can you talk about everyone from albert einstein to j robert oppenheimer, and how they ultimately feltfilm would then be highly classified for decades. obviously not incriminating, not sharing nunuclear sececrets, but because of its huge effect? shows, the mgmok movie e "the begininning of or e end" was inspired by one of werese scientists, whoho appalled by what happepened with the use ofof the bomb and the dangers ofhehe fute. onofof thecientistfrom oak ridg contacted hormer chemistrytudent, e actres dodoa reed,ddly, andonna making thismotion movie. amy: this was donna reed, the actress? greg: her chemistry teacher. she said she musust get hoywood toto make aa big b budget moviet would warn the world abobout the dangers of remaining on this nuclear path. and of course, as y you mention, albert einstein was very much aligd with that, was the leading spokesmaman for that. mgma reed set in motion for to lauaunch this m mov at paramoun. they launcd a comping movi rand t scenwriter tooript wasltimatel cky evenor hollyod, so paraunt then threw in with mgm,here mov, on their teteible movie.

host: what did raab and -- robert oppenheimer, 40 years old, bring to the table?uest: absolute brilliance. he was a brilliant theoretical physicist. astonishingly intelligent brainpower. he knew six lang which is. -- he knew six languages. he learned sanskrit so he could read a hindu devotional poem, the bhagavad-gita, which later comes into the story. an interesting thing, he was seen as somewhat of a prima donna, as a lot of these scientists were. but gross decides he is the project. it was this fascinating combination of groves, this six foot 250 pound bulldozer of a 1942, and a1941 and year and a half built the pentagon. which is the biggest office building in the world. and just a massive project. and built right on time. the government decides, roosevelt decides, he is the right guy to do this massive project. he then recruits oppenheimer to do it. so you have the military push and drive and discipline of groves, and this year scientific brilliance of oppenheimer, the scientific director of the program. i think oppenheimer really is the key figure here. beca

robert oppenheimer and general leslie gross. but there were also critical voices in los alamos. as there were many scientists here who thought that we should do a demonstration for the japanese and they they signed a petition and oppenheimer stopped the petition from going forward to the government. the critics remained isolated they read later that america had no bombs to waste so why did it have to drop 2 bombs within days of each other. we had 2 different kinds of bombs we had the your am bomb that was dropped at hiroshima and we had the plutonium bomb that we dropped at nagasaki had we had authority and bomb we probably would have taken out a 3rd city but it was important to test the plutonium bomb from the standpoint of u.s. policymakers and military strategists because that was the kind that we were going to bring into effect increasingly over the next period the effort that went into this was the primary. challenge. that the scientists face that loss at los alamos and the implosion device was a much more efficient way of exploding either iranian or plutonium and that was

to los alamos laboratory in new mexico where the bombs were actually designed and built by robert oppenheimer and other famous feminist -- physicists. of oak ridge national laboratory who was originally to serve as a test reactor. that is where we are right now to reduce trace amounts of for the weapon. the government realized fairly oak ridge and east tennessee were not the places to produce vast amounts of .lutonium very carcinogenic. very dangerous if not handled properly. east tennessee was not the place to be producing large amounts of plutonium. this reactor was not called a reactor, it is called a pile. it was designed simply to learn how to produce plutonium, not to produce large amounts of it. eventually after a year or two, it actually began to produce some enriched uranium. that enriched uranium was carried out of here in a handbag, on the train, it went out to los alamos. normally.ried small amounts of plutonium worshiped to chicago where they could characterize it. los alamos where they could learn how to build a bomb using plutonium. in inhing was coming train loads and train lo

