logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2023
12m 27s

'Oppenheimer' And The Science Of Atomic ...

NPR
About this episode
Christopher Nolan's new film 'Oppenheimer' chronicles the life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and so-called "Father of the Atomic Bomb." The movie does not shy away from science — and neither do we. We talked to current scientists at Los Alamos about the past and present science of nuclear weapons like the atomic bomb.

Read more about the Manhattan Project.

Want us to cover other historical science or science in pop culture? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Nov 5
Predicting elections is getting harder. What did the midterms teach us?
Famously, polls got the 2016 election wrong. And they’d been off for multiple elections since. So, Monday night, political scientist Jack Rametta nervously refreshed his Senate forecasting model for the final time. Would it be right this time? Or would it yet again cast doubt on ... Show More
12m 43s
Nov 4
AI is changing mathematics -- but not how you think
Math has created some of humanity's oldest intellectual challenges. And AI is completely changing the game. This year AI solved one of math’s most difficult problems. Since then, OpenAI published hundreds of new math results. So is this the end for the people who’ve dedicated the ... Show More
13m 53s
Nov 3
OpenAI whistleblowers on the fight over AI safety | Machine Gods
Check out NPR’s newest podcast, Machine Gods. It’s the official podcast of the singularity, meaning — the hypothetical future when machines will outpace our own intelligence…and our control. Whether you think that future is coming or not, hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton are he ... Show More
32m 15s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2023
CultureLab: Oppenheimer – The rise and fall of the “father of the atomic bomb”
First J. Robert Oppenheimer created the weapon, then he fought for years to warn of its dangers. During the second world war, the so-called “father of the atomic bomb”, led a team of scientists in the US in a race against Nazi Germany to create the first nuclear weapon. Then it w ... Show More
27m 52s
Jul 2023
Here's What 'Oppenheimer' Gets Right--And Wrong--About Nuclear History
Here’s what a historian who has studied J. Robert Oppenheimer for two decades has to say about the new Christopher Nolan film on the father of the atomic bomb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
15m 27s
Jul 2023
Here's What 'Oppenheimer' Gets Right--And Wrong--About Nuclear History
Here’s what a historian who has studied J. Robert Oppenheimer for two decades has to say about the new Christopher Nolan film on the father of the atomic bomb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
15m 27s
Jul 2023
Oppenheimer
Often referred to as the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer's work in the field of theoretical physics changed the world as we knew it. Working in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the Second World War, the Manhattan Project and the scientific advancements achieved ther ... Show More
29m 51s
Jul 2023
Oppenheimer: The Genius, the Film, and the Project That Changed the World
Richard Rhodes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb,' discusses the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, the history of nuclear weapons, and the new film on his life by Christopher Nolan. If you have questions, observations, or ide ... Show More
56m 46s
Jan 2024
Uncommon Knowledge Archive: Oppenheimer’s Edward Teller and Sid Drell on ICBM Defense Systems | Uncommon Knowledge | Peter Robinson | Hoover Institution
<p>With the recent announcement that Oppenheimer, the film directed by Christopher Nolan, had garnered 11 Academy Award nominations, it seemed timely to pull from the archives this rarely seen episode of Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson from 1996 (the third episode ever sho ... Show More
28m 8s
Jul 2023
Behind the Scenes of ‘Oppenheimer’
Today we're going behind the scenes of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film “Oppenheimer.” Professor David Saltzberg, one of the scientists who consulted on the movie (also “The Big Bang Theory”), joins us to chat about the science behind the movie. We also giggle about working w ... Show More
29m 17s