The Real Story of Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer forever changed the course of history. He may be the most important physicist to have ever lived. Part of this video is sponsored by Wren. Offset your carbon footprint on Wren: www.wren.co/start/veritasium1 For the first 100 people who sign up, I will personally pay for the first month of your subscription!
If you want to learn more about Oppenheimer, I strongly recommend the book “American Prometheus” By Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. It was the inspiration for Christopher Nolan's 2023 film "Oppenheimer", which won multiple awards, including Oscars in 2024 for Best Picture and Best Actor (Cillian Murphy).
If you’re looking for a molecular modeling kit, try Snatoms - a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - ve42.co/SnatomsV
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A huge thank you to Dr. Martin Rohde and Dr. Antonia Denkova from the TU Delft for proofreading the script and providing valuable feedback.
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References:
Bird, K., & Sherwin, M. J. (2021). American Prometheus: the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Atlantic Books.
Smith, A. K., & Weiner, C. (1980). Robert Oppenheimer: letters and recollections. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 36(5), 19-27. - ve42.co/Smith1980
Combes, J. M., Duclos, P., & Seiler, R. (1981). The born-oppenheimer approximation. Rigorous atomic and molecular physics, 185-213. - ve42.co/Combes1981
Rhodes, R. (2012). The making of the atomic bomb. Simon and Schuster.
Oppenheimer, J. R., & Volkoff, G. M. (1939). On massive neutron cores. Physical Review, 55(4), 374. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1939b
Oppenheimer, J. R. (1927). Bemerkung zur Zerstreuung der α-Teilchen. Zeitschrift für Physik, 43(5-6), 413-415. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1927
Oppenheimer, J. R. (1927). Zur quantenmechanik der richtungsentartung. Zeitschrift für Physik, 43(1-2), 27-46. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1927b
Born, M., & Oppenheimer, R. (1927). Zur Quantentheorie der Molekeln Annalen der Physik, v. 84. - ve42.co/Born1927
Oppenheimer, J. R. (1928). Three notes on the quantum theory of aperiodic effects. Physical review, 31(1), 66.
Oppenheimer, J. R. (1928). On the quantum theory of the capture of electrons. Physical review, 31(3), 349.
Oppenheimer, J. R. (1931). Note on light quanta and the electromagnetic field. Physical Review, 38(4), 725.
Furry, W. H., & Oppenheimer, J. R. (1934). On the theory of the electron and positive. Physical Review, 45(4), 245. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1934
Oppenheimer, J. R. (1935). Note on charge and field fluctuations. Physical Review, 47(2), 144. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1935
Oppenheimer, J. R., & Snyder, H. (1939). On continued gravitational contraction. Physical Review, 56(5), 455. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1939
Oppenheimer, J. R., & Phillips, M. (1935). Note on the transmutation function for deuterons. Physical Review, 48(6), 500. - ve42.co/Oppenheimer1935b
Malik, J. (1985). Yields of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear explosions (No. LA-8819). Los Alamos National Lab.(LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). - ve42.co/Malik1985
Ignition of the atmosphere with nuclear bombs -- ve42.co/Konopinski46
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Directed by Petr Lebedev
Written by Petr Lebedev & Derek Muller
Produced by Petr Lebedev, Han Evans and Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver & Katrina Jackson
Filmed by Derek Muller
Animation by Fabio Albertelli, Ivy Tello, & Mike Radjabov
Illustration by Jakub Misiek and Celia Bode
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images & Pond5
Music from Epidemic Sound
Oppenheimer may be the most important physicist to have ever lived, but you can't possibly expect Barbie to compete in that field when she's busy also being a doctor, astronaut, veterinarian, president, model, etc.
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Is Barbie Johnny sins or is Johnny sins Barbie?
Listen here fella, just because Oppenheimer was only ever able to gain expertise inside one field, doesn't mean Barbie's multidisciplinary expertise makes him a less important figure.
this guy basically just compressed the Oppenheimer movie into a 30min documentary and released it a few days before the movie release. mad man.
Now I can go and see the Barbie movie with a clear conscience.
Noice, now I can skip it and watch Barbie instead
actually it's around 4 hours before my city's first screening
yeah he didn't even put spoiler alert
I live in New Mexico and the locals are super crazy. Way more than normal! People in New Mexico have some serious mental and physical health issues.
"Now I am become Veritasium, the element of truth"
I just now realized this!
Blew my mind!
Me either.:)
He cared so much about human life that he made sure to tell them not to set it off too high for maximum destruction.......what a guy.
I think it's admirable.
That's what makes his case so interesting though...He was obviously tortured by the device he helped create but at the same time, he was a scientist and he wanted his efforts and his theories to be proven and to work. He must have been very torn between these two feelings.
@@iitzfizz The ppl who were truly torn are lost to history because they made the correct choice. Oppenheimer is not a hero..at all. He was as "tortured" as Taylor Swift is in her latest album...
@penguin902 What an incredibly reductive way of thinking about it. I'm pretty sure the man who sent the entire world into a new, terrifying age of weapons technology and was immediately responsible for a device that killed 100s of thousands within the day, had more of a struggle with his own morals than a pop star musician whose biggest dilemma is her romantic relationships
@@iitzfizz Movie actually showed it quite well, they captured that part of him well, how he struggled between two sides, being constantly challenged by authorities on this.
I’m now patiently waiting for Derek to explain why Barbie deserves her own movie.
We saw the last Indiana Jones movie last week and watched the trailer for Barbie. It just might be fun to watch, assuming the trailer gives an honest preview. However, I'm waiting for someone else to give an opinion before I take the time to watch it.
@@ROKuberski here's an opinion: who tf cares about a toy movie? Kids of course I'm sure. But I'm pooping right now and my brown love logs puts my post pussy cart in best.
Margot Robbie is reason enough!
@@manilkasheran2934 I would bear that woman's children myself.
When I googled the movie my screen turned pink and filled with fireworks.
