Top 10 Things Oppenheimer Got Factually Right

Top 10 Things Oppenheimer Got Factually Right

Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things Oppenheimer Got Factually Right.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the historical accuracy of Christopher Nolan’s film about the Father of the Atomic Bomb. Unlike some other biopics, Nolan really did his homework. There are a few spoilers for cinephiles… and history buffs.

Were you impressed with “Oppenheimer?” Let us know in the comments.

#10: Oppenheimer Learned Dutch in Six Weeks

Early in the film, Oppenheimer delivers a lecture in the Netherlands. The only American in attendance is physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi, who assumes he’ll have to translate for everyone else. It’s the other way around, as Oppenheimer learned Dutch over six weeks just for this speech. Although it’s implied that Oppenheimer and Rabi subsequently formed a friendship on a train ride, they actually first got to know each other in Leipzig. However, Oppenheimer was naturally gifted when it came to picking up languages. In addition to English and Dutch, he was well-versed in French, German, Greek, and Latin. He even studied Sanskrit, a sacred language from India. Through his Sanskrit studies, he was introduced to “Bhagavad Gita,” which largely molded Oppenheimer’s world philosophy.

#9: Kitty Puening Was Married When She Met Oppenheimer

When Oppenheimer met his future wife, Katherine Puening was already wedded to Richard Stewart Harrison. Oppenheimer actually had several girlfriends between his breakup with Jean Tatlock and marriage to Puening. Almost everything about their courtship is accurate, however, from meeting at a garden party to Oppenheimer inviting Puening and Harrison to stay at his New Mexico ranch. Harrison declined, but Puening took him up. When Puening became pregnant with Oppenheimer’s child, Harrison agreed to a divorce so she could remarry. (xref) Following son Peter’s birth, the couple went through a difficult adjustment, entrusting the baby to friend Haakon Chevalier and a nurse for a summer. The Oppenheimers later had a daughter named Toni, who they passed to fellow Los Alamos mother Pat Sherr for a period.

#8: People Thought Oppenheimer Couldn’t Run a Hotdog Stand

Oppenheimer was a brilliant mind, but few felt he was qualified to oversee the Manhattan Project’s secret lab. He never held such a position of leadership, his political leanings gave authority figures pause, and he didn’t even have a Nobel Prize. As depicted in the film, one of Oppenheimer’s colleagues claimed that he wasn’t fit to run a hot dog stand, let alone a nuclear weapons program that’d change the tide of World War II. Nevertheless, General Leslie Richard Groves saw something in Oppenheimer that few others did: “overweening ambition.” With Groves as the project’s director, he put Oppenheimer in charge of the Los Alamos Laboratory. Even as others stressed that Oppenheimer could be a security risk, Groves trusted him to cook the hot dogs.

#7: Soviet Spies on The Manhattan Project

Although Oppenheimer ultimately wasn’t a security risk, speculation of espionage still loomed around the Manhattan Project. Even after World War II ended, America’s growing conflict with Russia led many to believe that atomic secrets were being passed over to the Soviet Union. These fears weren’t unfounded. There were actually several Soviet spies at Los Alamos, including machinist David Greenglass, engineer Oscar Seborer, and physicist Theodore Hall. Arguably the most prominent spy was theoretical physicist Klaus Fuchs, played here by Christopher Denham. Funchs shared information concerning the hydrogen bomb, which likely enabled the Soviets to test their atomic bomb. Funchs’ involvement eventually led to his arrest in 1950. Receiving a 14-year sentence, Funchs ultimately served 9 years before returning to Germany.

#6: Oppenheimer’s Friendship with Albert Einstein

It’s a common misconception that Einstein was directly involved in the atomic bomb’s creation. While he co-signed a letter to the president advocating the research of atomic energy, Einstein said, “I do not consider myself the father of the release of atomic energy. My part in it was quite indirect.” As we see in the film, though, Einstein was friends with the Father of the Atomic Bomb. The two first met when Einstein visited Cal Tech in 1932, commencing a nearly 30-year friendship. Oppenheimer later became a director at the Institute for Advanced Study, essentially making him Einstein’s boss. While their conversation by the pond feels like a creative liberty, the scene conveys their mutual respect for each other and fear of future nuclear warfare.

