Einstein–Oppenheimer relationship

J. Robert Oppenheimer with Albert Einstein c. 1950

Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer are physicists of twentieth century who captured popular imagination with their pioneering contributions in the world of physics.

Overview

With their revolutionary achievements in the world of Physics, both Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer became iconic figures in the history of twentieth century science. In 1919, after the successful verification of the pathway of light from faraway stars that bent near the sun, a phenomenon which was predicted earlier by Einstein's theory of gravity, Einstein was acclaimed as “the most revolutionary innovator in physics” since Issac Newton. Oppenheimer, who was called the "boy-wonder" of the American physics community during the 1930s, became a popular public figure from 1945 onwards after overseeing the first ever successful testing of nuclear weapons in the World.

In 1939, Einstein published a paper that argued against the existence of Black holes. Einstein used his own general theory of relativity to arrive at this conclusion. A few months after Einstein rejected the existence of Black holes, Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder published a paper that revealed, for the first time, using Einstein's general theory of relativity how Black holes would form.

After World War II, both Einstein and Oppenheimer lived and worked in Princeton at the Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein served as a professor while Oppenheimer served as its director from 1947 to 1966. Both had their offices down the hall from each other, and they conversed occasionally.

Views about each other

Einstein in his last twenty-five years of life focussed solely on working out the Unified field theory without considering its reliability nor questioning his own approach. This led to him loose connections with the wider physics community. Oppenheimer wrote that Einstein's tradition in his last twenty-five years had in "a certain sense failed him". Einstein was sceptical about Quantum theory which Oppenheimer advocated. Oppenheimer noted that Einstein tried in vain to prove that there are inconsistencies in the Quantum theory, and that Einstein, very ambitiously, tried "to combine the understanding of electricity and gravitation" so that he could explain what he considered to be an apparent illusory discreteness—the existence of the various particles of nature.

References

Sources

• Schweber, Silvan S. (2009). Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674043350. Search this book on
• Oppenheimer, J. Robert (1979). "Oppenheimer on Einstein". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 35 (3): 36–39. doi:10.1080/00963402.1979.11458597.
• Shindell, Matthew (2010). "Einstein and Oppenheimer: Scientists' Lives in the Currents of History". Science as Culture. 19 (3): 399–405. doi:10.1080/09505431003767876.
• Schweber, Silvan S. (2006). "Einstein and Oppenheimer: Interactions and Intersections". Science in Context. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 19 (4): 513–559. doi:10.1017/S0269889706001050.
• Halpern, Paul (2019). "Albert Einstein, celebrity physicist". Physics Today. American Institute of Physics. 72 (4): 38–45. doi:10.1063/PT.3.4183.
• Bernstein, Jeremy (1 April 2007). "The Reluctant Father of Black Holes". scientificamerican.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
• Busis, Hillary (25 July 2023). "Einstein and Oppenheimer's real relationship was cordial and complicated". gq-magazine.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
• Cava, Marco della (22 July 2023). "Fact-checking 'Oppenheimer': Was Albert Einstein really a friend? What's true, what isn't". USA Today. Archived from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

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