My Dad’s experiences working with Oppenheimer and the new Oppenheimer movie

Oppenheimer and Edward Teller hired my Dad at the Berkeley Physics Department

Coincidentally, yesterday my Dad (who will have his 102 birthday next month) called me about 30 minutes before my wife and I were leaving to see the new Oppenheimer movie. He told me a story I had not heard before. When I was a kid my Dad went to Princeton to give a guest lecture and when he was done Oppenheimer came up to my Dad and invited my Dad to have dinner that night at his house with him and his wife Kitty. My Dad told me yesterday that Oppenheimer was very ill during dinner (and he died about a week later) but they all had a nice meal together.

Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic biographical thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. I loved the film. I especially enjoyed the character of Edward Teller in the movie because I remember him well from my childhood. Teller was a good friend of my Dad’s and I remember him at our house when I was a kid.

I won’t mention their names for privacy reasons but the parents of a good friend (literally since I was a little kid) both worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during World War 2. My friend’s parents are now deceased but I grew up with them, shared vacations, etc. I regret not having talking with them more about their experiences during the war being at Las Alamos working in the Manhattan Project. After the war, when I think I was 4, 5, 6, and 7 years old, we would spend every summer at Los Alamos. As a little kid, it was great fun leaving Berkeley every summer and living in New Mexico. My parents had a rich social life there and my older brother and I were happy to go along for the ride.