nocturnal Recaps here today I'm going to tell you about a movie based on a true story called Oppenheimer now I am become death the destroyer of worlds the movie begins with Robert oppenheimer's vision of an atomic explosion he is at a Security hearing in 1954 that has to decide if Robert is guilty of divulging classified information Robert says the case should be viewed through the prism of his entire life in 1924 a young Oppenheimer begins his study of physics at Cambridge during one lab work he spills reagents and the teacher tells him to start again
Robert says he has to go to Neil's B's lecture but the teacher orders him to finish his work after waiting until everyone leaves he stabs an apple lying on the table with potassium Cyanide and then sneaks off to Boar's lecture but the next day he comes to his senses and runs to the classroom to get an apple there he meets bore and prevents him from eating The Poisoned Apple bore is impressed by oppenheimer's knowledge and advises him to change universities to one that will help him better fulfill his potential Oppenheimer enrolls at the University of
Gottingen where he plunges into the depths of quantum physics and prepares to write his dissertation the movie jumps to 1959 to a meeting where the Senate is considering Lewis Strauss for Secretary of Commerce Strauss is questioned about Oppenheimer and he expresses his negative attitude towards him claiming that he is linked to communist circles he also has a personal Grudge that dates back to 1947 when they first met Strauss as head of the US Atomic energy commission offers Robert a position at Princeton University but Oppenheimer declines noticing Albert Einstein near the lake Robert heads toward him
showing a condescending attitude toward Strauss near the lake Oppenheimer and Einstein talk briefly about something and Albert goes away paying no attention to Strauss finishing his studies in gingan Robert attends a lecture by Heisenberg the latter Praises Robert's scientific work and offers to do research together but Oppenheimer refuses saying that he plans to return to the United States Robert starts teaching at Berkeley he starts his lectures with only one student but soon thanks to Word of Mouth their number begins to grow rapidly at the hearing Strauss informs that the FBI started collecting a dosier on
Oppenheimer as soon as he returned to the US because of his left-wing political views one day Robert attends a meeting of the Communist Party USA where he meets hokan chaler and Jean tetlock he has an affair with Jean but their relationship does not go too smoothly because of the constant mood swings of the girl the problems in the relationship are exacerbated by news from the world of science the Germans have managed to split the uranium atom the scientist reflects on all this and realizes that if they really succeed the released neutrons can start a chain
reaction that can be used in a bomb shortly after this article comes out the next one follows Hitler invades Poland starting World War II during a regular Communist Party meeting Robert meets Katherine pun and they become romantically involved Catherine leaves her husband and marries Robert but Robert despite his marriage did not stop hanging out with Jean at the hearing of his case Oppenheimer admits that the neutrality of the Communists at the beginning of the war greatly undermined his trust in them he says all this even though Catherine was a member of their party at the
University Oppenheimer meets General Leslie Groves who invites him to become the director of The Manhattan Pro project to build an atomic bomb the general is concerned that the Nazis could develop such a devastating weapon plus they have a huge head start on developing it Robert says the US has only one chance to get ahead of Hitler hope that Hitler's anti-Semitism will prevent him from allowing Jewish scientists such as Heisenberg to develop the bomb Robert argues that scientists from other countries who fled to the US from Hitler's repression should be involved in their development General Groves
does not like the idea but Oppenheimer convinces him nonetheless that this is the only hope of winning the nuclear race for the needs of the Manhattan Project a separate city is being built in Los Alamos for scientists and their families at the same time Oppenheimer and Groves travel around the country Gathering the best scientists to build the atomic bomb some of the scientists don't like the idea of using their their knowledge to create weapons of mass destruction to which Robert replies that we'd rather build such the weapon than the Nazis sometime later at their first
meeting a serious problem with the calculations comes up Robert tells the scientists to do the calculations again and he himself goes to consult Einstein there are fears that the uncontrolled decay of uranium could start a chain reaction that would not stop and would destroy the entire world Robert asks Einstein to double check the calculations but he says it is Robert's work not his Albert's only parting request is that if these calculations are correct he will inform the Nazis so that neither side destroys the world back at Los Alamos Robert is informed that they have double
checked the calculations and the probability of a man-made apocalypse is close to zero a few months later hokan chaler hints to Robert that it would be a good idea to share their findings with the Soviet Union but Robert refuses which he reports at a hearing years later the events of the movie move back to 1959 during the hearings on strauss's nomination as Secretary of Commerce the Senate announces that a certain scientist will be called to testify Strauss fears what this one will say about him there is a belief among the ranks of scientists that Strauss
who was head of the US Atomic energy Commission is responsible for what happened to Oppenheimer in 1954 events go back in time again at a meeting in Los alos scientists discuss the destructiveness of the atomic bomb and one of the scientists proposes the idea of a hydrogen bomb which would be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb but since it would still have to be bassed on the atomic bomb they decide to shelvy this idea another Flash Forward shows the atomic energ energy Commission in 1949 discussing the first nuclear bomb tests by the
