Frank Oppenheimer

Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly. This is Santa Fe, New Mexico, Wednesday, October 12, 2016. I have with me Julie Melton. My first question for Julie is to say her name and spell it. Julie Melton: I’ve been widowed twice, so I’ve had a lot of last names, but my maiden name was Hawkins. My […]

Louis Hempelmann:  I do not think the people who came later were ever as close as the people who were there at the beginning. Martin Sherwin: Did most of the people who came later, were they junior people? That is, younger? [Enrico] Fermi came later. Hempelmann: [George] Kistiakowsky came later. Sherwin: He did? When you […]

Hobson: One thing that used to happen to particularly interesting and sensitive papers was that Kitty would take them home, and then they would get lost. Lots of things went that way, including a whole batch of interesting tapes. It was very embarrassing because we had promised [Dean] Acheson that only one copy would be made, […]

Martin Sherwin: This is an interview with Professor Carl Anderson at his home in Pasadena, California, March 31, 1983. This is Martin Sherwin. You first met him [J. Robert Oppenheimer]—­ Carl Anderson: In the summer of 1926, I was an undergraduate, and Caltech had a travel prize. And for a junior student, ‘26 was the […]

Martin Sherwin: You mentioned a point that others have mentioned that intrigue me: [J. Robert] Oppenheimer’s summer in Corsica. You said that Oppenheimer had once told you that reading [Marcel] Proust’s Memory of Things Past was one of the great experiences of his life. Haakon Chevalier: Yes. Sherwin: I have two questions about that. One, could you elaborate on that? […]

Martin Sherwin: This is Martin Sherwin, I’m on my way to interview William Fowler at Caltech in Pasadena. Today is March 29, 1983. William A. Fowler: Yes, I came to Caltech just fifty years ago in 1933 as a graduate student, and I have been here ever since. I am now the oldest graduate student […]

Martin Sherwin: At the Stanhope Hotel in New York, June 15th, 1979. David Bohm: I met him in about 1941. I went to Caltech to do graduate work, and I wasn’t very satisfied there. It was much too limited technically. Sherwin: Where did you do your undergraduate work? Bohm: At Pennsylvania State College. Now it’s called […]

Martin Sherwin: This is Martin Sherwin. I am on my way to interview Professor Robert Christy in his office at 423 Downs on the Caltech Campus in Pasadena, California, March 30th, 1983. You were a student of his? Robert Christy: I was a graduate student of [J. Robert] Oppenheimer’s from the fall of 1937 until […]

Martin Sherwin: This is an interview with Dorothy McKibbin in Santa Fe, July 20, 1979. Dorothy McKibbin: Santa Fe? Sherwin: It sure is, but it’s not going to be my last. I’m enjoying it thoroughly. McKibbin: Great country. Sherwin: It is. It’s just beautiful, and, of course, we’re having such fantastic weather now. If I could put this— McKibbin: The most […]

Kai Bird: This is Kai Bird off camera, interviewing Charles Oppenheimer and Dorothy Vanderford. Just for the record, I will ask you to state your names and your date of birth and where you were born. Dorothy Vanderford: My name is Dorothy Vanderford. I was born as Dorothy Oppenheimer August 18th, 1973. I was born […]