AUTOBIOGRAPHY: J. OPPENHEIMER
.... Oppenheimer's early research was devoted in particular to energy processes of subatomic particles and quantum theory. Upon hearing of discovery of fission in 1939, Oppenheimer quickly grasped the idea and possibility of Atomic bombs. In June 1942, Oppenheimer was granted the position of Technical Director of the Manhattan Project by General Leslie Groves, the army officer in charge of the Manhattan Project. There he gathered himself a group of the best minds in physics to work on the problem of creating an Atomic bomb. The staff grew from 30 to over 5,000 people at work trying to solve all the theoretical and mechanical problems that arose while making the Atomic bomb. He is often referred to as the "Father" of the Atomic bomb. On the first day of the test, Oppenheimer finally realizes what he has done. As he watched the first bomb drop and the mushroom cloud of smoke blackening the sky he said to himself "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." He carried the weight of this responsibility on his shoulders heavily. In his 1946 meet with President Harry Truman, he told the President, "Mr. President, I have blood on my hands." Soon after World War II, he was appointed Chairman of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), he served from 1947 to 1952. Here he voiced strong opinions, opposing the development of the Hydrogen bomb. He was later accused of having communist sympathies, delaying the naming of Soviet agents and also of opposing the building of the Hydrogen bomb. Although he was not ofund guilty of tr...