Quotes from the inventor of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer
[ad_1]
Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” about the creator of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, won the 96th Academy Awards. What the famous physicist said about science and the world – in the Kommersant collection.
On the creation of atomic weapons
“When you come up with something technically fresh, you first go and create it, and you start to think about what to do about it only later, having received its first technological result. This is what happened with the atomic bomb.” (at a meeting of the US Atomic Energy Commission, 1954).
About the first tests
“We knew that the world would not be the same. Some people laughed, a few people cried. The majority were silent. I remembered lines from the Hindu scripture – the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu tries to persuade the prince to fulfill his duty and, in order to impress him, becomes multi-armed and says: “Now I am death, destroyer of worlds.” I guess we all thought it one way or another.” (from an interview with NBC News, 1965).
About your responsibility
“In some primordial sense, which cannot be disguised by vulgarity, humor, or exaggeration, physicists have known sin; and it is impossible to forget. Because of our pride, we decided that we knew what was best for humanity. But for a researcher this approach is unnatural.” (from a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, November 25, 1947).
About physics
“I don’t think it sounds scary on my part – and sometimes it’s actually true – that I need physics more than friends» (from a letter to brother Frank Oppenheimer, published in Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections, October 14, 1929).
About mathematics
“Today the point is not even that our rulers do not know mathematics, but that our philosophers do not know mathematics and, to put it completely, our mathematicians don’t know it either» (from an article in Harper’s Magazine, 1958).
About the desire for happiness
“Everyone wants to please women, and this desire, although not completely, is to a large extent a manifestation of vanity. Trying to please women is like trying to develop taste, eloquence, or happiness; all these things are not goals that can be learned… Trying to become [искусственно] happy is like trying to build a mechanism that has no function other than not making noise.” (from a letter to his brother Frank Oppenheimer, October 14, 1929).
About life problems
“All things that require discipline: education and our obligations to people and the state, and wars, and personal problems, and [необходимость зарабатывать] livelihood,— should be greeted with deep gratitude. This is the only way we become the least detached; and this is the only way we understand the world” (from a letter to his brother Frank Oppenheimer, March 12, 1932).
About the world
“If atomic weapons are included in the arsenals of the warring world and countries preparing for war, the time will come when humanity will curse the names Los Alamos and Hiroshima. The people of this world must unite, otherwise they will die… In other times, other people talked about this, about other wars and other weapons. They didn’t win. Some people, clouded by a false understanding of human history, claim that [сторонники мира] they won’t win today. But we shouldn’t believe them… Our minds are devoted to the idea of peace, devoted to a world that is united in the face of a common danger – through law and humanity.” (from a speech at the presentation of an award to distinguished American military personnel, October 16, 1945).
About freedom
“There is no place for dogma in science. The researcher is free and must freely ask any questions, doubt any statement, look for any evidence, correct any mistakes… The only way to avoid mistakes is [вовремя] to find it, and the only way to find it is to make inquiries… As long as people are free to ask what they should, free to say what they think, free to think what they want, science will never regress.” (from Life article, October 24, 1949).
About contacts with communists during World War II
“I was an idiot” (from testimony of the US Atomic Energy Commission, 1954).
About your schedule
“We lived about three miles from the laboratory. On weekdays, I tried to get to the laboratory around eight or so, and on the way I took my son to kindergarten…. As a rule, I took a short break between twelve and one o’clock, because [в лаборатории] impossible to eat, no food. I would go home and then come back and work until six in the evening. Sometimes, two or three times a week, or even four times a week, I would return [в лабораторию и] in the evening, after dinner” (from audio interview from the collection of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, September 12, 1965).
About the peaceful atom
“The real significance of atomic energy lies not in the weapons it creates; its real meaning lies in those the enormous benefits that atomic energy and various types of radiation will bring to people… In the past, new areas of science have never been discovered, the real fruits of which remained so unobvious at the beginning… I believe that with a high degree of probability these fruits – the so-called peaceful uses of atomic energy – will bring exactly what we hope for, and perhaps more.” (from a farewell speech to the Los Alamos Scholars Association, November 2, 1945).
[ad_2]
Source link
