Oppenheimer 7-21-2023

[Roosky01]

I don't know about everyone else, but I am going to see this in IMAX!!!

“Our work here will ensure a peace mankind has never seen.” “Until somebody builds a bigger one.”

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Should be a great movie. Looking forward to seeing if it meets expectations.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

I have become death, the destroyer of worlds...

 

[pwerwagn]

I’m beyond excited for this movie.

 

[pixrthis]

I worked on it, I hope it’s good because it’s a great story.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I think it is pretty telling how impactful ones creation is to them when they immediately become concerned about their reputation for its creation and start a non-profit/fund to try to offset that reputation.

Happened with Oppenheimer (Openheimer Fund) and Nobel (inventor of TNT and created his namesake peace prize to offset it).

 

[rrrr]

I gathered from watching the first trailer that Oppenheimer will be portrayed as a tortured soul, torn between his role as a brilliant physicist, and an intellectual that knows the atomic bomb is inherently evil and a danger to humanity. But that's not really true. The second trailer thankfully indicates technically accurate scenes and portrayals of interactions between the principals will be true to the historical record, so I'm excited to see the movie.

While he had misgivings about participating in development of the weapon, between 1941 and 1945 Oppenheimer was fully dedicated to its production and use in the war. It wasn't until later he became tortured with the implications of the bomb's eventual spread to other nations and the possibility of widespread nuclear war.

J. Robert Oppenheimer felt it was his duty to the United States and the world to stop Nazi tyranny. Remember, when Roosevelt authorized the attempt to make an atomic weapon in January 1942 and the Manhattan Project began, Hitler's Wehrmacht was running wild across Europe.

Hitler's troops had invaded Russia in June 1941, and had nearly captured Moscow in December. There was a very real threat that all of Europe and most of Asia would fall under Hitler's control.

But by July 16, 1945, when the plutonium implosion bomb was successfully tested in the New Mexico desert, Germany had been defeated, and the invasion of Japan's home islands had been scheduled for March 1946.

However, contrary to what many historical revisionists claim today, Japan was not considering surrender. In fact, at the end of July, the war council of the Japanese government met and unanimously decided the war would continue, even if it meant the destruction of the country and enslavement of its 80 million people. These are almost the exact words the council stated, I'm not making them up.

Oppenheimer's contributions as director of the laboratories at Los Alamos were critical to the successful development of the weapon, it was used against Japan, and the war ended.

But when discussion turned to the development of the thermonuclear, or hydrogen bomb, after the war, he voiced concerns that building a weapon that was literally thousands of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb could result in the destruction of the human race. This resulted in charges by anti-Communist right wing politicians and particularly his enemies in physics, that Oppenheimer was a Russian spy.

He was pushed out of his participation in weapons research. That escalated to Congressional hearings and fantastic allegations against him. Eventually Oppenheimer's top secret security clearance was revoked, and he was forced out of his positions in government and academia. He died from throat cancer in 1967, discarded by the government to which he had patriotically given his brilliance and leadership to defeat America's wartime enemies.

 

[MK1MOD0]

I gathered from watching the first trailer that Oppenheimer will be portrayed as a tortured soul, torn between his role as a brilliant physicist, and an intellectual that knows the atomic bomb is inherently evil and a danger to humanity. But that's not really true. The second trailer thankfully indicates technically accurate scenes and portrayals of interactions between the principals will be true to the historical record, so I'm excited to see the movie.

While he had misgivings about participating in development of the weapon, between 1941 and 1945 Oppenheimer was fully dedicated to its production and use in the war. It wasn't until later he became tortured with the implications of the bomb's eventual spread to other nations and the possibility of widespread nuclear war.

J. Robert Oppenheimer felt it was his duty to the United States and the world to stop Nazi tyranny. Remember, when Roosevelt authorized the attempt to make an atomic weapon in January 1942 and the Manhattan Project began, Hitler's Wehrmacht was running wild across Europe.

Hitler's troops had invaded Russia in June 1941, and had nearly captured Moscow in December. There was a very real threat that all of Europe and most of Asia would fall under Hitler's control.

But by July 17, 1945, when the plutonium implosion bomb was successfully tested in the New Mexico desert, Germany had been defeated, and the invasion of Japan's home islands had been scheduled for March 1946.

However, contrary to what many historical revisionists claim today, Japan was not considering surrender. In fact, at the end of July, the war council of the Japanese government met and unanimously decided the war would continue, even if it meant the destruction of the country and enslavement of its 80 million people. These are almost the exact words the council stated, I'm not making them up.

