“Oppenheimer”: biography of the creator of the atomic bomb

The blockbuster “Barbie” by Greta Gerwig, which last week became the highest-grossing release of the year (according to BoxOfficeMojo, its global box office is more than $1.3 billion, and continues to roll out), rebooted the famous brand – even before the premiere, shares of Mattel, the doll’s manufacturer, soared by 33%. Sales of the toy grew even in Russia, where the film, like all Hollywood new releases after February 2022, was not officially released. But no less interesting is the fact that the sworn rival of “Barbie”, which shared the theatrical release date with it, “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan (its box office is also impressive – more than $850 million) is also actively returning its hero, the legendary creator of the atomic bomb, to the public field. bombs.

Not even the film itself, but one news that the director of “The Dark Knight” and “Interstellar” would make a movie about Oppenheimer (this became known back in 2021), raised a wave of interest that has reached us. It is hardly a coincidence that in 2022–2023. three translated biographies of the great physicist were published at once: Ray Monk (“Robert Oppenheimer. Life in the Center”), Leon Eidelstein (“Oppenheimer. The Story of the Creator of the Nuclear Bomb”), and most importantly, a 700-page “monster” by historians Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin “ Oppenheimer. The Triumph and Tragedy of the American Prometheus.” For context: previously only one biography of the scientist was available in Russian – “Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb” by Michel Rouze, translated back in the 1960s.