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J. Robert Oppenheimer

J. Robert Oppenheimer Quotes

Theoretical Physicist

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist who played a pivotal role in the development of quantum mechanics and the Manhattan Project. He is best known for his leadership of the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the creation of the first atomic bombs. Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904, and passed away on February 18, 1967.

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Famous J. Robert Oppenheimer Quotes

“This is a world in which each of us, knowing his limitations, knowing the evils of superficiality and the terrors of fatigue, will have to cling to what is close to him, to what he knows, to what he can do. . .”

Knows World Evil Can Do Knowing Terror Limitation Fatigue Superficiality

Book:Uncommon Sense

Source: Uncommon Sense

“We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.”

Knows Errors Corruption Wages Secrecy Espionage

Author:J. Robert Oppenheimer

“I think that all things which evoke discipline: study, and our duties to men and to the commonwealth, war, and personal hardship, and even the need for subsistence, ought to be greeted by us with profound gratitude, for only through them can we attain to the least detachment; and only so can we know peace.”

Thinking Knows Men Needs War Study Duty Ought Discipline Gratitude All Things Profound Hardship Detachment Evoke Commonwealth Subsistence

Author:J. Robert Oppenheimer

“We know too much for one man to know too much.”

Knows Men Too Much One Man

Book:Uncommon Sense

Source: Uncommon Sense

“No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows.”

Knows Men Inspirational Should Littles Education Knowledge Knowing Learning College University Teenager Graduation Physicist Escaping Know It All

Author:J. Robert Oppenheimer

“There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry... There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. Our political life is also predicated on openness. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress.”

Thinking Knows Men Way Long Science Political Life Is Asks Lost Freedom Doubt Evidence Scientist Errors Barriers Openness Dogma Inquiry Assertion Political Life

Author:J. Robert Oppenheimer

“Today, it is not only that our kings do not know mathematics, but our philosophers do not know mathematics and - to go a step further - our mathematicians do not know mathematics.”

Knows Today Steps Kings Mathematics Philosopher Math Mathematical Mathematician

Author:J. Robert Oppenheimer

“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.”

Knows Men Way Believe Enough Wise Groups Design Criticism Errors Software Adequate Secrecy Scrutiny Software Design

Author:J. Robert Oppenheimer

“If we must live with a perpetual sense that the world and the men in it are greater than we and too much for us, let it be the measure of our virtue that we know this and seek no comfort.”

Ifs Knows Men World Virtue Greater Too Much He Man Comfort Perpetual

Book:Uncommon Sense

Source: Uncommon Sense

About the Author

Born: April 22, 1904
Died: February 18, 1967
Known for: Theoretical Physicist
Quotes: 80

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Books & Sources

Uncommon SenseRelated source material

Atom and Void: Essays on Science and CommunityRelated source material

Physics in the Contemporary WorldRelated source material

OppenheimerRelated source material

Reflections on the resonances of physics historyRelated source material

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