Yeah, it’d be so cool if Oppenheimer got his own movie…
Everyone below me is secretly a frog 🐸
Yeah. I wish someone like Christopher Nolan would direct it.
🐸🐸🐸 🐸 🐸🐸🐸 🐸 🐸🐸🐸
Yea… too bad we got Barbenheimer instead
Your comment will blow up 🐸💥
Thank you Derek. You are the BEST thing on KZhead. Keep up the amazing work.
Nit in case people are confused: In the picture at 3:16, Pauli is on the R with Born, but among the pictures at 3:21, the one labelled "Pauli" is actually of John von Neumann. Thanks as always for the wonderful content on Veritasium!
I agree on that 100%!!!
🤣
So nice of Veritasium to put the entire Oppenheimer movie on KZhead for free.
xDDD
Having only now learnt of Oppenheimer's full story, I have no wish to watch the movie.
Imagine sitting down in an IMAX theater and they just play this video 😂
@@marcsimmonds5483 There will be real atomic explosion demonstrations in each theater
@@theussmirage I wouldn't even be mad tbh. IDK about whoever I'm there with though...
Oppenheimer is the personification of "I've won...but at what cost."
I was sat in stunned and emotional silence at the end of the film. Very powerful.
Truer words have never been spoken
In the short term, potential casualties were reduced (putting aside the other reasons for the surrender). In the long term, humans now have the capacity for self-extinction at the push of a button.
@@natchu96 This "capacity for self-extinction" was the reason I found the movie to be especially disturbing. (small spoilers ahead): there was a line in the movie where Oppenheimer mentioned that his inhibitions about the further development of nuclear bombs was because he was worried that the US (altho perhaps simply humanity in general) will always want to use every weapon they have at some point. We've been fortunate so far that no one has pulled that trigger, but the fact that the trigger exists in the first place is terrifying.
@@natchu96They better push that button soon lmao
Wow! What a great video! Incredibly helpful to understand such an important part of history, thank you so much!!
Amazing video! Clear, interesting storytelling, easy to understand, there is visual aid in form of pictures and of course there’s the animation! You deserve every view and more
It’s absolutely crazy that all the big physicists from that era studied at the same place
Yes, absolutely incredible! You don’t see situations like that anymore, and perhaps never again. Even the nature of conducting research, and the way in which significant breakthroughs occur, is quite different today than it was for the most part of the 20th century.
Kinda like how all the Supreme Court justices need to attend Harvard or Yale Law. Hmmm.
Or that the physicist elsewhere just didn't get attention
Where?
@@mauicountygis5450 Those aren't important people with any real skill, we are talking about stem not some social science politico frauds.
The writing, the storytelling, the composition is impeccable. Another home run Veritasium team.
Yes video the the amazing. Watching from Saudi Arabia.I am infertile from eating scented candles (English not primary)
@@lpc9929 uh, TMI?
@@lpc9929💀💀💀💀
Well there's at least one thing he got wrong. Pile-1 was under a squash court not a football field.
I am not down bad, but I would watch a serious movie that has a uwu Easter egg as a joke. Even if it costs like $50 to go watch.
What an entertaining & simple way to explain something so complicated to most of us. Kudos! And thank you. 😊
I love the animated parts! It keeps you hooked!
If someone didn’t know who Oppenheimer was and wants to watch the movie, this video is such a good synopsis. Helps you better understand the characters.
Yeah I wish I'd watched this before going to see the movie. The movie doesn't explain who anyone is really.
@@Kewickviper I agree. I like Nolan. But his story-editing style always bugs me. This movie in particular. the scenes move so fast and does not allow audience to digest. I don't like the flash-flash-back thing.
@@Kewickviper Agreed, this video has been on my radar but Ive avoided it due to potential spoilers. I think it would have helped. I also think a quick 5 minute intermission halfway through would have helped my back
@@aizat27yeah that was my only real complaint about the movie. I didn’t know much of the history so the fast pacing had me somewhat lost at times
@@aizat27m glad I wasn't the only one feeling this. I was constantly trying to understand who is who and what's their connection to whats happening, I wish they gave an intro/background when they introduce characters rather than directly putting us into the scene where they make a huge difference to the story while my ass is trying to figure if I have seen them before or he just walked in. Heck, I didn't remember most of the characters names, it's hard cause english isn't my first language, harder with this type of story telling
"I am having a pretty bad time. The lab work is a terrible bore and I am so bad at it that it is impossible to feel that I am learning anything" - Every scientist ever. I swear that feeling is the essence of research.
Studying physics in college is what killed my love for physics. Lab work is so divorced from theoretical work, even though they rely on each other.
Sounds like every Grad student ever
I love labwork. Just like my boss, who's at a comfy level with his publication score. He will still go for any chance to play with clear liquids in tiny tubes... but we are both very well aware of the fact that we are weirdos. Even within our institute we are the two strange guys, sitting in dark offices in the basement... always close to our precious imaging equipment. The fact that it took me years to find someone who felt the same glee as I do during lab work just proves your very point.
I actually quit physics in uni in favour of math due to the bore that lab work was. And I loved physics. I have hated math all my life. Never would have pictured myself with a math degree.
Try medicine. It's similar, except you're abused by the system even more.
Another excellent documentary. As always. Thanks
I've been fascinated by Oppenheimer's life and work for most of my life. I'd seen a number of documentaries that included information about him but none of those were, in my opinion, complete. They revealed little about who Robert Oppenheimer really was. The recent movie about him, however, is really quite good in that regard, insofar as it can be trusted to be accurate and faithful to history and the facts of Oppenheimer's life and work. This presentation by you may be one of the best you've ever done. I've long been an admirer of your work and your slavish attention to details and factual accuracy. Your account of Oppenheimer's life and work confirm what I've come to know and believe about him. Thank you for bringing this to your subscribers.
I think this is where Veritasium shines the best: by making science history videos. They're so fascinating and well made.
ok
Yepp, would like to see documentations about Heisenberg, Wernher von Braun, Euler, Gauss and so on...
