J. Robert Oppenheimer

Notable persons at Oak Ridge For more information or additional images, please contact 202-586-5251.

Richard Feynman (center) and Robert Oppenheimer (to viewer's right of Feynman) at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project.

NordArt 2017, Büdelsdorf Schlewig Holstein

Oppenheimers on the 1920 US Census

Oppenheimers in the 1910 US Census

The letter J in Oppenheimer’s first name is still a mystery. Most sources—including Oppenheimer’s own birth certificate and a 1944 letter from the War Department granting Oppenheimer his security clearance—state that Oppenheimer’s first name was Julius. Numerous other people, though—including Oppenheimer himself— insisted the J didn’t stand for anything at all. In a 1946 letter to the U.S. Patent Office (pictured), Oppenheimer wrote: “This is to certify that I have no first name other than the letter J, and that my full and correct name is J Robert Oppenheimer.”

Born Oppenheimer Potential Curves- Electron Ionization

Göttinger Gedenktafel für Julius Robert Oppenheimer (Am Geismartor 4)

Photo d'identification de Robert Oppenheimer au Los Alamos National Laboratory.