Re^13: Organizational Culture (Part VII): Science

[LanX]

> LanX, is that the scene you remembered?

well misremembered. my memory must have it mingled with a similar scene from another film.

> This mini-series lays bare the stark difference

it covers many moral and philosophical questions, IMHO not so much physics.

It might be interesting that the first dramatization (I'm aware of) was done for German TV/theater in 1964 -> In der Sache J. Robert Oppenheimer

But this centers more around the McCarthy like process.

I also found various interesting interviews and talkshows with Teller in English and German, not sure if his portrayal is always fair.

I think his accent and bushy eyebrows helps painting him as a villain...

> Do you ever wear Lederhosen BTW?

Whenever I am on Heligoland.

What about you? Do you bring your didgeridoo along when hunting crocodiles? :)

[eyepopslikeamosquito]

> it covers many moral and philosophical questions, IMHO not so much physics

Yes, viewing it again today after so many years, that is how I felt too! Some relevant Oppie quotes:

• "I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita…‘I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.’"
• "In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose."
• "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."

This old mini-series also highlighted some thorny organizational issues: doing physics at industrial scale; managing tens of physicists vs thousands of them. The Manhattan Project may have been the first time anyone attempted physics at industrial scale. Lessons learnt there may have helped the Apollo program ... though were perhaps forgotten by the ill-fated Space Shuttle program. Not so different from issues faced by small software companies vs huge ones, touched on here.

> Do you bring your didgeridoo along when hunting crocodiles? :)

Ha ha! I've never attempted to play the Didgeridoo ... the only time I see it played is when strolling around tourist districts, especially Circular Quay. As for hunting crocodiles, I've never visited the Northern Territory or far north Queensland ... though was planning to do so before Covid torpedoed my holiday plans.

Update: The 5th episode (around 54:10) depicts the reaction of the Los Alamos team to the news of the successful bombing of Japan. At first, everyone is jubilant, cheering ecstatically, Oppie given a hero's welcome ... after images of women and children being treated for horrific burns appear on the screen, the mood changes dramatically from jubilation to despair. Unlike the scientists, General Groves remains happy, asking Oppie what's wrong. His reply: "I feel we've got blood on our hands".

Further update (related to the opening paragraph of Organizational Culture (Part VI): Sociology): In the 1st episode around the 46:40 mark Oppie complains that, at 35 years of age, it is "too late" for him as a physicist! His date is shocked, refuses to believe him. Oppie's reply: "Do you know what the optimum age for a theoretical physicist is? About 27!"

[LanX]

Current updates:
• US voids 1954 revoking of J Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance
• A biopic about Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan is scheduled for next summer. °

Seems like our discussions here made an impression... ;)

update

°) the cast list includes a R.P. Feynman character, curious to see which role young Richard P. is supposed to play in J. Robert's live ... ;)