It's still pop science. On youtube, production value is inversely correlated with plain theory. It's unavoidable. The story is nice, but compressed like this, it's devoid of the maths and physics that lie behind the analogies. Which is a shame. Would be nice if you could have both.
Play by play 😆😆😆
His thesis was actually on making videos about science, so good call.
By the way, it clearly shows that having a good academic mentor is crossing the halfway of a successful academic career. A bad mentor can easily transform a bright student into a soulless, exhausted and depressed walking dead. A good mentor sharpens the student's skills while encouraging and boosting their confidence, advancing through academical success.
moral of the story: having a good teacher leads you to want to create a weapon of mass destruction
@@youraveragepasser-by7367bad teacher: get killed himself. Good teacher: 200.000 get killed
@@youraveragepasser-by7367 I disagree and for your insolence I will create a weapon of mass destruction!!!! Look what you made me do!!!
exactly!
The random nature of PhD. Get lucky. And you have a career. Unlucky and you waste 3 years, fall behind you contemporaries in life development, have mental health issues. Fortunately, I just did a BSc, knew I wasn't up to PhD
I was here since 750k. Now you're at 14.5M! Congrats Veritasium!
25:29 - 26:22... Just ashe has that haunted look forever etched in his face, thanks to this video... hearing his actual words haunts my soul
Once this channel became more of a team effort with animations, graphics, and footage rather than selfie narration, it's been non-stop bangers. Keep it going forever
Man i was a teenager when this channel started. Now im 33😂
I couldn't disagree more. This channel has gone straight down the toilet.
bot
It's not a team effort, it's just money paying people to do things
I love the newer videos, but I do sort of miss the old style where it's just him talking about science stuff. highly produced videos feel less genuine and intimate
I find it sad how Oppenhimer and Turing, both very important to ending WW2, were treated so poorly after the war.
Oppenheimer was responsible for his problems He was not a victim as so many people want to believe. Starting in the late 1930’s (probably 1937) Oppenheimer gave $1,000 a year (about $23K in 2023) to the Communist party and finally ceased giving donations in 1942. He also, stupidly, made an enemy of Lewis Strauss by insulting him publicly on more than one occasion. Unfortunately for Oppenheimer, Strauss was both petty and in the position to exact revenge - which he did. It was hardly the "American Government" that went after Oppenheimer, it was Strauss, greatly aided by Edward Teller.
@@buckhorncortezdude tried to poison his tutor and got off with a slap on the wrist because his parents were wealthy, not exactly the stuff heroes are made of
@@AmokBRchill out snowflake.
@@henrymerrilees9066 many of scientists working on the Manhattan Project were Stalinist sympathizers, and few were Soviet spies. They expected the bomb to be used against Germany, but after VE-Day, they were hoping for a partition of Japan once the Soviet Union entered that war - similar to Germany. That's when they grew a public conscience.
@@buckhorncortezdidn't know another party starting wars in half a dozen countries is better than communist lol
thank you for this! so much interesting information!
hats off to your editing
I agree on that 100%!!!
You guys are so good.
Hi
👍
Nice
Good job🥰
Good
One of the key takeaways is: “if you are needed than you are a hero, once your job is done you become a problem”
Alan Turing vibes. Its an unfortunate trend For those who don't know, he was gay, fathered computer science and probably brought an end (or an earlier one) to ww2, and then was jailed afterwards for being gay and killed himself in prison.
@@oakley6889 Well Neumann invited Turing to Princeton but he refused...
Medical professionals who worked through the pandemic but wished to maintain their own medical liberty refer to your statement as "hero's to zeros". Crazy world.
@@oakley6889 Did he really kill himself or did he "kill himself"?
@@gaborrajnai6213bro they literally chemically castrated him for being gay.
Goose bumping story. Twice during the story I felt that energy rush. Brilliantly narrated.
OP the way you described how the energy for an atom bomb comes from the release of the energy from the splitting of atoms was the first time I ever found it understandable. Great job.
I'm just an average guy - I go to work everyday, fix the trucks, come home, lather, rinse, repeat...etc etc. I just wanted to say I really enjoy watching your videos. The way you break down history and science is very palatable and easy to understand. I appreciate the time and effort you put into your content. Definitely brain food. Thanks for doing what you do.
Yes what this guy says!
Average guy here too. I watch Veritasium, Sabine, Smarter Every Day and a few other science channels. I find that a lot of the details go over my head, but not all of it. I think that it's important that people try.
@@chrisdonovan8795 ABSOLUTELY! It's very important that people try. Most of who I work with **don't**. And thanks for the heads up on the other channels - I'll check them out. Cheers!
I don't know why, but I really like the way you wrote this comment. I am also an average high school student who really wants to be a physicist some day.
@@mmoonchild276 Thanks - and your goal is awesome. If you'll indulge some advice from a 62 yr old - **don't quit learning ***. Stay focused. Do NOT get distracted. I did. A long time ago I had a free ride to a major university and blew it. Way more of a discussion than this comment permits. The point is you have your life in **front** of you. Plan it well. Focus on what you want to do - being a physicist is a great goal. Choose well your daily choices. From the people you allow in your circle, to your daily actions. Many, many distractions will come - it's up to you to bat them away. From bad people, to drugs, to alcohol, to time wasting activities...the list is endless. Stay focused and choose well! You CAN do this.
Couldn't imagine being in Oppenheimer's position. Imagine how impossible the decision was to produce a weapon that will wipe out that many lives and how that would haunt you for the rest of your life
He chose to do that project; it’s his fault
It’s science girly people die 😂🫥
My dad called you soft suntzu
Poor guy thought he was making a rice cooker
Honestly, it has wiped out FAR FAR LESS people than it easily could have if the US and Russia had started to lob them at each other in the 60s. By then, bombs were way way more powerful, and they would be targeting areas with far higher populations. Instead of 200-300k dead, it would be tens or even hundreds of millions dead.
