Quote

'It worked.' (said after witnessing the first atomic detonation).

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

J. Robert Oppenheimer
Age: 62 †
Born: 1904
Born: April 22
Died: 1967
Died: February 18
Art Collector
Engineer
Nuclear Physicist
Theoretical Physicist
University Teacher
New York City
New York
Julius Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Detonation
Witnessing
Atomic
Worked
Firsts
First

More quotes by J. Robert Oppenheimer

Image
Taken as a story of human achievement, and human blindness, the discoveries in the sciences are among the great epics.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
Sometimes the answer to fear does not lie in trying to explain away the causes, sometimes the answer lies in courage.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
To try to be happy is to try to build a machine with no other specification than that it shall run noiselessly.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
To the confusion of our enemies.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
The theory of our modern technic shows that nothing is as practical as theory.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that it is good to learn... that it is of the highest value to share your knowledge... with anyone who is interested... that the knowledge of the world, and the power which this gives, is a thing which is of intrinsic value to humanity
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
The greatest of the changes that science has brought is the acuity of change the greatest novelty the extent of novelty.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
The history of science is rich in example of the fruitfulness of bringing two sets of techniques, two sets of ideas, developed in separate contexts for the pursuit of new truth, into touch with one another.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass and beyond there is a different country.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
The most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
In the material sciences these are and have been, and are most surely likely to continue to be heroic days.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
Pragmatism is an intellectually safe but ultimately sterile philosophy.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
You can certainly destroy enough of humanity so that only the greatest act of faith can persuade you that what's left will be human.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Image
Truth, not a pet, is man's best friend.
J. Robert Oppenheimer