Oppenheimer's contributions as director of the laboratories at Los Alamos were critical to the successful development of the weapon, it was used against Japan, and the war ended.

But when discussion turned to the development of the thermonuclear, or hydrogen bomb, after the war, he voiced concerns that building a weapon that was literally thousands of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb could result in the destruction of the human race. This resulted in charges by anti-Communist right wing politicians and particularly his enemies in physics, that Oppenheimer was a Russian spy.

He was pushed out of his participation in weapons research. That escalated to Congressional hearings and fantastic allegations against him. Eventually Oppenheimer's top secret security clearance was revoked, and he was forced out of his positions in government and academia. He died from throat cancer in 1967, discarded by the government to which he had patriotically given his brilliance and leadership to defeat America's wartime enemies.

You wrote a lot, but somehow missed that Oppenheimer was a long time member of the communist party. ( since the 30’s). So yea, the government threw his commie ass out of the program.

 

[Chili Palmer]

Another good movie to watch on this subject is Fat Man And Little Boy with Paul Newman and John Cusack (before he turned full on libertard).

 

[Sleek-Jet]

You wrote a lot, but somehow missed that Oppenheimer was a long time member of the communist party. ( since the 30’s). So yea, the government threw his commie ass out of the program.

Didn't seem to be a problem during WWII.

 

[rrrr]

You wrote a lot, but somehow missed that Oppenheimer was a long time member of the communist party. ( since the 30’s). So yea, the government threw his commie ass out of the program.

He was never a member of the Communist Party. His brother Frank was, but not Robert. His wife Kitty had been earlier before their marriage but dropped her membership.

Oppenheimer had Communist sympathies, had attended meetings, and joined some Communist affiliated groups in the early 1930s, but he was never an actual member of the party, and certainly not when he was chosen as the civilian leader of the atomic bomb program.

Oppenheimer was under constant surveillance during the entire time the Manhattan Project was in operation, and there was no indication whatsoever that he met with or passed information to Soviet spies.

Even individuals who had proven their loyalty in the war effort were under suspicion. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb himself, became embroiled in the hysteria of the early Cold War.1

Before accepting a position as chief scientific administrator on the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer had supported the Communist party in the United States, though he never became an official member. Despite having cut off his political associations, he was placed under surveillance through his time directing the Manhattan Project and service as chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's General Advisory Committee.

And regardless of his support for the American cause during World War II, his leftist political leanings were never forgotten by his superiors. Oppenheimer was eventually required to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. There, he admitted his past ties with the Communist party but denied involvement in espionage activities. Despite refusing to name Communist members, no punitive actions where taken against him by HUAC.

Atomic Energy & Nuclear History Learning Curriculum - Special Collections & Archives Research Center

 

[MK1MOD0]

He was never a member of the Communist Party. His brother Frank was, but not Robert.

Oh gee. He didn’t carry a card Lol. He was part of the communist movement in berkley, and supported numerous commie groups. But ya, he wasn’t a commie because he didn’t carry the card. The government did the correct thing by revoking his security clearance. They should do more of that today, may just help our situation We’re in.

 

[rrrr]

Oh gee. He didn’t carry a card Lol. He was part of the communist movement in berkley, and supported numerous commie groups. But ya, he wasn’t a commie because he didn’t carry the card. The government did the correct thing by revoking his security clearance. They should do more of that today, may just help our situation We’re in.

I've read thousands of pages of history books about the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, along with biographies of Oppenheimer. What you're saying isn't factual.

 

[MK1MOD0]

I've read thousands of pages of history books about the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, along with biographies of Oppenheimer. What you're saying isn't factual.

Sorry I completely disagree. The government just didn’t choose to get rid of him for no reason. His girlfriend was a communist organizer, he was part of communist organizations in the 30’s and held communist ideology long after he was out of the government. It‘s factual.

 

[Mcob25rg]

Born in 57 - looks like a must see for me

 

[pronstar]

I worked on it, I hope it’s good because it’s a great story.

I’m assuming you mean the movie and not The Bomb…unless you’re really old

 

[Lumpy]

Correct me if I’m wrong but pretty sure his son was the CFO of Apple.

 

[rrrr]

Sorry I completely disagree. The government just didn’t choose to get rid of him for no reason. His girlfriend was a communist organizer, he was part of communist organizations in the 30’s and held communist ideology long after he was out of the government. It‘s factual.

It's your opinion, not facts. Don't take my word for it.