Oppenheimers story is so remarkable and interesting! Thank you for this incredibly well done video
Well crafted story, that's a common theme in your videos. You are an excellent story teller.
I very much enjoyed the movie! Well researched and (mostly) historically accurate. Loved all the famous physicist cameos, and the “stark” contrast between the narcissistic politician and the hyper-fixated scientist. Main critique: I wish there had been a better visual representation of the sheer scale and horrific, species-ending power of the atom bomb… This video had what the movie didn’t, and I thank you for that!
did u watch BARBIE?
the movie did the explosion well enough, the main historical issue with it is that they didnt even bother credit Stan Ulam for solving the criticallity issue. Hes not even mentioned in the movie at all lol
spoilers below I feel like the bomb scene was more about the characters we got to see each of them and their reactions to seeing their creation and then we only got close ups of the bomb because i'm guessing Nolan's trinity recreation would have looked clearly different to an actual nuclear bomb and not as destructive. For me Opp putting his foot through the burnt corpse was a really powerful moment which showed the power of the bomb. Great film and expertly crafted and that silence on the detonation was one of them moments in cinema history, the whole room dropped into complete silence and nobody was coughing, talking, rustling their popcorn or anything, Nolan had everyone locked in and when the room went dead silent it was amazing.
I agree, the actual explosion was way too underwhelming after the 2 hour build up, it was obvious it was a much smaller, chemical explosion. They shouldve really used CGI instead.
@@NashDayZwhere I watched it, a random guy said "boom!" at the moment of the explosion
His younger brother Frank (who worked under him on the Manhattan Project) became a science educator, and in 1969 founded the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It's relocated a few times since then - it's located at Pier 15 now - but it remains one of the world's great hands-on science museums. It's a must-see if you're in SF with kids.
May he rest in hell and boil in the hottest sulfur lake.
DO NOT GO TO SAN FRANCISCO WITH KIDS!
@@commentfailedtoposto but with whole ass arsenal on a back
Don't bring kids to SF
@@toastedt140 why?
I love history and this dudes breaks it DOWN. I watched Oppenheimer but was confused most of the movie, this definitely gave me some clarity on some scenes from the movie. Great video bro!
I was confused with the movie too. I came here to understand the historical events in chronological order. This video was awesome!
I agree on that 100%!!!
Atomic Science has been an _unofficial_ Hobby for several years now and I have watched *Many* Presentations on how Fission works but this has just become by far the clearest presentation so far! (Subscribed!)
Fun fact: my PhD supervisor was Prof. |rwin Oppenheim, who studied at Caltech as a grad student, under John G. Kirkwood, in the late 40s/early 50s, when J.R. Oppenheimer was there. Once he told me that their similar names caused trouble at the internal post-office, so that, sometimes, both of them had to meet to return each other letters! 😀 That is how he met Oppenheimer.
I guess making a atomic bomb makes him more Oppenheim than your supervisor.
But who is the Oppenheimest?
That's actually a very interesting story.
@@nhancao4790 Can't wait to see S.R. Oppenheimest.
I love Openheiming
Fun fact: Luis Alvarez, along with his son Walter Alvarez, also later developed the theory of how a huge asteroid struck the Earth at the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula that lead to the extinction of non-bird dinosaurs, as well as the end of the Cretaceous Period.
Sweet! That's so cool! I love this comment section. This is the best!
A grandson of an Asturian
So many smart people all close to eachother, it's almost like a renaissance of science
I learned about that from Angela Collier.
@@helloneighbour2408right?? That’s what I was thinking. So cool!
Thank you so much for this video. I've recently accepted a full-time role at Los Alamos National Lab, and I think it's important to do research and understand the history and implications of the work I will be completing. I'm very excited by the culture of the laboratory and the ability to help through my role with the different failsafes and safety measures that are being put in place for the nuclear weapons that already exist, and it's been interesting to continue to research the different projects that the lab is working on after the war!
Really enjoyed it...one of the Best vedios I have ever watched❤❤
I absolutely love this combination of Science and Story telling ! It's been a treat to get such high quality content for free
His content has a lot of incorrect information.
@@ERMOONSaladino3 Can you state which information is incorrect?
@@zivmbs His childhood.
It’s not free 😂
@@ERMOONSaladino3 All of his sources are quoted in the description, so if there is incorrect information you can check those sources.
My neighborhood grandfather was a student of Oppenheimer. And when we told him a movie was going to be made on Oppenheimer he was happy like a child. In fact he has bought us the tickets as well. Let's hope the movie will be great.. And yes JR Oppenheimer really deserves a movie.
They made a movie about the guy who invented the variable-speed windshield wiper. i think the nuclear bomb is more important.
Did he also study under Barbie?
You mind replying what he thinks once you've seen it? I'm curious to hear if the movie was accurate.
@@gothamwarriorWhat's with so many barbie jokes about him? Is there some context or y'all just making fun? I'm curious.
@@shivamkumarshrivastava5182 barbie movie releases on the same day as oppenheimer.
Thank you, terrific content.
I'am so freaking happy that this channel came out on my phone. New subsciber & a happy one too. 🎉😂🎉
Man, what a beautiful tragedy the life of Oppenheimer was. Veritasium did a perfect job portraying that. Props to your entire team.
they missed the part where he cheated on his wife many times
@@PrabhablyAGoodKZheadr damn. I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
Better than Nolan.
He and Fritz Haber suffer the same fate
>Creates a bomb that can wipe out hundreds of thousands >The bomb is used to wipe out hundreds of thousands >Gets his check from the government >Expresses guilt afterwards His life isn't a beautiful tragedy it's more like a clownfest.
The way Albert Einstein approached the apparent improbability of achieving controlled fission is fitting of a scientific approach. He wasn't saying that controlled fission was impossible, unlike Rutherford. He was saying that he couldn't see the possibility of it being achievable. His words ("it would mean the atom would have to be shattered at will") show that he was open to the possibility. That is how a man of science should speak.
