Oppenheimer

By Gian_Carlo
  • Birth

    Birth

    Robert Oppenheimer is born in New York City, United States.
  • Harvard

    Harvard

    Enters Harvard University

  • Graduation

    Graduates summa cum laude in chemistry from Harvard, completing the degree in three years.
  • Period: to

    Became a Teacher

    Teaches theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, Berkeley, leading the development of theoretical physics in the US.

  • Einstein-Szilárd letter

    Einstein-Szilárd letter sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning about potential atomic bombs in Germany.
  • Manhattan Project begins

    Manhattan Project begins

    Roosevelt officially authorizes the development of the atomic bomb; the Manhattan Project officially begins.

  • Oppenheimer named scientific coordinator

    Oppenheimer named scientific coordinator for the Site Y laboratory (Los Alamos).

  • New laboratory

    Groves and Oppenheimer select Los Alamos, New Mexico, for the main research laboratory.

  • First sustained nuclear chain

    First sustained nuclear chain reaction achieved in Chicago Pile-1, led by Enrico Fermi.
  • First atomic bomb explosion

    First atomic bomb explosion

    First atomic bomb explosion during the "Trinity" test in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
  • Hiroshima bombed with "Little Boy"

    Hiroshima bombed with "Little Boy"

  • Nagasaki bombed with "Fat Man"

    Nagasaki bombed with "Fat Man"

  • Japan announces surrender

    Japan announces surrender

  • End of World War II

    Formal Japanese surrender, end of World War II.
  • Death

    Death

    Robert Oppenheimer died in Princeton, New Jersey. He died of throat cancer, a condition aggravated by his heavy smoking habit.