Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

John Adams

Composer

Expert
John Adams

John Adams is an American composer of contemporary classical music. After graduating from Harvard in 1972, Adams moved to California, where his compositions began to attract attention. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Adams and his works grew in popularity and prominence. 

One of his best-known works is Doctor Atomic, which premiered in 2005. Doctor Atomic focuses on the scientists, primarily J. Robert Oppenheimer, at the Los Alamos Laboratory in the weeks leading up to the Trinity Test.

Related Profiles

J. Samuel Walker

Washington, DC

J. Samuel (“Sam”) Walker is the former historian of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the author of Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan.

Clay Kemper Perkins

San Diego, CA

Clay Kemper Perkins (1934- ) is an American physicist, philanthropist, and collector of military and historic artifacts.

Priscilla McMillan

Priscilla J. McMillan is an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasiana Studies at Harvard University and a former adjunct fellow of the Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government.

Clifton Truman Daniel

Clifton Truman Daniel is the son of Margaret Truman Daniel and the grandson of President Harry Truman.