Oppenheimer, like every Christopher Nolan film, was intriguing. While it made me clutch on to my seat every second of it, it does have some factual inaccuracies which should be noted.
1. The Poisoned Apple
While studying at Cambridge University, Oppenheimer poisons his professor’s apple after he’s forced to clean up his sloppy lab work instead of attending a lecture. To our disappointment, it was not shown in the movie. Oppenheimer did poison his tutor Patrick Blackett’s apple, causing more scandal than what’s shown in the movie. In reality, Oppenheimer was suffering from a mental illness. His questionable perception of reality led to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. In the real version of the misguided revenge plot, Blackett never ate the apple. Oppenheimer was neither expelled nor arrested. The ordeal was seen as a cry for help and he managed to seek psychiatric help.
2. Oppenheimer’s Politics
Contrary to the expectations of watching a movie about World War II, the film depicted more of close door politics than it was required.There are the gruelling series of hearings in which Oppenheimer’s security clearance and loyalty towards America are questioned. The film remains ambiguous of whether or not its subject was ever officially a member of the communist party, suggesting instead that he was most likely a leftist FDR supporter who had affiliations with card carrying communists. In American Prometheus, Oppenheimer claims that he was so apolitical that he didn’t know about the stock market crash of 1929 until Ernest Lawrence told him six months later and he never voted until 1936. Oppenheimer insisted that he never joined the communist party, although he did admit in writing- ‘I have been a member of just about every Communist Front organisation on the West Coast.’ Therefore, his political associations remain unknown till date.
3. The Manhattan Project
Almost all the information about the Manhattan Project delivered to us through the film is historically accurate. The film shows that the crew of physicists involved in this project was relieved to learn from Niels Bohr that the Germans took a wrong turn despite the head start that Werner Heisenberg had given them. However, the film does not portray how the US had considered having Heisenberg assassinated and poisoning German food supplies.
4. Teller’s premonitions
Edward Teller, a renowned physicist who invented the hydrogen bomb, worked closely with Oppenheimer during the Manhattan Project. However, he did voice his concern for the fact that a nuclear weapon could ignite the Earth’s atmosphere with perilous consequences. Unlike what’s shown in the movie, Oppenheimer didn’t consult Einstein regarding the same. Instead, Oppenheimer consulted Compton, according to American Prometheus. Bethe’s calculations did show there was a “near-zero” possibility of such a catastrophe happening. As shown in the movie, Oppenheimer defeated that miniscule of a possibility but, in the end, he reveals that he started a chain reaction which might never stop.
5. Rivalry with Strauss
If there’s an antagonist in the film, it is Lewis Strauss. He’s depicted as a vindictive man who wants to seek revenge against Oppenheimer as he embarrassed him during the debate on isotopes and stood in the way of the development of hydrogen bombs. In real life, there was even more animosity. Oppenheimer and Strauss were as similar as they were different- both were sons of German jewish immigrant businessmen. However, being hit by a recession, Strauss’s family was unable to afford to continue with his education in the field of physics. Oppenheimer was liberal and secular while he was conservative and religious. Strauss orchestrated the demise of Oppenheimer’s reputation, but he also brought about his ruin in the process.
-Saanvi Rungta
XI C1
