The Story Behind J Robert Oppenheimer: Known as Atom Bomb Pioneer

Jakarta – Oppenheimer created by Christopher Nolan's was one of the best movies in Indonesia on Wednesday. The movie stars Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who was drafted to lead the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M., to build the atomic bomb during World War II. 

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The movie is based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biographical book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer written by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin over a period of more than 25 years.

"Celebrated in 1945 as the 'Father of the Atomic Bomb', nine years later he would become the ultimate celebrity victim of the McCarthyite vortex," Bird wrote. 

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Oppenheimer is the first film to properly address the scientist and his legacy, which was marred by a controversial trial in 1954 that resulted in his security clearance being revoked.

Well, who exactly is J Robert Oppenheimer?

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Oppenheimer was born to a wealthy German-Jewish family in New York City. His family's art collection included original works by Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.

At an early age, Oppenheimer's academic abilities surpassed his peers and he made it to Harvard University at the age of 18 where he graduated in just three years summa cum laude (with highest honors). 

However, despite his academic prowess, he struggled with his mental health. During college, he once expressed suicidal thoughts and, while pursuing his undergraduate degree at Cambridge University, deliberately left an apple that had been poisoned with laboratory chemicals on his lecturer's desk. 

Meanwhile, with the outbreak of World War II, Oppenheimer transformed himself into a respected professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and has made many significant contributions to the world of science.

While at Berkeley, he fell in love with Jean Tatlock (played by Florence Pugh in Oppenheimer's movie), the daughter of a Berkeley literature professor and a student at Stanford University School of Medicine. She was a member of the Communist Party, which later became an issue in his security clearance hearings.

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They separated in 1939 and, a year later, he married Katherine ("Kitty") Puening and had two children. During their marriage, Oppenheimer rekindled his relationship with Tatlock and the two had an affair.