Unlike some other biopics, Nolan really did his homework. For this list, we’ll be looking at the historical accuracy of Christopher Nolan’s film about the Father of the Atomic Bomb. .
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00:00 He was trying to impress Truman.
00:03 He thought it was something that Truman would like to hear, and he got that wrong a lot."
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things Oppenheimer
00:12 Got Factually Right.
00:13 "Strauss would deliberately destroy the name and reputation and government position of
00:18 Robert Oppenheimer.
00:19 And when he destroyed something, he destroyed it thoroughly."
00:23 For this list, we're looking at the historical accuracy of Christopher Nolan's film about
00:27 the father of the atomic bomb, unlike some other biopics.
00:31 Nolan really did his homework.
00:33 There are a few spoilers for cinephiles, and history buffs.
00:37 Were you impressed with Oppenheimer?
00:39 Let us know in the comments.
00:42 Hey Mojoholics, for a chance to win cash prizes, play our live daily trivia challenges every
00:47 day at 3pm and 8pm Eastern only at WatchMojo.com/play.
00:54 Number 10.
00:57 Early in the film, Oppenheimer delivers a lecture in the Netherlands.
01:01 The only American in attendance is physicist Isidore Isaac Rabi, who assumes he'll have
01:06 to translate for everyone else.
01:08 It's the other way around, as Oppenheimer learned Dutch over six weeks just for this speech.
01:14 Although it's implied that Oppenheimer and Rabi subsequently formed a friendship on a
01:18 train ride, they actually first got to know each other in Leipzig.
01:21 However, Oppenheimer was naturally gifted when it came to picking up languages.
01:26 In addition to English and Dutch, he was well-versed in French, German, Greek, and Latin.
01:31 He even studied Sanskrit, a sacred language from India.
01:35 Through his Sanskrit studies, he was introduced to Bhagavad Gita, which largely molded Oppenheimer's
01:40 world philosophy.
01:46 Number 9.
01:47 Kitty Purning was married when she met Oppenheimer.
01:49 When Oppenheimer met his future wife, Katherine Purning was already wedded to Richard Stewart
01:54 Harrison.
01:56 Oppenheimer actually had several girlfriends between his breakup with Jean Tatlock and
02:00 marriage to Purning.
02:01 Almost everything about their courtship is accurate, however, from meeting at a garden
02:05 party to Oppenheimer inviting Purning and Harrison to stay at his New Mexico ranch.
02:10 Harrison declined, but Purning took him up.
02:13 When Purning became pregnant with Oppenheimer's child, Harrison agreed to divorce so she could
02:17 remarry.
02:18 They fell in love, and by 1940, she was pregnant.
02:22 Following son Peter's birth, the couple went through a difficult adjustment, entrusting
02:27 the baby to friend Hakan Chevalier and a nurse for the summer.
02:30 The Oppenheimers later had a daughter named Toni, who they passed to a fellow Los Alamos
02:35 mother Pat Scher for a period.
02:37 Number 8.
02:38 People thought Oppenheimer couldn't run a hot dog stand.
02:42 Oppenheimer was a brilliant mind, but few felt he was qualified to oversee the Manhattan
02:46 Project's secret lab.
02:48 He was kind of this ethereal personality.
02:51 He had no record of having big achievements.
02:54 He never held such a position of leadership.
02:57 His political leanings gave authority figures pause, and he didn't even have a Nobel Prize.
03:02 One of the scientists who knew Oppenheimer said, "This is a man who couldn't run a hot
03:06 dog stand."
03:07 As depicted in the film, one of Oppenheimer's colleagues claimed he wasn't fit to run a
03:11 hot dog stand, let alone a nuclear weapons program that would change the tide of World
03:16 War II.
03:17 Nevertheless, General Leslie Richard Grove saw something in Oppenheimer that few others
03:21 did, "overweening ambition."
03:24 With Groves as the project's director, he put Oppenheimer in charge of the Los Alamos
03:29 laboratory.
03:30 Even as others stressed that Oppenheimer could be a security risk, Groves trusted him to
03:35 cook the hot dogs.
