Einstein And Oppenheimer

Ohad Reiss-Sorokin at The Hedgehog Review:

The actual exchange between Oppenheimer and Einstein was, as it happened, far less cordial than the film’s version. It ended with an exasperated Einstein telling his assistant, “There goes a Narr [fool],” nodding toward the Institute director.

More significantly, Einstein’s appearance in that scene is the only one that corresponds with historical reality. In fact, Einstein had only limited dealings with Oppenheimer, who, for one, never would have consulted with his elder about matters such as Teller’s calculations because he knew Einstein had never even asked for a security clearance. That was also the reason Einstein was never invited to participate in the Manhattan Project, not because of his “obsoleteness,” as the film has Oppenheimer say to Strauss (although, after meeting Einstein for the first time, in 1935, Oppenheimer did write to his brother to say that he found Einstein “completely cuckoo”). Most significantly, the scene on the Institute lawn, which we see at three different critical points in the film, is itself a complete fabrication.

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