robert oppenheimer. there have been extensive books written about him. what a man.you describe him as a renaissance figure and a genius. >> half a dozen languages. sanskrit so he could read the buddhist writings, fabulously brilliant as a physicist and people didn't know if you would have any executive skills at all he was the scientific director at los alamos and one of the things he had to juggle that i mentioned before was this military man and then frankly all these. >> don scientist who rebelled at the idea of military order and deadlines. another nugget in the book is after the bombing in the war ends truman never looks back he's asked about it for the rest of his life and he says i had to make the decision to end the war and i would do it again all the people on the flight crew said the same thing. it ended the war. we are military men this was the way to defeat the enemy. those who didn't have the second thoughts for the scientist. einstein started the manhattan project in 1939 when he writes a letter to roosevelt and his concern with the german refugees the

produced here were shipped out to los alamos laboratory where the bombs were designed and built by robert oppenheimer and other famous citizphysicist tested in new mexico. the purpose of oak ridge national laboratory was originally to serve as a test reactor which is where we are right now to produce trace amounts of plutonium for a nuclear weapon. and they realized -- i say "they." the government realized fairly quickly that oak ridge and east tennessee were not the places to produce vast amounts of plutonium for a weapon. plutonium is a highly toxic element. it's very, very dangerous if not handled properly, and east tennessee was not the place to produce large amounts of plutonium. this reactor here was designed simply to learn how to produce plutonium, not to produce large amounts of it. eventually after a year or two, they actually began to produce some enriched uranium over at y-12 and that enriched uranium was carried out of here in a handbag on the train. it went out to los alamos. something carrying it likewise and small amounts of plutonium were shipped up to chicago where they could charac

los alamo's laboratory in new mexico where , the bombs were actually designed and built by robert oppenheimer and other famous testedsts and otherwise out there. so the purpose of the oak ridge national laboratory who was originally to serve as a test reactor, which is where we are right now, to produce trace amounts of plutonium for a nuclear weapon. they realize -- i say "they" -- the government realized fairly thatly in 1942 and 1943 oak ridge and east tennessee were not the places to produce vast amounts of plutonium for a weapon. plutonium was a highly toxic element. i mean, it is very, very carcinogenic. very dangerous if not handled properly. and east tennessee was not the place to be producing large amounts of plutonium. this reactor here was not even called a reactor. it was called a pyle. it was designed simply to learn how to produce plutonium, not to produce large amounts of it. eventually after a year or two, began to produce some enriched uranium over on y12, and that enriched uranium was carried out of here in a handbag, on the train, it went out to los alamos. they were just c

[laughter] oppenheimer, robert oppenheimer. talk to us about him.re are extensive books written about him. what a man. i'm just -- i think as you described him, a renaissance figure and a genius really. >> absolutely. spoke, i think the, a half dozen languages, learned sanskrit so he could read the buddhist writings. fabulously brilliant as a physicist but also -- and people had no question about whether he would have any executive skills at all -- but he was a very skilled administrator. he was scientific director at los alamos. and one of the things that he had to juggle was he had general groves, who i mentioned before, this bulldozer of a man and a military man, and then he had all of these, frankly, prima donna scientists who rebelled at the idea of deadlines and military order. and he kind of had to keep both of those things going. you know, we talk about second thoughts. one of my -- another one of these great nuggets in the book is after the bombing and after the war ends, truman never looked back on it. he says, you know, he's asked about i

of that first successful detonation of a nuclear weapon in new mexico, robert oppenheimer, the head of the los alamos laboratory reacted this way. >> line from the hindu scripture. i suppose we all thought that one way or another. >> tens of thousands die instantly. >> we shall competely destroy japan's power to make war. >> three days later, nagasaki is the target with a similar result. his grandmother insisted he come down. >> if he stayed on that roof on the bomb exploded, we would have been burned to a crisp. this is after the a bomb. >> howard says one way to understand the horror of that day is to look at the numbers of american lives lost thus far to covid-19. >> that took eight months. >> the arms race was on. baby boomers were taught to do this. >> what was sort of ludicrous, we all had drilled to hide under our desks. >> ambassador wendy cherman negotiated nuclear control issues with north korea and iran. >> they are the only times in history that nuclear weapons have been used. what did the world learn from that? >> the world learned that nuclear weapons should only be a det