03:36 "When meeting Oppenheimer, you were immediately impressed.
03:40 You couldn't help it.
03:41 There wasn't a better man."
03:45 Number 7.
03:46 Soviet spies on the Manhattan Project
03:48 Although Oppenheimer ultimately wasn't a security risk, speculation of espionage still
03:54 loomed around the Manhattan Project.
03:56 "There were rumors of espionage."
03:58 "Unsubstantiated."
03:59 "Los Alamos."
04:00 "There's no proof."
04:01 "There was a spy at Los Alamos."
04:02 Even after World War II ended, America's growing conflict with Russia led many to believe
04:07 that atomic secrets were being passed over to the Soviet Union.
04:11 These fears were not unfounded.
04:12 "They won't let me leave."
04:13 "I won't let you leave."
04:15 There were actually several Soviet spies at Los Alamos, including machinist David Greenglass,
04:20 engineer Oscar Sabur, and physicist Theodore Hall.
04:24 Arguably the most prominent spy was theoretical physicist Klaus Fuchs, played here by Christopher
04:29 Denham.
04:30 Fuchs shared information concerning the atomic and hydrogen bombs, which likely enabled the
04:35 Soviets to test their own atomic bomb.
04:37 Fuchs' involvement eventually led to his arrest in 1950.
04:41 Receiving a 14-year sentence, Fuchs ultimately served nine years before returning to Germany.
04:47 Number 6.
04:48 Oppenheimer's friendship with Albert Einstein
04:50 It's a common misconception that Einstein was directly involved in the atomic bomb's
04:55 creation.
04:56 While he co-signed a letter to the president advocating the research of atomic energy,
05:01 Einstein said, quote, "I do not consider myself the father of the release of atomic energy.
05:06 My part in it was quite indirect."
05:08 As we see in the film, though, Einstein was friends with the father of the atomic bomb.
05:13 The two first met when Einstein visited Caltech in 1932, commencing a nearly 30-year friendship.
05:19 Oppenheimer later became a director at the Institute for Advanced Study, essentially
05:24 making him Einstein's boss.
05:26 While their conversation by the pond feels like a creative liberty, the scene conveys
05:30 their mutual respect for each other and fear of future nuclear warfare.
05:34 "Albert says, 'But Robert, you are Mr. Atomic.
05:40 You don't need them.
05:41 They need you.
05:42 Just walk away.'"
05:43 Number 5.
05:44 His passionate and complicated relationship with Gene Tatlock
05:48 Before he knew Kitty Pruning, Oppenheimer entered a romantic relationship with Gene
05:52 Tatlock, a Stanford graduate student.
05:55 Meeting at a fundraiser, Tatlock introduced Oppenheimer to many communist ideals.
06:00 Historians doubt that Oppenheimer officially joined the Communist Party like Tatlock did.
06:04 "Probably a reasonable interpretation to say he was somewhat obsessed with her.
06:09 She was a communist.
06:10 He was interested in communist ideas."
06:13 However, he believed in many concepts affiliated with the far-left group, even donating money
06:18 to certain causes.
06:19 "Gene Tatlock was blunt, knew what she wants, but at no point is she ever punished for that."
06:25 Although Oppenheimer cared deeply for Tatlock, proposing twice, she was reluctant to take
06:30 that step.
06:31 After marrying Pruning, Oppenheimer would rekindle his relationship with Tatlock, spending
06:36 the night together in San Francisco during the midst of the Manhattan Project.
06:40 This would be the last time Oppenheimer ever saw Tatlock, who took her own life several
06:45 months later.
06:46 Some suspected foul play, but others point to Tatlock's history of depression as proof
06:50 to the contrary.
06:52 Number 4.
06:53 Louis Strauss' role in Oppenheimer's security hearing.
06:57 Robert Downey Jr. plays Louis Strauss, an Institute for Advanced Study trustee who comes
07:02 to intensely dislike Oppenheimer.
07:04 "The Russians have a bomb.
07:06 We're supposed to be years ahead of them, but what were you guys doing in Los Alamos?"