Oppenheimer Security Hearing - Nuclear Museum

In 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked by the Atomic Energy Commission.

ahf.nuclearmuseum.org

 

[MK1MOD0]

It's your opinion, not facts. Don't take my word for it.

Oppenheimer Security Hearing - Nuclear Museum

In 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked by the Atomic Energy Commission.

ahf.nuclearmuseum.org

I could post 10 articles saying opposite. But Im Out. You always seem to know everything.

 

[rrrr]

I could post 10 articles saying opposite. But Im Out. You always seem to know everything.

Post 'em up.

 

[Wave Hi]

ok im ready.!!

 

[caribbean20]

I worked on it, I hope it’s good because it’s a great story.

. . . and the reason for yet another screen name has been revealed.

 

[Angler]

A movie that I would actually go to the theater to see.

 

[pronstar]

The cynic in me is wondering what kind of woke shit they put into the movie.

Fat Man and Little Boy…even the names of the bombs are offensive

 

[rrrr]

Another good movie to watch on this subject is Fat Man And Little Boy with Paul Newman and John Cusack.

And 21 year old Laura Dern.

 

[Chili Palmer]

And a 40 year old Bonnie Bedelia

She made Shirley Muldowny look really hot in Heart Like A Wheel.

 

[Roosky01]

Really looking forward to this!

 

[Roosky01]

Has anyone seen it yet? We have been/are too busy to get to the theater as of yet. What are your thoughts/reviews?

 

[LHC30]

Saw the show yesterday. Very good movie, it held our interest all the way to the end.

BUT - the sound engineering sucks! Background way too prominent when lines are being delivered and almost every line was relatively low volume and tone flat. I know my hearing sucks, but in a theatre at those volumes, I am gtg. Even those that were with me with good hearing were having problems.

Historical accuracy? Couldn’t tell ya, I always expect Hollywood to take “theatrical license” with facts and I am in no doubt they framed this in the same way.


Bit very good film!

 

[Racey]

Saw the show yesterday. Very good movie, it held our interest all the way to the end.

BUT - the sound engineering sucks! Background way too prominent when lines are being delivered and almost every line was relatively low volume and tone flat. I know my hearing sucks, but in a theatre at those volumes, I am gtg. Even those that were with me with good hearing were having problems.

Historical accuracy? Couldn’t tell ya, I always expect Hollywood to take “theatrical license” with facts and I am in no doubt they framed this in the same way.


Bit very good film!

Did you see it in IMAX?

 

[LHC30]

Did you see it in IMAX?

Nope. Is there one in Havasu? ( I don’t go to the movies much )

 

[rivermobster]

Did you see it in IMAX?

Check this shit out...

‘Oppenheimer’ 70mm IMAX Print Is So Big, Theaters Need to Build Around It

L.A.’s TCL Chinese is literally building out the projection booth for Christopher Nolan’s 11-mile-long latest. But this isn’t the first time.

www.indiewire.com

 

[clarence]

 

[DaveH]

i saw it and was somewhat disappointed.

its more of a drama, meaning seeing it in IMAX or some crazy format isnt necessary. there are no huge bombing and/or military campaign scenes.

the bulk of the movie was about the decision to pull his security clearance stemming from his commie ties and the politics that go with that.

the movie also jumps back and forth making in somewhat hard to follow.

i was expecting much more about the inner working of how it all came together and the massive engineering hurdle that had to be overcome, instead of politics.

not saying it was horrible, but i would wait and watch at home.

 

[Riverfamlee]

Did you see it in IMAX?

Saw it in imax yesterday. Agree with the background volume making the dialog hard to hear. And there is a ton of dialog. I’ll leave it at that. Didn’t hate it but didn’t love it either.

 

[Roosky01]

Saw it in imax yesterday. Agree with the background volume making the dialog hard to hear. And there is a ton of dialog. I’ll leave it at that. Didn’t hate it but didn’t love it either.

So I should just go see Barbie instead?

 

[DaveH]

So I should just go see Barbie instead?

absolutley. but not to go see the movie, instead watch the heard of gals dressing like Barbie that have no business trying to impersonate Barbie.

 

[Chili Palmer]

The movie sounds like it’s more drama than the historical building of the bomb. It sounds like Fat Man And Little Boy would be the better of the two. I guess I’ll wait until it starts streaming instead of spending $50 after tickets and munchies.

 

[Hydroman55]

Not what I envisioned was all about politics. Right or wrong would have enjoyed the details of management style and technical obstacles overcome.
As far as I’m concerned Groves was a bad ass.
The movie did not convey what America was historically …Sad

 

[rrrr]

When General Leslie Groves was selected to run the Manhattan Project, he had just finished overseeing construction of the Pentagon. The building was completed ahead of deadline, and until a few years ago was still the largest building by internal volume on Earth. He had been told he would join the war effort in Europe upon completion of the project, and the appointment to run a scientific project was initially a huge disappointment.

