Atom and Void: Essays on Science and Community

170 Pages·1989·7.072 MB·English

by  J. Robert Oppenheimer

Atom and Void

Atom and Void
ESSAYS ON SCIENCE
AND COMMUNITY
J. Robert Oppenheimer
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEWJERSEY
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, NewJersey 08540
Copyright © 1989 by Princeton University Press
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
Atom and void : essays on science and community /
J. Robert Oppenheimer.—1st Princeton science library ed. print,
p. cm.—(Princeton science library)
Rev. ed. of: Science and the common understanding. 1954
ISBN 0-691-08547-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-691-02434-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Science—Philosophy. 2. Science—Social aspects.
I. Oppenheimer1J. Robert, 1904-1967. Science and the common
understanding. II. Title. III. Series.
Q175.065 1989 501—dc20 89-10413
First Princeton Science Library edition printing, 1989
1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10 98765432 1, pbk.
The preface to this volume is © 1989 by Freeman J. Dyson. The first
six essays were adapted from the 1953 Reith Lectures sponsored by the
British Broadcasting Corporation. They are © 1953, 1954, by J. Robert
Oppenheimer, and originally published by Simon 8c Schuster, Inc., in
Science and the Common Understanding. They are reprinted here by
arrangement with Simon & Schuster, Inc. [The seventh essay, "The
Open Mind," is © 1955 by J. Robert Oppenheimer; it appeared in The
Open Mind, published by Simon & Schuster in 1955, and is reprinted by
arrangement with Simon & Schuster.] The last three essays are edited
transcripts of lectures delivered in 1962 under the title The Flying
Trapeze: Three Crises for Physicists, and commissioned by the Whidden
Lecture Series of McMaster University. The transcriptions are © 1964
by Oxford University Press, and are reprinted by permission of
McMaster University, with the approval of Oxford University Press.
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and
meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources
Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, NewJersey
Contents
Preface, by Freeman J. Dyson vii
CHAPTER ONE
Newton: The Path of Light 3
CHAPTER TWO
Science as Action: Rutherford's World 16
CHAPTER THREE
A Science in Change 28
CHAPTER FOUR
Atom and Void in the Third Millenium 40
CHAPTER FIVE
Uncommon Sense 52
CHAPTER SIX
The Sciences and Man's Community 64
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Open Mind 76
CHAPTER EIGHT
Space and Time 85
CHAPTER NINE
AtomandField 113
CHAPTER TEN
War and the Nations 133
Appendix I 143
AppendixII 154
Acknowledgments 157

Preface
by Freeman J. Dyson
WHEN Robert Oppenheimer went to England in 1953 to
deliver the Reith lectures, the lectures that make up the
first half of this book, millions of listeners were baffled and
disappointed. He was then, after Einstein, the second most
famous living scientist. He had been a prime mover, first
in the building of atomic bombs, second in the effort to
establish an international control of nuclear energy, and
third in the political struggles that raged around the build­
ing of hydrogen bombs. In 1953 the public already knew
that he was involved in secret disputes which were to break
out into the open with the denial of his security clearances
a few months later.
The listeners in England expected hot news. They ex­
pected dramatic statements about the great events and
great issues of the day. They expected a personal message
from the man who in those days was widely proclaimed to
be the conscience of humanity. Instead, they got these lec­
tures. They got a scholarly and impersonal discussion of
the history of science. They got a rarified and philosophi­
cal view of the mysteries of quantum mechanics. They got
a picture of the human predicament as it might be seen by
an observer at an immense distance in space and time,
totally detached from day-to-day events and practical de­
tails. Barely a word about the bomb. No answers to any of
the urgent political questions of the 1950s. No glimpse of
that inner world of action and power in which Oppen-
heimer had been living for the previous ten years. No won­
der the listeners were scornful. One of my English friends
who heard the lectures compared Oppenheimer unkindly
with the poet Bunthorne in the Gilbert and Sullivan op­
eretta Patience:
viii · Preface
You walk down Piccadilly
With a poppy or a lily
In your medieval hand—
And everyone will say,
As you walk your mystic way,
If this young man expresses himself
In terms too deep for me,
Why, what a very singularly deep young man
This deep young man must be.
Now, thirty-five years later, we can see that Oppen-
heimer chose his subject-matter wisely. He knew that any
discussion of current events that attempted to be up-to-
date would soon be out-of-date. He had no wish to give
lectures that would cause a political sensation today and be
obsolete tomorrow. He wanted to speak to the ages, to say
something of permanent value. As a result, these lectures
have stood well the test of time. They are as pertinent to
our situation in 1989 as they were in 1953. The English
listeners' loss is our gain. We can now see that Oppen-
heimer's sense of history, his awareness of the long past
and the long future, are the most important part of his
legacy to mankind. In these lectures, and especially in the
quotations assembled in the appendix at the end, his sense
of history shines like a beacon, guiding our footsteps into
the unknown for centuries to come.
When he came to give the Whidden lectures in Canada,
the lectures that make up the second half of this book, less
was expected of him. Nine years after the Reith lectures
and eight years after his fall from power, he had become
a respected elder statesman of science, no longer a worker
of miracles. Nobody expected political thunderbolts. He
spoke, as before, quietly, mostly about the history of sci­
ence. But he allowed himself, in the last lecture, to unbend
a little, to tell some personal stories about his involvement
with the bomb and its consequences. His listeners were
grateful for that last lecture, and we may be grateful too.
To end this preface I would like to put on record a
description of Robert Oppenheimer written by Lansing
Preface · ix
Hammond in a letter to me in 1979. Hammond was in
charge of programs and placements for the Common­
wealth Fund Fellows, young Britons (of which I was one)
who came to America to study at American universities
with Fund support. I wrote back, "It is sad that in the
official memorials to Robert there was never anything said
or written that gave such a fine impression of Robert in
action. I hope there may still be a chance sometime to
make your story public." Hammond died a few years later
and this preface gives me the chance that he missed.
"I'd just received copies of the application papers—60 of
them—for the 1949 awards. Among them were four or five
in that, to me, shadowy borderline realm between theoreti­
cal physics and mathematics. I was in Princeton for a cou­
ple of days, asking for help on all sides. Summoning all the
courage I could muster, I made an appointment to see
Robert Oppenheimer the next morning, leaving the rele­
vant papers with his secretary. I was greeted graciously,
asked just enough questions about my academic back­
ground to put me at ease. One early comment amazed me:
'You got your doctorate at Yale in eighteenth-century Eng­
lish literature—Age of Johnson. Was Tinker or Pottle your
supervisor?' How did he know that?
"Then we got down to business. In less than ten minutes
I had enough facts to support trying to persuade candidate
Z that Berkeley was more likely to satisfy his particular
interests than Harvard; he would fare well at the Institute;
would be welcome; but Berkeley was really the best choice.
I was scribbling notes as fast as I could; occasionally a
proper name produced wrinkles on my forehead. Oppen-
heimer would flash me an understanding grin and spell
out the name for me: 'That may save you some time and
trouble.'
"As I was gathering up my papers, feeling I'd already
taken up too much of the great man's time, he asked
gently: 'If you have a few minutes you can spare, I'd be
interested in looking at some of your applications in other
fields, to see what this year's group of young Britons are