The whole hearing took a month. Oppenheimer 2023 ***** starring Cillian Murphy & Emily Blunt & Matt Damon & Robert Downey junior & Florence Pugh & Josh Hartnett & Casey Affleck & Rami Malek & Kenneth Branagh & Dylon Arnold et al, director Christopher Nolan, Admiral
Who’d want to justify their whole life? ibid. hearing
Happy? No. I was homesick, emotionally immature … troubled by visions of a hidden universe. ibid. Oppenheimer
What do you know about quantum physics? ibid.
Alvarez: What are we thinking?
Oppenheim: A bomb, Alvarez, a bomb. ibid.
You’re not just self-important, you’re actually important. ibid. boss to Oppenheimer
Somebody who wanted Robert silenced. ibid. Admiral
A secret laboratory in the middle of nowhere, secure, self-sufficient, equipment, housing, the works, keep everyone there till it’s done … ibid.
You drop a bomb, it falls on the just and the unjust. I don’t wish the culmination of three centuries of physics to be a weapon of mass destruction. ibid. Izzy
We still don’t know if a hydrogen bomb is technically feasible. ibid. Oppenheimer
You’re the great salesman of science. You can convince anyone of anything. Even yourself. ibid. Szilard
What did Fermi mean by atmospheric ignition? ibid. General to Oppenheimer
Robert, try not to blow up the world. ibid.
These things are hard on your heart. ibid. Oppenheimer
And now I am become death. The destroyer of worlds. ibid.
Now it’s your turn to deal with the consequences of your achievement. ibid. Einstein to Oppenheimer
‘We’ve got an energy crisis looming. And we need to tell people if we don’t invest now, the lights are going to go out.’ The Atom: A Love Affair, Cameron, Netflix 2020
‘Under my presidency, we’ll accomplish a complete American energy independence. Complete. Complete.’ ibid. Trump
The atom, a thing of wonder, the building block of the universe. But with the power to destroy it too. A byword for war, the atom knew it could be so much more: a miracle technology that would revolutionise medicine, industry, agriculture, transport, and most of all, energy. If only we would let it. ibid.
In the annals of love, it’s an affair like no other. ibid.
‘The British set up the first civil nuclear plant at Calder Hall in the UK.’ ibid. scientist
Germany: The peaceful teach-ins soon gave way to far uglier scenes. ibid.
March 1979: Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, an accident at a nuclear power plant. ibid. TV news
A partial meltdown less than 100 miles from a major city. ibid.
Windscale/Sellafield: ‘BNFL was accused of having radioactivity along the shoreline.’ ibid. scientist critic
Chernobyl: ‘12,500 square kilometres … uninhabitable. ibid.
A plume of radioactive fallout drifted west over Europe. ibid.
August 9th 1945: A B29 bomber was returning from Nagasaki after delivering the second atomic bomb … Yet within ten years the same men who had built the bomb to bring to an end tyranny which had respect for neither men’s bodies nor minds would be involved in the production of a far more terrifying weapon - the hydrogen bomb. Too Close to the Sun, BBC 1966
The price of the atomic bomb was $2,000 million. ibid.
The bomb laboratories were allowed to run down in strength and purpose. ibid.
This report [General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes Under the Auspices of the United States Government] was virtually a recipe for the preparation of an atomic bomb. It was on sale in the United States for 40 cents a copy. ibid.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: A Journal of Science and Public Affairs. ibid.
Oppenheimer: The man who had once sat with committees to give them his advice on atomic matters now sat before one to face accusations. ibid.