Groves's drive and leadership abilities were of inestimable benefit. Just days after he was given the task to run the effort to build the bomb, he gave orders to secure 1,200 tons of uranium ore that had been mined in Belgium's African colonies, before Nazi Germany could take it. A few weeks later, he traveled to Tennessee to procure the thousands of acres that became the Oak Ridge uranium purification facility, and soon after that made the decision to purchase the land in Washington state for the Hanford site plutonium production reactors complex.

He worked tirelessly, overseeing every detail, making momentous decisions without consulting higher command, and was relentless in pushing the schedule for completion of the weapons that ended the Pacific War.

 

[rrrr]

It's been a long time since I've produced an rrrr RDP History Lesson™. I would much rather generate content that's interesting and educational than engage in beefing about drunk boating, so I hope this is a better use of your time and mine.

Another action General Groves took during his prosecution of the Manhattan Project illustrates his focus on performing the task he had been given and his ability to remove any impediments to that goal. The premise of the uranium atomic bomb was that the element could be made to fission in a chain reaction that released incredible amounts of explosive energy. However, the common isotope of uranium, ²³⁸U, making up 99.3% of the purified metal, was not efficient in that regard.

The isotope ²³⁵U, present in just .7% of refined uranium, was much more fissile. In early 1943, after learning more about the properties of uranium and its ability to capture one free neutron and then eject one or two more while releasing energy in a perpetuating chain reaction, scientists estimated a 6-7 kilogram mass of U²³⁵ would explode with the force of 10,000 tons of TNT. A ²³⁸U weapon would require up to 50 kilograms, and likely wouldn't work because that large critical mass would be blown apart before the 80 generations or so of atomic fission required to make an efficient weapon could take place.

The scientists developed the idea of using huge electromagnets combined with vacuum chambers, called calutrons, to accelerate and separate the slightly lighter and more fissile ²³⁵U isotope from ²³⁸U, one atom at a time. It required the construction of hundreds of these massive devices, grouped in numbers and arranged in an oval shape, to produce just milligrams of U²³⁵ per day.

It's estimated that at the peak of production, the Oak Ridge facility consumed 2% of the electricity produced in the US. It's one of the reasons the Tennessee Valley Authority and its massive dams producing hydroelectric power were authorized by Congress and placed in operation during and just after the war.

While this was an unprecedented effort that had never been proven on such a massive scale, what made it even more unusual was the material used for the electromagnetic coils and the thousands of bus bars in the accompanying switchgear. It was pure silver.

Wartime demand for copper, used in munitions, war materiel like tanks and planes, and the huge industrial complexes being built to manufacture it, consumed almost all of the copper refined in the US and Allied countries. Groves turned to a replacement that the government happened to have in quantities, 17,000 tons of silver bullion stored in vaults at the West Point Bullion Depository located on the Hudson River.

With stringent security protocols in place, the metal was extruded into flat coils. Most of the silver was shipped to Allis-Chalmers in Milwaukee to manufacture the huge electromagnets, with the rest going directly to an Oak Ridge facility built to make switchgear bus bars.

The silver remained in use for years, but technology advances in nuclear weapons, along with production of the more efficient and effective fissile plutonium isotope ²³⁹Pu by a different method, made electromagnetic separation of uranium decline precipitously. Most of the calutrons were taken out of service by 1960. In spite of its monetary value and extensive exposure at Oak Ridge and other places to thousands of employees, all of the silver, with the exception of 11,000 lbs lost through the years long use of the metal and its later return to the vaults, was accounted for.

In early 1943 workers at the West Point Bullion Depository work to remove silver ingots from storage for shipping:

A simple diagram showing how electromagnetic acceleration resulted in separation of ²³⁵U from uranium tetrachloride molecules:

 

[Roosky01]

Not what I envisioned was all about politics. Right or wrong would have enjoyed the details of management style and technical obstacles overcome.
As far as I’m concerned Groves was a bad ass.
The movie did not convey what America was historically …Sad

It figures that the one movie I was all jazzed up to see since Maverick is not what was advertised. I wish Hollywood could just put out a damn movie that gives viewers an escape or historically accurate depiction that we can enjoy.

