Atomic Dawn: A Biography of Robert Oppenheimer

by John E. Driemen

A biographical study of the "father of the atomic bomb" traces the life and career of physicist Robert Oppenheimer and discusses his role in the Manhattan Project and his political problems during the 1950s

160 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 1989

Reviews

[Benson19 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was very descriptive in what happened during his life. It also explained how different things were named, for example one of the atom bombs was originally named "Thin Man" after President Roosevelt, but when they made it shorter they re-named it "Little Boy" and the other one was named "Fat Man" after Prime Minister Churchill. Another thing I liked how it told me stuff that I knew absolutely nothing about. One example was "Jumbo" the abandoned plutonium bomb that would have been the first atomic bomb test but it was canceled when some scientists thought that it wouldn't work and waist the plutonium so they recovered the plutonium and blew up the tower it was on. The tower was destroyed but Jumbo survived and remained in the desert.