That’s exactly how I would word it, I mean so many “impossible” things have been proven possible that it should feel dumb to say impossible anymore
im an auto tech, not a physicist, but i have taken to hedging whenever it is convenient. "appears to be" is a much preferred option to "is" unless the issue is quite obvious.
Rutherford was a brilliant scientist though ☝️
In other words Einstein was saying it is impossible.
@@zaco-km3su more like he's saying that he does not know how to do it.
Love this video, thank you!
An amazing, amazing video. Thank you.
Small correction: The Bhagvad Gita wasn't translated to English by Bob, but by his tutor at UC Berkeley, Arthur Ryder. The original Sanskrit version says "Kaal". Kaal means Time. Context: In the battle of Mahabharata, on the battlefield, the prince Arjuna felt helpless on seeing his loved ones on the other side of the battlefield. He knew his battle skills & thought that while fighting his own cousins & teachers, he'd end up killing them or at least severely injuring them. This threw him into a dilemma (much like what Oppenheimer faced after the nuclear tests). His charioteer, Krishna, tried to motivate him, but in vain. In a sort of last ditch attempt, Krishna who is actually the avatar of Lord Vishnu, took the form of his Eternal Self, as Lord Vishnu, and recited the Gita to Arjuna, telling him how he needs to do his duties because He i.e. God, intended it that way. Lord Vishnu's detailed advice is what the Bhagvad Gita basically is. This dialogue that has now become world famous, appears in Chapter 11, verse 32. In it, Vishnu says he's 'Kaal', or Time... contextually meaning, the Time-Spirit. What he meant to tell Arjuna was He is Time, and Time comes for all. Time is actually the ultimate destroyer. Think about it .. every second we waste, is a second destroyed & never coming back. What Vishnu meant to convey to Arjuna was, whether you do your duties or no, Time finally comes for us all, so keep doing your duties to the best of your abilities & let Time take care of everything else. This 'Kaal' was wrongly translated by Oppenheimer's tutor Ryder, as 'Death'. It should actually mean, "I am the Time-Spirit, the destroyer of worlds."
@@viraa376 Everyone who reads the Gita thinks of themselves as Arjun. Even Oppenheimer took to the Gita only when he was thrown into this dilemma, of his very important & scientific invention as a weapon against humanity. No one thinks of themselves as Ashwatthama, because however skilled of a warrior he was, he was still on the bad side. Oppenheimer being Ashwatthama is from your frame of reference. I meant to clarify the mistake of translation because Robert thought of himself as Death, instead of Time. While time would've anyway devoured the Japanese citizens, they certainly would've had much more honourable/bearable deaths than the one they, and their generations later on, had to endure. Also, Robert did oppose the use of nuclear weapons later, so the actual people who should be saddled with guilt are the American military generals & the President who ordered the attacks & not Oppenheimer who merely discovered the reactions & it's applications.
@@viraa376 ok buddy good to know, but his main point is still there.
@@viraa376 Not a direct comparison though. Oppenheimer opposed his own govt because of the actions they were going to take. That is what riddled him with guilt. Ashwatthama didn't question anything. In fact, he even broke the then rules of war, which were to not fight after sunset, and burnt tents of the sons of the Pandavas in the middle of the night. The entire movie is about how Oppenheimer is second-guessing & regretting his decisions to help the US military. But I'd stop at this, because we seem to be veering away from the main point.
@@viraa376 Oh no...i didn't meant to be snarky. I just meant we'd be filling the comment section with absolute tangents if we keep that discussion on, that's it. Also, I'm an Indian who read mythology as an interest since I was a kid. I don't think i believe in any of the Gods stuff though. I treat it merely as great stories that were crafted to pass on important lessons to the future generations.
Very good narration clearing all previous doubts . Surprise to know that us/German scientists referred Geetha centuries back
My great grandmother used to talk about living near where they tested the bombs. She described how if they tested at night the whole town would suddenly light up like it was in the middle of the day. It's so hard to imagine what that was like
@@user-ze2zm4sz1b and to think that was from a couple hundred miles away at least. And it was the smallest bomb we've made
@@user-ze2zm4sz1b your grandma was awake at 5:30 in the morning at 5 years old?
@@alexrogers777I mean I’m sure a nuclear explosion would wake up anyone
@alexrogers777 Ha, a 5 year old waking you up at 5.30am is not anything out of the ordinary... any parent, any culture will let you know that ;)
My grandma once told me a story of when she was a little girl driving through the South of Nevada with her parents and siblings. She doesn't remember exactly what time it was, but it was late at night with nothing to see for miles in all directions. They knew beforehand that there was going to be a bomb test as it was announced over the radio, but what they didn't expect was what sight they'd see. Suddenly and without warning, a great white and yellow light came over the horizon from the Southeast, slowly fading to orange and red but all the while illuminating the landscape all around them. What was only a few seconds beforehand an endless black void was suddenly recognizable as if the sun had come up. Her parents pulled the car over and looked towards the light, staring in awe for about fifteen minutes as the light shone. As they were getting back in the car, they heard the faint rumble of what must have been the detonation, a full fifteen minutes after they saw the flash. Now I don't know how far they were from the bomb, I know that sound travels slower than light, and I know that fifteen minutes seems like an unusually long time. I'm just going off what my grandma told me, and it's completely possible that her sense of time in that memory has been warped over the years, or was possibly warped in the moment considering what she witnessed. Either way, her story has always stuck with me.
This one of the best analyses that I have come across THANKS
Absolutely super program covering so many important aspects of the atom bomb story
I'm excited for Oppenheimer, but Feynman needs his own movie
Indeed..
It was made already: Sex, lies, and videotape
@@heywazup99, Feynman had brain diarrhea! Can not stand his lectures, the movie would finish me off !
Feynman is already a legend. Joe Shmo would never relate unless you made up some silly human interest story around him.