Anytime a film has anything to do with “Communism” you can bet your ass what way it’s going to lean and glorify. I wonder if we ever will get to a point in history where McCarthy is widely viewed as “over the target” versus the way he always has been?…

I wish Clint Eastwood would’ve directed Oppenheimer because it most likely would have been awesome…

 

[FROGMAN524]

Just got home from seeing it. Was much more about the politics around Oppenheimer than the technicality of the Manhattan project unfortunately. Fairly disappointed.

 

[farmo83]

I used to work as a protectionist and I can't fathom moving a 3 hour imax print around. Moving a 3 hour regular print was challenging enough as it is.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Movie was 90%+ around the politics surrounding Oppenheimer, which I didn’t expect. I would have much rather seen more about the project, but I like history so I still liked it. 7/10 for me

 

[OLDRAAT]

I used to work as a protectionist and I can't fathom moving a 3 hour imax print around. Moving a 3 hour regular print was challenging enough as it is.

Read somewhere that each one of those platens weigh 600#

 

[farmo83]

When I was there movies would come in 20 min sections and the protectionist would splice them together. This would take a while as normally they didn't come facing the same direction and you'd have to flip them around. Also if there was a really dark scene it sucked to splice as if you missed a cut the frame would jump on the screen. There's 7 frames of film per 1 second on screen so if you messed anything up you just cut it out and 99% of the time no one noticed. Normally you put 6000 ft together at a time and built that to the platter. After all of that we were required to watch the move to make sure we didn't screw up building it. Most f ups were in the trailers as they were a bunch of splices of you would get a defective print.

A print that big I assume would have to be built directly to the platter a reel at a time and broken down that way.

 

[traquer]

Just saw it. Couldn't get a ticket during the weekend. Not sure what the hype is all about though??

I was expecting a techno thriller, no dice.. Stop reading here if you don't want to know what happens.

It's basically a 3 hour long political drama and with a shitty little explosion in the middle. The acting is great though.

Zero cool technical details to geek out on. It would have been nice to learn a bunch of cool specifics about the bomb and the Manhattan Project that I never knew about before. Kind of like what you get in a Tom Clancy novel.. But this is Hollywood we're talking about..

I might be "different" than most, but I'm one of those who can get lost in Wikipedia and spend a few hours fascinated learning about nuclear weapons design even though it serves no purpose to me, I just like to learn new things. Anyway, this movie wasn't for me.

 

[The Prisoner]

Just saw it. Couldn't get a ticket during the weekend. Not sure what the hype is all about though??

I was expecting a techno thriller, no dice.. Stop reading here if you don't want to know what happens.

It's basically a 3 hour long political drama and with a shitty little explosion in the middle. The acting is great though.

Zero cool technical details to geek out on. It would have been nice to learn a bunch of cool specifics about the bomb and the Manhattan Project that I never knew about before. Kind of like what you get in a Tom Clancy novel.. But this is Hollywood we're talking about..

I might be "different" than most, but I'm one of those who can get lost in Wikipedia and spend a few hours fascinated learning about nuclear weapons design even though it serves no purpose to me, I just like to learn new things. Anyway, this movie wasn't for me.

I am like you. Endless internet rabbit holes on the subject and I must have at least 10 books on the subject including the one used for the movie. I really wanted to see it but from what I hear it’s better to wait for streaming or on demand. I had definite plans for last Sunday but had a work related deal pop up. I was for all the making of stories. Not the politics.

 

[traquer]

I am like you. Endless internet rabbit holes on the subject and I must have at least 10 books on the subject including the one used for the movie. I really wanted to see it but from what I hear it’s better to wait for streaming or on demand. I had definite plans for last Sunday but had a work related deal pop up. I was for all the making of stories. Not the politics.

Yeah no big loss to miss it at the theatres. I'd have much rather watched it at home on my big flat screen with a beer and a pool break in between.

Also I was expecting the best and most realistic movie depiction of a nuclear explosion but didn't get that. You're better off going on Youtube and watching the color-corrected and upscaled nuclear test footage from the US and Soviets. Fascinating and scary power. I forget which scientist wrote about it, but when the Trinity test went off, the light was so blindingly bright he saw through his elbow with his eyes and saw his own bones and joints in perfect detail. And you get hit with a crazy amount of heat at the same time due to all the different types of radiation which travels at light speed and instantly heat up the air. Then he looked up out of his elbow and saw a brilliant bluish/purplish light (not just pure white like how it's in movies) that faded into yellow flames and the mushroom cloud as the heat kept growing. Then after many seconds was he hit with a massive shockwave and a ton of dust flying everywhere.

Movie did it no justice whatsoever.