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My knowledge of Oppenheimer is purely from the book Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk, but his title might be "the most important manager to have ever lived". He h
by tashoecraft 3y ago
My knowledge of Oppenheimer is purely from the book Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk, but his title might be "the most important manager to have ever lived". He himself didn't make any big, groundbreaking discoveries (though he was close). His greatest seems to be in understanding the discoveries and organizing the work around the manhattan project. Maybe that makes him the most important, but, as you said, it seems to discredit a lot of actual physicists who made actual discoveries.
- LanceH 3y agoIt was a critical moment in time where it mattered greatly which country completed a certain physics centered project. Other physicists were greater in their accomplishments, but were any so timely in the necessity of their accomplishments (though his may have been mostly managerial, they needed to be done by a physicist).
- defrost 3y ago> but were any so timely in the necessity of their accomplishments The physicists of the UK MAUD committee and Tube Alloys who worked for several years to convince the US that a bomb was theoretically possible and economically feasible (just) and that the Germans and Japanese were taking the challenge seriously? It took multiple approaches to convince the US nuclear scientists of the time.
- tashoecraft 3y agoWith hindsight we can see it wasn't timely as no other nation was close or even could accomplish it.