Yes to this!
I am 100% glad that I watched this before watching the movie. The movie is absolutely incredible and very information-loaded so the background knowledge in this video helped me keep pace with the movie.
I completely agree
Me too
I was wishing the whole movie to see more about the science of the bomb, but I also realize that wasn't really possible and would make it a 5 or 6 hour movie. This video did explain the science part perfectly !
@@spaceknarfSame here, except I think they could’ve at least spent more time explaining what caused a fission reaction and less time on flashing nude sex scenes randomly in front of our faces. Just saying 🤷♂️
@@moisesjimenez4391some people like the sex scenes 😇
I enjoyed this much more than the Oppenheimer movie. The movie often seemed to portray less relevant scenes in an overly dramatic way. I like how this is straight to the point and focuses on the most interesting aspects. Very well done.
this was a particularly amazing video
While Nolan deserves an Oscar as a director, Derek from Veritasium deserves an Oscar for the best educational content.
🙋I second the nomination! 😎✌️
This video is filled with misinformation.
@@ERMOONSaladino3 Be specific.
@@pletiplot His childhood is wrong.
@@ERMOONSaladino3he didnt even mention his childhood though, if I can recall, he started at Oppenheimers college years. You typically do not consider that childhood.
My great grandfather was a part of the first expedition to where Little Boy was detonated. My family was never able to get him to talk much about what he saw there. he was sent there only three days after the bomb exploded. One of the only times my family was able to get him to talk about it, he said the following (paraphrased): “… walking along what I can only assume to have once been a neighborhood, I saw a black dog crawling towards us. Only after several long moments did I see that it was not a dog at all. It was a human woman, burned black by the heat of the explosion. She died but a few seconds after this realization.” many years later, and I am here with my mother, who suffers from an autoimmune disease. My family has no history of any disease of this type, but similar issues, though not diagnosed, have plagued my grandmother and a few of her children. I know that as I age, I will likely develop one or more of these symptoms, which seem to all point to the same conclusion: that the radiation my great grandfather was exposed to all those years ago had caused genetic mutations. My mother also had a personal friend whose grandmother was on a ferry going to Hiroshima as the bomb exploded. I was once good friends with her granddaughter my mother taught her mother, English, and while her lessons were going on, I would, without speaking much, play with her for hours. It is terrible to think that she almost didn't exist at all.
Wow. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing.
Wow
That bish was crispy
It's an interesting sharing. But I got confused real fast in that "grandmother to mother to granddaughter" part XD
Love your channel. Thank you so much
Good job for bringing this to us
Just stepped out of the theatre and cannot get my head out of the movie. One of the best film I've watched in years. Worth every second of the 3 hours.
Where did you watch it??
its out tomorrow?
same here, history is scary
@@Trapping_ackbar7 Just beware that you are watching a HOLLYWOOD re-telling of a story that itself has been shaped by bias.
@@trayztheholypaladan For exemple, I watched it yesterday in France
Just a side note: Oppenheimer's "Death destroyer of all worlds" was referencing a work about fulfilling your duties as required no matter how horrible. So contextually I think it's about the terrible philosophical dilemma he faced. The prince in the story does not want to fight for what is rightfully his position, against his cousins. He speaks of the sorrow at fighting friends, his mentors, etc. But Vishnu keeps trying to convince him it is his responsibility to lead men, to see men die, and to govern. Finally near the end Vishnu takes on that ultimate horrible all powerful form causing the prince to become enlightened/humbled, able to bear his duties. Per wikipedia: "The Bhagavad Gita is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer guide Krishna, an avatar of lord Vishnu. At the start of the Kurukshetra War between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Arjuna despairs thinking about the violence and death the war will cause in the battle against his kin and becomes emotionally preoccupied with a dilemma.[3] Wondering if he should renounce the war, Arjuna seeks the counsel of Krishna, whose answers and discourse constitute the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna counsels Arjuna to "fulfil his Kshatriya (warrior) duty" for the upholdment of dharma.[4] The Krishna-Arjuna dialogue covers a broad range of spiritual topics, touching upon moral and ethical dilemmas, and philosophical issues that go far beyond the war that Arjuna faces.[1][5][6] The setting of the text in a battlefield has been interpreted as an allegory for the struggles of human life."
The more I read comments surrounding Oppenheimer, the more I learn about these things. It's quite interesting
@@elfrjzyou know how close ancient India was with indonesia and how strong it's fluence
Bhagvad Gita teaches a lot, it teaches us to perform our duties regardless of the outcome 🙏🙏
@@sarthak.inferno Sounds like a pretty stupid philosophy.
@@billjohnson6863I know, right? That’s precisely why, Bill Johnson, we know more about Oppenheimer than you, because you ain’t stupid.
Great Video - nice balance between the science and the history
Dr. Muller, truly an amazing video, Thank you for such an indept and detailed explanation (scientifically and historically) of this poignant point in the history of humaninty; changed the course of world forever. Oppenheimer the movie with a $100 million USD budget is a popular award winning movie, has brought attention and awareness to this topic globaly. But I much prefered your production, simple clear and to the point without all the fancy actors. Thank you for all your efforts and educational productions, Love your work and looking forward to your next video.
Oppenheimer completed his PhD in just one year, absolute legend.
It was the era of totally new physic. Quantum physics and relativity was totally new and weird and many new things could be derived from it but not easily, only with advanced maths. And every thing of these could be a breakthrough.
He also completed Hiroshima in just one minute, really extraordinary
@@Triskelion345 quite ambitious he was. his discovery were meant to blow up
@@jxck7421 his invention was the bomb!
Yeah that’s a truly legendary achievement. To have not only graduated Harvard a year early but also to have earned a PhD by 23 is incredible
Minor correction: the B-29 is the Superfortress. The earlier B-17 was the Flying Fortress.
Yeah I hate it when they confuse the us (please see username)
Cool names though
Thanks. That surely going to help heal the world😅
Gotta love the fortress line of bombers.
