J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 – 1967) was an
American theoretical physicist, best known for his role as the scientific
director of the Manhattan Project, the World War II effort to develop the first
nuclear weapons, at the secret Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico. He is often
remembered as “the father of the atomic bomb”.
After witnessing the first successful nuclear explosion at the Trinity test site in Los Alamos New Mexico (which took place on 16 July, 1945) Oppenheimer remarked later that it brought to his mind words from the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” (chapter 11, verse 32).
Although Oppenheimer never converted to Hinduism nor did he ever refer to himself as a Hindu, Hindu philosophy did influence him greatly. He never prayed to Hindu deities nor went to a Mandir (Hindu temple). He was never a Hindu in a devotional sense, but he did take up Sanskrit lessons so he could better understand the Gita in its native tongue. Oppenheimer, raised as a Jew, was deeply affected by Vedic philosophy.
His brother said that Oppenheimer found the Bhagavad Gita “very easy and quite marvellous… and was really taken by the charm and the general wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita”. Oppenheimer also claimed that “access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries”.
Remarkably he even once hinted at the possibility of weapons on par of the nuclear ones who was working on in previous eras, particularly those of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
While he was giving a lecture at Rochester University, during the question and answer period a student asked a question to which Oppenheimer gave a strangely qualified answer(अजीब योग्य जवाब):
"Was the bomb exploded at Alamogordo during the Manhattan Project the first one to be detonated?"
Dr. Oppenheimer: “Well — yes. In modern times, of course."
Some people suggest that Oppenheimer was referring to the brahmastra weapon mentioned in the Mahabharata.
The appreciation didn’t stop there. So much so he always gave the book (Bhagavad Gita) as a present to his friends and kept a copy on the shelf closest to his desk. At Franklin Roosevelt’s funeral he read a passage from the Gita chapter 17 verse 3 “Man is a creature whose substance is faith, what his faith is, he is”. In 1963, the Christian Magazine asked him to list his 10 most influential books, he chose the Bhagavad Gita as one of them.
After witnessing the first successful nuclear explosion at the Trinity test site in Los Alamos New Mexico (which took place on 16 July, 1945) Oppenheimer remarked later that it brought to his mind words from the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” (chapter 11, verse 32).
Although Oppenheimer never converted to Hinduism nor did he ever refer to himself as a Hindu, Hindu philosophy did influence him greatly. He never prayed to Hindu deities nor went to a Mandir (Hindu temple). He was never a Hindu in a devotional sense, but he did take up Sanskrit lessons so he could better understand the Gita in its native tongue. Oppenheimer, raised as a Jew, was deeply affected by Vedic philosophy.
His brother said that Oppenheimer found the Bhagavad Gita “very easy and quite marvellous… and was really taken by the charm and the general wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita”. Oppenheimer also claimed that “access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries”.
Remarkably he even once hinted at the possibility of weapons on par of the nuclear ones who was working on in previous eras, particularly those of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
While he was giving a lecture at Rochester University, during the question and answer period a student asked a question to which Oppenheimer gave a strangely qualified answer(अजीब योग्य जवाब):
"Was the bomb exploded at Alamogordo during the Manhattan Project the first one to be detonated?"
Dr. Oppenheimer: “Well — yes. In modern times, of course."
Some people suggest that Oppenheimer was referring to the brahmastra weapon mentioned in the Mahabharata.
The appreciation didn’t stop there. So much so he always gave the book (Bhagavad Gita) as a present to his friends and kept a copy on the shelf closest to his desk. At Franklin Roosevelt’s funeral he read a passage from the Gita chapter 17 verse 3 “Man is a creature whose substance is faith, what his faith is, he is”. In 1963, the Christian Magazine asked him to list his 10 most influential books, he chose the Bhagavad Gita as one of them.
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