#5: His Passionate & Complicated Relationship with Jean Tatlock

Before he knew Kitty Puening, Oppenheimer entered a romantic relationship with Jean Tatlock, a Standford graduate student. Meeting at a fundraiser, Tatlock introduced Oppenheimer to many Communist ideals. Historians doubt that Oppenheimer officially joined the Communist Party like Tatlock did. However, he believed in many concepts affiliated with the far-left group, even donating money to certain causes. Although Oppenheimer cared deeply for Tatlock, proposing twice, she was reluctant to take that step. After marrying Puening, Oppenheimer would rekindle his relationship with Tatlock, spending the night together in San Francisco during the midst of the Manhattan Project. This would be the last time Oppenheimer ever saw Tatlock, who took her own life several months later. Some suspected foul play, but others point to Tatlock’s history of depression as proof to the contrary.

#4: Lewis Strauss’ Role in Oppenheimer’s Security Hearing

Robert Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, an Institute for Advanced Study trustee who comes to intensely dislike Oppenheimer. The film suggests that the animosity between these two initially stemmed from a meeting at Princeton where Oppenheimer said something to Einstein without cluing in Strauss. Whether or not there’s any truth to this, the anti-communist Strauss rarely saw eye to eye with Oppenheimer. It didn’t help when Oppenheimer humiliated Strauss at a hearing. Not long after becoming the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Strauss spearheaded the drawn-out security hearings that would result in Oppenheimer having his security clearance taken away. While Oppenheimer had other political enemies, Strauss is seen as the one who dropped the bomb that crushed his spirit.

#3: Oppenheimer Poisoned an Apple

Oppenheimer will forever be linked to the atomic bomb, but a poisoned apple just as easily could’ve defined his legacy. As the film portrays, lab work wasn’t Oppenheimer’s strong suit while studying at Cambridge. This put him at odds with his tutor, Patrick Blackett. Oppenheimer thus laced an apple with toxic chemicals and left it on Blackett’s desk. The film suggests that Oppenheimer had a sudden change of heart, discarding the apple before Niels Bohr - played by Kenneth Branagh - can bite into it. This is where the film shifts to fiction, as the university did become aware of the apple and nearly put Oppenheimer on probation. Since nobody ate the apple, though, Oppenheimer’s parents managed to sway the university into a slap on the wrist.

#2: JFK Voted Against Strauss

Strauss might’ve stripped Oppenheimer of his security clearance, but his manipulative ways would come back to bite him. When Strauss’ AEC term ended, he set his sights on becoming Secretary of Commerce. Although Strauss had President Eisenhower’s backing, the Senate was split on him. Scientists were strongly against Strauss’ confirmation, bringing his petty vendetta against Oppenheimer to light. While the Senate was critical of Strauss for a variety of reasons, this likely proved to be his undoing. Ultimately, Strauss’ nomination imploded with a Senate vote of 46–49. Among those who voted against Strauss was John F. Kennedy, who was just starting to make a name for himself in the Senate. As President almost a decade later, Kennedy granted Oppenheimer the Enrico Fermi Award.

#1: President Truman Called Oppenheimer a “Cry-Baby”

While Oppenheimer thought the bomb had to be made, his creation left him with conflicted feelings. He was especially critical regarding the bombing of Nagasaki, arguing that Hiroshima was already enough. Concerned about where nuclear weapons were headed, he arranged a meeting with President Truman. Oppenheimer found it naive and foolish when Truman suggested that the Soviet Union would never produce their own bomb. The conversation blew up after Oppenheimer said, “I feel I have blood on my hands.” Supposedly, Truman mockingly handed Oppenheimer a handkerchief, claiming that he had more blood on his hands. Truman called Oppenheimer a “cry-baby scientist,” declaring that he didn’t want to see him in his office again. Truman nonetheless awarded Oppenheimer the Medal for Merit a year later.