@@flyingfortress15 praise be
I had always wondered about how they thought the trinity test would ignite the entire atmosphere. Even after watching the movie and coming back and searching for it I never quite understood. Today I finally completely got the answer to it. Always explaining concepts with such ease is why I love your videos. Not only are the concepts clear but you even remember it for the rest of your life.
Someone just needed to dumb it down enough for you
@@williammilestone5386Sorry have you got a PhD in physics you smartass
Again, a wonderful documentary ❤
The facts that there was a possibility they could end the world and they still went ahead is terrifying to me.
It was near zero. They said the same when they first used the large hadron collider to try and create God particles. Some scientists believed there was a near zero chance they could create a black hole which would keep eating matter until it swallowed the earth. Didn't happen obviously but some believed theoretically it was possible at the time.
they calculated on the extreme end, so extreme that it would barely be possible to achieve, and it still wasn’t possible at that point. it was only a passing concern and they thoroughly explored it enough that it was certain there was no possibility of it happening, at least not without more than impossible variables. the concern has always just been exaggerated through time. they apparently even joked about it after proving it couldn’t happen
It's not that simple. At that point, everyone was worried that if they don't do it, their enemies will. Oppenheimer himself was aware of the potential of his work, but decided it was the better of the evils he will have to choose from.
@@Timmy-fk8uklike now open ai Made super artificial intelligence😂
They knew it wouldn't before the test. The question only lasted a few hours.
Wish Oppenheimer gets his own movie. And imagine if Christopher Nolan directed it. It would have been explosive.
it is bursting into movie theaters this month
Ohhhhh myyyy goddd, do I news for you
nobody got the sarcasm
also imagine if they didnt use a real nuke for practical effects
Now imagine if we got cillian murphy to play the role of oppenheimer, what a banger that would be..
I would love if you made more of these deep dives on other scientists!
It is a big thing in itself that he did not win even a single award but he showed the world what even those who won awards could not do , salute to this scientist.
You know he is a great scientist when his story begins with an apple
True!!! Indeed!
The apple is an occult symbol ... you think Eve really ate an apple ? Wow now you know why Apple company uses a rainbow apple. SMH people online.
Yeah what a psycho
My father met him and talked with him for a while and I found out that Oppenheimer was surrounded by people who were jealous of his ability and he felt very alone
ur father DID NOT meet him
This happened, I was the father
@@Tanay.M why not? stuff happens believe it or not
it probably didn't help he was aa communist married to a communist, and going into the 1950s, they saw communists everywhere.
@@Tanay.Mbelieve it or not, Oppenheimer actually talked to humans during his 60+ years of life. That means people met him. Crazy I know.
This is brilliant stuff! Pure journalistic excellence!
thank you so much for this
When the news media mistakenly thought Alfred Nobel had died, they published an article labeling him as the marchant of death for his invention of dynamite. He sought to erase his tainted legacy by donating his amassed wealth to those who helped humanity become better. Awarding Oppenheimer the Noble Prize when he quoted that he has become the death, the destroyer of worlds, what Alfred sought to erase from his name, would have been very ironic.
Wish I could pin this to the top. It was a Nobel Peace Prize, though I could see how many would interpret the work of Oppenheimer and team as a peace project considering the losses we had sustained in the island hopping campaigns up till that point.
@@NONO-hz4vo Which is rather stupid because that mushroom cloud only instilled hatred and fear that would come back to bite our asses, and the scars of war still lingering. If ending the war is all what peace means, sure, I guess, mass extinction would also be valid.
In the context of the scripture Oppenheimer was the prince not vishnu.
@@NONO-hz4vo I see how people could interpret it as a peace project since it marked the end of that war, but retrospectively can we call it a peace project if the blood of the innocents but not the warlords was spilled to obtain it? As I see it, it was a project whose primary purpose was to invoke unimaginable fear to the enemy to bring them to their knees. In the history of mankind, a cruel bomb was used, and there was no way for any nation to have stood against it. Such "Peace" brought by destruction can only last for a fleeting moment until someone else makes an even bigger stick. That's human nature.
It wasnt the only time when the wrong person got the prize. Rosalind Franklin never got a nobel prize. in 1909 marconi, a thief got a nobel prize for "inventing" the radio which was invented years before independently by Oliver Lodge, Nikola Tesla and John Stone.
I grew up living five minutes away from where Fermi built that first reactor. Today it is a huge forest preserve but if you hike into the forest you can find a big clearing of trees and a huge giant stone on the ground that says “DO NOT DIG” with stone markers marking a radius where the reactor is buried. Go and look it up, it’s called “Red Gate Woods”.
now someone going to fig it
@@helper_bot I mean, it’s not hidden. It’s even on Google maps.
Would you say it is, or is not, A Place of Honor?
@@simsandsurgery1what if someone dig?
@@sunmoon-pg9fe That’s between them, the radiation, and the department of homeland security.
I love the in-depth explanation of the mechanism behind each bomb, plus I've always thought Oppenheimer an interesting figure. I grew up in Los Alamos, NM and my great-grandfather actually worked on the Manhattan Project. My grandmother has told me so many cool stories about life in Los Alamos back then.
Thanks!
Fun fact: in 1939 Einstein wrote a paper showing why he thought black holes would not form. In the same year, Oppenheimer wrote a paper showing why they would.
This was actually fun to know!
he was his boss (just to know)
it was just another day for theoretical physicists.
@@chaitanyabalanagu626so technically this guy just blatantly lied calling it a fact... Good catch
@@swachchhandadahal260ell not really. The term black hole hadn’t been coined yet, but the theoretical prediction of the Schwarzchild solution still to this day best describes the principle phenomenon of black holes and why they form: the event horizon and singularity. Einstein was reluctant to accept that such oddities could exist in nature, and also because it implied his equations broke down. The Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit showed that indefinite gravitational collapse could be applied to natural objects with sufficient mass, such as stars.
as a physics major currently at the university of Gottingen, it's so cool to learn about the life of Oppenheimer!
