J. Robert Oppenheimer: Niels Bohr and Atomic Weapons

Abstract

On May 18 th , 1964, J. Robert Oppenheimer made his last visit to Los Alamos, highlighted by a talk on Niels Bohr before a full house at the community’s civic auditorium and by an audio link to another full house sitting in the Laboratory’s main auditorium. Although recorded, his talk was not transcribed. Later, Oppenheimer sent a transcript to the Laboratory, which is reproduced below. His talk, of course, deviated from time-to-time from this written version. Unfortunately, the transcript was microfilmed, the original disappearing. Hence, all of Oppenheimer’s marginal notations and handwritten edits are unreadable. A poor quality recording is being converted to a modern format and will be available for listening.