J. Robert Oppenheimer's life and work were affected deeply by Americans intense fear of Communism in the Nineteen-Fifties.
Mister Oppenheimer made an easy target for suspicious critics. His wife had once been a Communist. Some of his friends were former Communists. Years earlier he had suggested sharing nuclear secrets with the Soviets. He opposed developing the hydrogen bomb.
In Nineteen-Fifty-Four, the Atomic Energy Commission and a special security committee moved against Mister Oppenheimer. They did not question his loyalty to the United States. However, they said his personal life made him a threat to national security.
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Mister Oppenheimer had directed one of America's most important secret scientific projects. Now this famous physicist was barred from secret work for the government.
He published several books during this difficult period of his life. One of the best known was "The Open Mind." The books contained his thoughts about science. He continued teaching at Princeton University. Again he taught many of the most important scientists of our century.
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In time Mister Oppenheimer's work in science and teaching made people forget the accusations against him. The government decided to give him the highest award of the Atomic Energy Commission for his work on atomic energy. President Lyndon Johnson presented the honor in late Nineteen-Sixty-Three. It was called the Enrico Fermi Award.
J. Robert Oppenheimer died of throat cancer on February Eighteenth, Nineteen-Sixty-Seven. He was sixty-two years old.
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VOICE TWO:
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi had worked with Robert Oppenheimer and other top scientists to develop the atom bomb. He won an award for his work in atomic energy from the Atomic Energy Commission in Nineteen-Fifty-Four. It was the first time the award was presented. Later, the honor was named for him. It recognized Mister Fermi as one of the greatest physicists of the Twentieth Century.
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Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy, on September Twenty-Ninth, Nineteen-Oh-One. After his education in Italy, he studied with Max Born in Germany, just as Robert Oppenheimer had.
Enrico Fermi returned to Italy in Nineteen-Twenty-Four. He became that nation's first professor of theory of physics. At the time there was almost no physics education offered in Italy
He married Laura Capon, who also was a scientist, in Nineteen-Twenty-Eight. Laura was Jewish. Later the Fermis decided to leave Italy, because the Fascist government had begun oppressing Jews.
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Enrico Fermi went to Stockholm, Sweden, to accept a Nobel Prize in Nineteen-Thirty-Eight. He won for producing new radioactive elements beyond uranium. Without knowing it, he had split the atom. However, that fact was not recognized until later.
He and his family sailed directly from Stockholm to the United States. If he stayed in Europe, he might have been forced to work for Nazi Germany.
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Mister Fermi taught at Columbia University in New York City. He also was part of the American research team for the top secret Manhattan Project
Mister Fermi led the team that created the world's first controlled, continued nuclear-fission reaction. It happened on December Second, Nineteen-Forty-Two, at the University of Chicago.
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Mister Fermi directed the building of the first atomic reactor that made the reaction possible. He had invented the method with another scientist, Leo Szilard. The reactor was put together in a squash court under the seats of the university sports center. It contained natural uranium placed in graphite and controlled by pieces of cadmium and boron rods.
By, Nineteen-Forty-Four, Enrico Fermi had become a citizen of the United States. He was asked to help Robert Oppenheimer with the atomic bomb test at Alamogordo.
Mister Fermi returned to the University of Chicago after the war. There he headed the Institute for Nuclear Studies, now known as the Enrico Fermi Institute.
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Like Mister Oppenheimer, Mister Fermi recognized the dangers of atomic energy. They both worried about the possible use of a hydrogen bomb. With another scientist Mister Fermi wrote a Nineteen-Forty-Seven report to the Atomic Energy Commission. The report opposed creation of the bomb for humane reasons.
Enrico Fermi died of cancer in Chicago in Nineteen-Fifty-Four. He was fifty-three years old.
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J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi were two of the greatest scientists of the century. They were both concerned about the results of their discoveries that led the world into the Nuclear Age.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Paul Thompson. I'm Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.
