[남기고 싶은 이야기] The reason the father of the atomic bomb fought with Oppenheimer,

Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), who organized a university seminar every Thursday of the week 1947-1966 as Principal Director of Research at Princeton, is a benefactor to me. Indeed, he has firmly established his belief on "scientific ethics" and "the peaceful use of nuclear energy".

In fact, Dr. Oppenheimer can not be missed when discussing scientific ethics. A theoretical physicist and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, he led the Manhattan Project, which developed atomic bombs during the Second World War, while running the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New York. -Mexico.

He was born in New York and his father was a Jewish manufacturer who emigrated from Germany in the late nineteenth century. He graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at Harvard University and earned his PhD in Theoretical Physics at the age of 23 at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Professor Maxs Born (1882-1970), a doctoral professor, was exiled to England after being expelled from Frankfurt University as a Jewish leader in the 1930s. He was a professor at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics to his new homeland, England, in 1954. She is the grandfather of Olivia Newton John, famous singer and environmental activist.

Oppenheimer, who was an atomic bomb developer, changed his mind when he witnessed power in Trinity Operation, the first atomic bomb explosion experiment in the New Mexico desert, in the United States. July 16 We are convinced that nuclear weapons must be removed because they threaten the survival of man. So when the US government tried to develop a hydrogen bomb more powerful than the atomic bomb, it's because it's believed to be the ethic of the scientist.

The atomic bomb uses a fission reaction in which atomic nuclei of large mbad elements, such as uranium or plutonium, collide with neutrons and split into two lighter atomic nuclei. Hydrogen bombs use a nuclear fusion reaction that, unlike nuclear fission, converts two nuclei into a heavier nucleus. To produce nuclear fusion, it takes a lot of pressure and heat, and the atomic bomb is used as a primer. It's a story that shows how scary it is.

The problem of water at Oppenheimer was that he had fought with his fellow physicist Edward Teller (1908-2003). Teller also escaped to the United States under Nazi pressure, studying in Germany as a Jew. He has been called the "father of a fool" in the Manhattan plan and is strongly advocating for the development of the fence. Oppenheimer, determined to be loyal to the country in a way that contradicts Teller, was invited to the Commission on Un-American Activities of the US House of Representatives and suffered from a lack of public service. Nevertheless, I was absolutely invited to attend the conference seminar of the Higher Institute.

Attending this seminar and watching the words and actions of Oppenheimer closely is a living memory. I was studying nuclear fusion at the Princeton Plasma Physics Institute (PPPL) at that time, and I met him and convinced him of his "peaceful use of energy." nuclear".

Chae In-taek, international professional journalist, journalist Hwang Su-yeon [email protected]