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Profs and Pints DC presents: “The Real Oppenheimer,” a look at the scientist portrayed in the hit film and his role in the rise of the atomic age, with Allen Pietrobon, professor of Global Affairs at Trinity Washington University, scholar of Cold War history, and former assistant director of research at American University’s Nuclear Studies Institute.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the most famous names of the 1940s and 50s, has been made newly famous by his treatment this year in a Hollywood biographical thriller. But there was much more to him and the research he oversaw than is depicted in the film.
Learn in depth about Oppenheimer and his era in American history with Professor Allen Pietrobon, an award-winning historian and biographer who has earned a considerable following among Profs and Pints fans for his excellent talks.
Tackling a subject directly in his wheelhouse—nuclear history—he’ll take us back to the dawn of the Atomic Age to explore the Manhattan Project and the personalities behind it. He’ll weave together fascinating stories of the atomic scientists working at Los Alamos and the challenges they encountered as they raced to devise an atomic bomb before Hitler’s Germany did.
We’ll examine the realities of wartime life in America as seen through the life and legacy of Oppenheimer and the world-changing weapon he helped to create. Going deep into Oppenheimer’s personal life, he’ll explore what made the man so famous.
He’ll also look at what made Oppenheimer infamous, as not all Americans—or even those who worked with him—celebrated Oppenheimer or the devastating weapon he foisted upon the world, a weapon that we still live under the threat of today. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: From J. Robert Oppenheimer’s ID photo for the Los Alamos Laboratory
