What Oppenheimer did when Nehru asked him to become an Indian citizen

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Jawaharlal Nehru with J Robert Oppenheimer and his wife. (Photo: Reddit)

 

Kai Bird, the co-author of the book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer", revealed the connection between J Robert Oppenheimer and Jawaharlal Nehru.

 

By India Today News Desk: Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru offered Indian citizenship to J Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb, in 1954 after his humiliation over statements against nuclear weapons. Kai Bird, the co-author of the book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer", which inspired the Christopher Nolan movie 'Oppenheimer', told Hindustan Times that the physicist did not seriously consider the offer because he was a deeply patriotic American.

 

Shedding light on Oppenheimer's downfall in 1954, Bird said the physicist was stripped of his security clearance in "a terrible kangaroo court". He became the primary target of then Republican senator Joseph R McCarthy's "witch-hunts", said Bird.

 

Speaking on Oppenheimer's fascination with the Bhagavad Gita and Hindu mysticism, Bird said the physicist was drawn to the philosophical concepts addressed in the Gita, which paralleled some of the quantum ideas he had about the nature of the world. Oppenheimer also got Arthur Ryder, the only Sanskrit scholar at Berkeley University, to tutor him in Sanskrit so that he could read the Gita in the original, said Bird.

 

When the first successful test of the atomic bomb - called the Trinity Test (July 16, 1945) - happened in Mexico, Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad Gita. "I am death, destroyer of the world," Oppenheimer had said, while quoting the Bhagavad Gita, to describe his thoughts when he saw the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.

 

Bird told Hindustan Times that Oppenheimer's story is relevant today considering the world's ongoing struggle with the existence and potential use of nuclear weapons.

 

'OPPENHEIMER' IN INDIA

 

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer premiered in India on July 21. The movie had a record-breaking opening weekend with a box office collection of Rs 13.50 crore in India on day 1. It had the highest opening weekend ever for a Christopher Nolan film and a non-Franchise Hollywood film.

 

The movie, starring Cillian Murphy in the lead role, opened to a fantastic response from the critics as well as the audience.

 

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