Haha nerd
That's amazing! I'm planning to do my CS Post Grad there too... So much important history tied to that uni...
since it is a movie in the year 2023...i highly doubt that it will be close to reality. oppenheimer will be swapped by a strong independent black woman, fighting against white supremacy. oppenheimer itself will be the sidekick that will become a nazi. because men are equal to bad. there is no such thing as good movies in 2023.
@@_blank-_ I don't know why I found this so funny
That’s cool and all but u no Christopher Nolan
Would be awesome when your videos are available as podcast, so I can listen to it at work👍
Agreed
I thank you so much for the work of scientific education that you're pursuing. It's a very difficult task considering all the ethical implications of such a project. You deliver information in a clear, neutral way and it's remarkable. Thank you.
Veritasium's content has always been some of the best on KZhead (if not, anywhere), but the editing, writing and production quality has skyrocketed in the last few years. I'm going to see Oppenheimer (and Barbie) in a couple of days and this was such a great background on his story. Another stellar documentary, as always.
You should try and give Lemmino a shot, I really like his stuff, although his post frequency is very questionable
It is hard to count the inaccurate statements and conclusions even at just in the intro part of the video...
@@militavia-air-defense-aircraft it’s okay, I’m sure you’ll learn how to count one day!
You should go watch barbieheimer too
@@thomasdubouchet that’s the plan!
There's no question when watching interview footage of Oppenheimer that he feels the weight of everything he has done. If the movie captures half the gravity of the actual footage it will be powerful stuff.
It doesn't
It does
It did.
I haven't seen all the interview footage. But the movie does a very good job of conveying this. It focuses a very significant amount of time to the weight, and the moral complexities of the subject. One of may favorite parts also focuses on the weight of his work and his understanding of that weight, and his concerns for the future.
I strenuously disagree that oppenhiemer regretted his actions in the way some want to portray. He sounds like a bit of a narssissist that people simply made excuses for, such as buying off criminal charges after assaulting his teacher trying to poison him simply because little oppy felt so repressed at school. And all of his talk during a few interviews that may have sort of sounded regretful or warry of nuclear weapons? It sounds like the standard 'pacify the public to avoid the frankenstien principle so the villagers dont come after me with pickforks after I make a monster". People pointed out he stayed in contact with pro nuclear forces and could have actually taken actions to support elements trying to back anti proliferation groups and others of a similar ilk and according to some never did.
The second Bhagavadgita meaning he got it wrong. Krishna stops Arjuna from backing off, because not doing the war would be more disastrous than doing the war. And it is the duty of the king to protect the people than protect his family and relatives. When Krishna shows his avatar, he means that all the life thatis living will become one with the god eventually. The people we think friends, relatives, enemies all are part of one entity. It is only our perception (maya) that gets us entangled in these friend enemy relations
What a wonderful piece of science here. Thanks for making such content.
One of the best videos I have seen in a long time. The story of Oppenheimer is truly one that sheds a light on the brutal nature of humanity. The way this story was narrated was extremely immersive and informative. Thank you for putting out such content.
while the outcome was very inhumane. their intention was to creat something that dissuades from warfare and forces diplomatic alternatives i believe.
Put that filthy cigarette out
Instruction unclear: where do I get some military grade uranium (asking for a friend)
@@MsSplasch Right. Nuclear weapons have done more for peace than anything else.
everything that is nature should be accepted, even both brutal and pleasant.
My Dad worked at Oakridge on separating Ur. He also, as a civil engineer, was 10 miles away from the Marshal Islands when the H bomb was tested. My Dad never wanted to talk about his experiences and we all respected his wishes.
So did he like see the bomb and its fireball?
@@TabBuddie Yes. He was 10 miles away. The blast was stronger than they predicted because of some effect of lithium that was not factored into the blast strength.
Did it affect his health in any way?
@@dennisvanoord3278 No. He lived to 83 and never had cancer. He was lucky. At Oakridge, he worked on the design of the gas diffusion pump. His role was minor but he never, to the best of my knowledge, was in the building that contained the diffusion process. Sad so many people got cancer from the Manhatten project.
that's so coooool
I'm so happy to have found your channel. This channel is the bomb... No pun intended.
This video encouraged me to watch the actual film. Im glad to have watched both.
Did not watch Oppenheimer yet but I feel this is the best introductory material that I could possibly want. Didn't know how ingenious the construction of the bomb was, and how they carried out the experiments even with the possibility of destroying the planet. Fascinating and terrifying.
unfortunately this is the entire movie
you got spoiled real bad mate
This video covers all of the high level issues in the movie but the movie itself shows the interplay and interactions between multiple scientific geniuses and the conflicting emotions and ideas they had which is a fantastic backstory. The one thing not well explained is that Neils Bohr was spirited away from the Nazis probably only days before he would have been captured and employed by them on their own atomic bomb program.
Veritasium but it's movie recap
Don t make my mistake and watch this before the movie.
My Aunt and Uncle were both Chemical Engineers who worked at Oak Ridge here in TN WITH Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project. They died before I could talk to them about this, but her brother, my Uncle Keith (rip) was an electrical engineer who worked at McDonnell-Douglas in the '70s and designed the original electrical systems on the first space shuttle. My friend David Krumholtz played the Rabi in this movie, so it's special to me on several levels!
Wow
whoa
Wait really? David Krumholtz is your friend?! He did a fantastic job as Isidor Rabi. Give me my kudos to him 😊
yeah mine too
@parthibbiswas3730 Yes. I have worked in network television, so I have many friends in the industry. He's one of the most versatile actors I have ever seen and one of the nicest guys out there. He's one of the "good ones".
The Chicago Pile was called CP-1. The Westinghouse USS Enerprise reactor prototype was called A1W. I trained on that as a Naval Nuke.
you did a great job thanks so much.