affair.
What was Julius Robert Oppenheimer’s net worth?
Before Julius Robert Oppenheimer he was reportedly wealthy. According to online sources, he had an estimated net worth of $5 million. He accrued his fortune from working as an American theoretical physicist and director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the “father” of the atomic bomb due to his significant role in its creation and deployment by the United States.
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