07:12 The film suggests that the animosity between these two initially stemmed from a meeting
07:16 at Princeton where Oppenheimer said something to Einstein without cluing in Strauss.
07:20 "And how many people were in these open discussions?"
07:24 "Too many compartmentalization was supposed to be the protocol."
07:28 "We were in a race against the Nazis."
07:29 Whether or not there's any truth to this, the anti-communist Strauss rarely saw eye
07:34 to eye with Oppenheimer.
07:35 It didn't help when Oppenheimer humiliated Strauss at a hearing.
07:38 "I have just returned from the Pacific proving ground where I witnessed a test of thermonuclear
07:44 weapons."
07:45 Not long after becoming the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Strauss spearheaded
07:50 the drawn-out security hearings that would result in Oppenheimer having his security
07:53 clearance taken away.
07:55 While Oppenheimer had other political enemies, Strauss is seen as the one who dropped the
08:00 bomb that crushed his spirit.
08:02 "He felt he couldn't give up his security clearance.
08:04 He couldn't agree with them that he wasn't fit to serve his government."
08:07 Oppenheimer poisoned an apple
08:12 Oppenheimer will forever be linked to the atomic bomb, but a poisoned apple just as
08:16 easily could have defined his legacy.
08:19 As the film portrays, lab work wasn't Oppenheimer's strong suit while studying at Cambridge.
08:24 This put him at odds with his tutor, Patrick Blackett.
08:27 Oppenheimer thus laced an apple with toxic chemicals and left it on Blackett's desk.
08:32 The film suggests that Oppenheimer had a sudden change of heart, discarding the apple before
08:36 Niels Bohr, played by Kenneth Branagh, can bite into it.
08:40 This is where the film shifts to fiction, as the university did become aware of the
08:44 apple and nearly put Oppenheimer on probation.
08:47 Since nobody ate the apple, though, Oppenheimer's parents managed to sway the university into
08:51 a slap on the wrist.
08:53 JFK voted against Strauss
08:57 Strauss might have stripped Oppenheimer of his security clearance, but his manipulative
09:01 ways would come back to bite him.
09:06 When Strauss' AEC term ended, he set his sights on becoming Secretary of Commerce.
09:11 Although Strauss had President Eisenhower's backing, the Senate was split on him.
09:16 Scientists were strongly against Strauss' confirmation, bringing his petty vendetta
09:21 against Oppenheimer to light.
09:23 While the Senate was critical of Strauss for a variety of reasons, this likely proved to
09:27 be his undoing.
09:28 Ultimately, Strauss' nomination imploded with a Senate vote of 46 to 49.
09:34 Among those who voted against Strauss was John F. Kennedy, who was just starting to
09:39 make a name for himself in the Senate.
09:41 As president almost a decade later, Kennedy granted Oppenheimer the Enrico Fermi Award.
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10:03 President Truman called Oppenheimer a crybaby
10:06 While Oppenheimer thought the bomb had to be made, his creation left him with conflicted
10:11 feelings.
10:12 He was especially critical regarding the bombing of Nagasaki, arguing that Hiroshima was already
10:17 enough.
10:18 Concerned about where nuclear weapons were headed, he arranged a meeting with President
10:22 Truman.
10:23 Oppenheimer's agenda is to persuade Harry Truman of the importance of controlling this
10:27 technology.
10:30 Oppenheimer found it naive and foolish when Truman suggested that the Soviet Union would
10:34 never produce their own bomb.
10:36 The conversation blew up after Oppenheimer said, quote, "I feel I have blood on my
10:41 hands."
10:42 Supposedly.
10:43 Truman mockingly handed Oppenheimer a handkerchief, claiming that he had more blood on his hands.
10:54 Truman called Oppenheimer a, quote, "crybaby scientist," declaring that he didn't want
10:58 to see him in his office again.
11:01 Truman nonetheless awarded Oppenheimer the Medal for Merit a year later.
11:05 Blood on his hands, he exclaimed.
11:07 Damn it, he hasn't half as much blood on his hands as I have.
11:19 [END] Dr. E. A. Truman, Jr.
11:27 (upbeat music)