Why read Robert Oppenheimer?

Book cover of Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center

Book description

An unforgettable story of discovery and unimaginable destruction and a major biography of one of America’s most brilliant—and most divisive—scientists, Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center vividly illuminates the man who would go down in history as “the father of the atomic bomb.” Oppenheimer’s talent and drive secured him…

Explore

Topics

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Genres

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Robert Oppenheimer as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Andrew Zangwill

Author

The brilliant and enigmatic Robert Oppenheimer was the man who led the effort to create the atomic bomb at Los Alamos during World War II. I value this biography because author Ray Monk does full justice to his subject’s science—the science that put Oppenheimer’s Berkeley research group at the center of American theoretical physics in the 1930s. Best of all, Monk’s elegant writing makes even familiar episodes come alive. I felt I was watching a car crash in slow motion as I read how Oppenheimer’s complex personality and political naivete led him to underestimate his political enemies and wind up…

From Andrew's list on biographies of physicists.