. >> robert oppenheimer.ome and talk to us about him, i'm sure there's been extensive books written about him, what a man. i think as you describe him, a renaissance figure and ingenious really. >> absolutely. he spoke and a half dozen languages, learned sanskrit so he could read the buddhist writings. fabulously brilliant as a physicist but also, and people had real questions about whether he would have any executive skills at all but he became the very skilled administrator. he was a scientific director at los alamos. one of the things he had to juggle was he had general groves which i mentioned before, this bulldozer of a man and military man and that he had all these, frankly, prima donna scientist who rebelled at the idea of deadlines and military order and he kind of had to keep both of those things going. we talk about second thoughts, another one of these great nuggets in the book is, after the bombing and after the war ends, truman never looks back, he says, he's asked about it for the rest of his li

and on the right you see the famous scientist robert oppenheimer. now they're in los alamos location, but there are 20 different facilities across the country. more than 100,000 people involved in this from extracting uranium and building munitions and recruiting scientists and all done under top secrecy. and meanwhile at the same time, the british had been developing a similar nuclear bomb development which they called the tube alloys and when the germans were bombing, they decides that the british and americans should work together and britain shared a lot of their data and their science with the americans and several british scientists came over. but by 1943 this photograph was taken at what is now camp david what fdr called shangri-la and cut the british out of the development of the bomb and the manhattan project. and this was done for a variety of reasons. but churchill was very upset about this and wanted the british to get back involved in this partnership. and then a few months after this photo was taken in august of 1943, right before the

on the right you, see the famous scientists robert oppenheim or. their loss alamos facilities the one this most famous. but there of course about 20 different facilities. across the country hundred thousand people involved in this, from extracting uranium corps, recruiting scientists, all done under top secrecy. meanwhile at the same time, the british have been developing a similar nuclear bomb development which they called the tube alloys. early on in the war when the germans were bombing the british, they decided that the british and american should work together, and britain share a lot of their data and their science with the americans several british scientists came over. by 1943, this photograph was taken at shangri-la. by 1943 the americans had essentially cut the british out of the development of the ball bomb and the man had project. this was done for a variety of reasons. churchill was very upset about this and one of the british to get back involved in this partnership. a few months after this photo was taken, and august 1943, right befo

representative in charge of the entire operation and on the right you see the famous scientist robert oppenheimer. now the los alamos facility is the one that's the cleanest and there are more than 20 different facilities across the country. 100,000 more and 100,000 people involved in this and building munitions and recruiting skie scientists and all done under top secrecy. meanwhile, at the same time the british had been developing a nuclear bomb development and they're the two alloys, early on in the war when thirp bombing they decided that tbritain shoud work together and several british scientists came over, but by 1943 this photograph was taken now at camp david which fdr called shangri-la. they essentially cut the british out of the development of the bomb and the manhattan project, and this was done for a variety of reasons, but churchill was very upset about this and wanted the british to get back involved in this partnership, and then a few months after this photo was taken in august 1943 right before the quebec conference there had been tremendous tension between the americans and the b

the co-author with another of our speakers, kai bird, of american media's, the triumph of j robert oppenheimer -- oppenheimer which won the pulitzer prize in 2006 for biography in september, marty will publish gaveling with armageddon, nuclear relet from hiroshima to the cuban missile crisis. messes kai bird who i just mentioned, the executive director of cuny graduate center levy center for biography. he is coeditor of hiroshima's shadow, and the author of the chairman, john j mccloy and the making of the american establishment, in addition to co-opting the pulitzer prize-winning book. next is garr alper bench was atd academic positions king's college, cambridge, the institute of politics at harvard and the university of maryland. he is the author of two books on today's subject, atomic diplomacy, hiroshima and potsdam, and the decision to use the atomic bomb. he is currently a principal of the democracy collaborative in -- an independent research organization and finally we will hear from peter chris that, professor of history and director of the nuclear studies institute at american univers