Albert Einstein has always been considered one of the most brilliant minds in the history of humanity, even when he was alive. Robert Oppenheimer once enjoyed that fame and status, although politics stripped that away from him.
Now, with the release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the scientist’s life, deeds, and moral contradictions have sparked curiosity among people. One of the questions many have been wondering is how was his relationship with Einstein.
Both geniuses lives collided in one of the most tragic and chaotic moments in history; WWII. Although Oppenheimer is called the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ as we’ll see below, Einstein has also been held responsible for lying the scientific foundation that led to the creation of the most destructive weapon in history.
Yes, Einstein’s theories and mathematical work managed to understand and put into numbers the nature of matter and, thus, energy. Oppenheimer’s brilliant mind managed to take these ideas and theories and materialize them.
Albert Einsteins’ Involvement in the Creation of the Atomic Bomb
Einstein has always been held responsible for pushing the government to create the atomic bomb. In the early stages of WWII, Einstein was made aware that a group of scientists in Germany have successfully managed to split an atom of uranium. This was groundbreaking as they revealed the process of fission that would spark a huge amount of energy. However, the news wasn’t that accurate and the team wasn’t even near to achieving it.
Worried, the scientist decided to alert President Franklin D. Roosevelt and explained the implications this discovery could have in the creation of a massive bomb using fission. History has it, this letter sent by Einstein led the US government to fund and create the Manhattan Project which would be led by Robert Oppenheimer. For this reason, in 1939, The New York Times published that Einstein had been the “force that launched the atom bomb and the Atomic Age.”
Does this make him responsible? Einstein was never comfortable working with the government or the military. As a matter of fact, he was never involved in the Manhattan Project or anything related to the creation of the bomb. Besides the letter alerting the US of a potential German atomic weapon, Einstein’s only contribution (if we want to call it that way) was coming up with his iconic equation E=mc2, which basically can explain how energy in the bombs work… and many other things related to energy.
However, it seems also Einstein felt responsible at some point, especially after seeing the devastation the atomic bombs had caused in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It’s said that he even said that had he “known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing.” Oppenheimer, who was indeed responsible for the bombs eventually felt the same remorse, something both scientists shared.
How Was Einstein and Oppenheimer’s Relationship?
It’s a fact that both Oppenheimer and Einstein were very well aware of each other’s work in science. They respected each other a lot, but were they have a relationship as we see in Oppenheimer? Turns out, they weren’t as close as we’re led to believe, although they did share correspondence and thoughts on their scientific work.
Einstein and Oppenheimer met several times, mostly because they both worked at the Institute for Advance Study in Princeton. Oppenheimer was the director of the institute from 1947 to 1966 and Einstein was one of the most important members from 1933 until his passing in 1955. Now, there’s no evidence both scientists ever collaborated on a project but they did share some thoughts on certain matters, especially their concerns regarding the bomb and the nuclear race it sparked.
It’s also known that Oppenheimer did write to Einstein while he was working on the Manhattan Project; he was already having doubts about his work and wanted to know Einstein’s political, moral, and scientific opinions. We do not know what he responded or if he ever did, but we can guess he wasn’t a particular supporter of nuclear weapons.
In a conference after Einstein’s passing, Oppenheimer talked dearly about him. Not only did he call him a colleague but he said they were “close colleagues and something of friends.” He also used the conference to defend Einstein and clarify that he had no involvement in the creation of the bomb: “Einstein is often blamed or praised or credited with these miserable bombs. It is not in my opinion true. His part was that of creating an intellectual revolution, and discovering more than any scientist of our time how profound were the errors made by men before them.”
Oppenheimer added that Einstein indeed wrote a letter to President Roosevelt but “this was in part his agony at the evil of the Nazis, in part not wanting to harm anyone in any way; but I ought to report that that letter had very little effect, and that Einstein himself is really not answerable for all that came later. I believe he so understood it himself.”
They might’ve not been besties but Einstein and Oppenheimer eventually became quite notorious as supporters of weapon control and detractors of nuclear armament. “If atomic bombs are to be added as new weapons to the arsenals of a warring world, or to the arsenals of the nations preparing for war, then the time will come when mankind will curse the names of Los Alamos and Hiroshima,” said Oppenheimer.
Here’s more related content:
Los Alamos, the Town Oppenheimer Created to Develop the Atomic Bomb
The Man Who Survived Both Atom Bombs In World War II