Soviet Union Oppenheimer proposes to start negotiations with the Soviets to settle nuclear Armament but Strauss proposes to start building a hydrogen bomb to have an advantage over the Soviets back in 1943 General Groves comes to Robert and reprimands him for traveling with another scientist to a different branch of the Manhattan Project he demands that secrecy protocols be followed and that each employee know only what they are working on at the hearing however the general expresses his firm belief that despite repeated violations of security protocols Oppenheimer did not pass information to the Soviets oppenheimer's relationship with
Jean is also called into question and it is shown in flashbacks that he continued their Affair he confesses the affair to Catherine who is present in the room and she leaves the following witness Colonel Boris Posh who was responsible for the secrecy of the Manhattan Project is called in for questioning the colonel reports that one day Oppenheimer tried to hint about a certain Soviet network of spies who offered to pass information to him through an intermediary Boris wanted to know the name of this intermediary but Robert refused not wanting to cause trouble for Chevalier however
a few months later he did give a name at Christmas bore arrives at Los Alamos stranded in Europe due to the Nazi occupation he gives the scientists some advice and warns Oppenheimer that he is giving Humanity a weapon that could destroy them themselves at the same time Robert is informed of Jean tetlock's death she had taken pills and drowned herself in the bathtub Robert has a nervous breakdown he goes into the woods where he is found by Catherine and asks him to pull himself together quarrels begin in the team of scientists as one of the
scientists still continues to work on the hydrogen bomb and does not fulfill his duties the events are moved again to 1949 the atomic energy commission discusses the feasibility of a hydrogen bomb Oppenheimer again suggests creating a commission to internationally regulate nuclear weapons rather than increasing their numbers he says that if we build such a bomb the Soviets will have no choice but to build their own at the same meeting Robert meets William bordon who sometime later will write a detailed report to the FBI that Oppenheimer sabotaged the creation of the hydrogen bomb in what he
was assisted by Robert's personal file which was given to him by ill wishers from the military Department back to 1945 scientists discuss Hitler's death and Germany's imminent surrender some scientists question whether the bomb should be used anywhere other than a test site Oppenheimer addresses the participants justifying the use of nuclear weapons against Japan since the alternative to the bomb is a naval Landing which would probably take more lives oppenheimer's team prepares for the first test detonation of the atomic bomb called Trinity on the day before the explosion Robert goes up to the bomb himself to
realize the magnitude of what is to come the test is scheduled for the early morning of July 16th Oppenheimer and Groves spend a sleepless night in the bunker fearing that the explosion could in theory destroy the entire world the team stocks up on sunglasses and Welding glasses to witness the blast for themselves the timer counts down the final seconds ratcheting up the tension a blinding flash of light pierces the dark sky turning night into day and now I am become death the destroyer of worlds the test is a success and an enthusiastic crowd congratulates Oppenheimer
soon the scientists build two more bombs and send them to the military Robert begins to be tormented by moral dilemas about using such a powerful weapon against humans President Truman's speech about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is broadcast on the radio everyone rejoices as the war will soon be over but Oppenheimer begins to suffer a guilty conscience because of the victims he gives a fiery speech to the team but at the same time he imagines how the bomb will incinerate everyone Robert becomes a Global Science star his picture is printed on the cover
of time and he is even invited to a reception with the President Truman initially congratulates him on developing the bomb but when Oppenheimer says he has blood on his hands Truman gives him a handkerchief and tells him to wipe it off then banishes him and calls him a crybaby years later at the hearing it is revealed that after the war Oppenheimer spent all his efforts to contain the US nuclear capability this leads to a conflict of interest with Strauss who uses his connections to repress Robert's loved ones it becomes clear that it was Strauss who
leaked oppenheimer's dosier to bordon and also arranged a closed hearing on Robert's case in an attempt to destroy his reputation Robert is asked when his views on developing nuclear weapons changed and he replies that it happened when he realized that us would use any weapon they had at the end of the hearing the commission recognizes Robert Oppenheimer as loyal to the United States but he is stripped of his security clearance and loses his political influence events shift to 1959 when former technician David Hill testifies against Strauss on behalf of the majority of scientists because of
his actions against Oppenheimer the scientist reports that Strauss did so not out of concern for the safety of the country but because of personal grievances including a moment during another hearing when Oppenheimer called strauss's ideas little more useful than a sandwich Strauss has denied a ministerial nomination and among those rejected is a young Senator John F Kennedy the events of the movie move one last time to 1947 to that fateful conversation with Einstein by the lake Albert tells Robert that one day when they have punished you enough they will invite you to the White House
and give you an award but it won't be for you it will be for them Einstein is about to leave but Oppenheimer asks him if he remembers the day Robert feared starting a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world I remember it well I we [Music] de
