Edward R. Murrow Interviews Robert Oppenheimer (1955) [video]

A few interesting things I noticed in the video:<p>• Oppenheimer mentions a young physicist named Dyson. This is Freeman Dyson[1], who is still active today[2]. Human lives are <i>long</i>.<p>• Cloud chambers had been around for decades at this point, and lots of particles make a &quot;V&quot; in a them.[3]<p>• I&#x27;m not very knowledgable when it comes to particle physics, so I don&#x27;t know the meaning of the symbols on the chalkboard. Whatever it is, I bet it&#x27;s wrong. The quark model wasn&#x27;t ironed out for another decade.<p>• Oppenheimer was quite right in worrying more about nuclear war than contamination from nuclear testing. Atmospheric testing would result in increased cancer rates and birth defects. Not good, but an endurable harm. On the other hand, global nuclear war could have ended humanity or drastically limited our potential.<p>It would be very interesting to see the whole interview. Several times, Oppenheimer struggled to explain his ideas in layman&#x27;s terms. It&#x27;s likely that quite a few technical bits were edited out.<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Freeman_Dyson" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Freeman_Dyson</a><p>2. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;03&#x2F;quanta-freeman-dyson-qa&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;03&#x2F;quanta-freeman-dyson-qa&#x2F;</a><p>3. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;V_particle" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;V_particle</a>

Worth mentioning that this was after Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance so he didn&#x27;t have access to work that he himself had done on the Manhattan Project ... his brother was blacklisted, lost his academic job, did ranching, and founded the Exploratorium... Oppenheimer exudes a great deal of serenity and optimism considering the times and trials he went through.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;J._Robert_Oppenheimer#Security_hearing" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;J._Robert_Oppenheimer#Security...</a>

<i>&quot;The things we know ought to be in the public domain so people are fearful only in the measure in which fear is justified and rational.&quot;</i><p>and<p><i>&quot;The trouble with secrecy is that it denies to the government itself the wisdom and the resources of the whole community; of the whole country.&quot;</i><p>Smart guy. I sure do wish that had worked out for us.

This is terrific. His comments about Piaget and topology -- how children master topological ideas first, easily -- is particularly wonderful.<p>Also: Boy they are smoking a lot!

I browsed through the comments on YouTube for this video, thinking that surely this video would be too niche for the harrowing YouTube-stupidity to infect.<p>Oh boy, was I wrong. Don&#x27;t do it!; you&#x27;ll wish they&#x27;d have invented something even more potent a decade before the interview...<p>A wonderful interview though.

&quot;It isn&#x27;t the layman that&#x27;s ignorant, its everybody&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;lVCL3Rnr8xE?t=18m39s" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;lVCL3Rnr8xE?t=18m39s</a>

The art historian mentioned by oppie is most likely Erwin Panofsky

&quot;We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, &quot;Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.&quot;&quot;