Bea Beltran Science 12.26.2022 04:Dec AM EST

The Manhattan Project's J.Robert Oppenheimer Cleared of 'Black Mark'

The Manhattan Project was arguably one of the most controversial and substantial research in history. Headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the project resulted in the creation of the first atomic bombs that won the second world war.

Despite his contributions to the US's victory in the war, Oppenheimer was accused of being a Soviet spy. His name has finally been cleared nearly seven decades after having his security clearance revoked by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

The Exoneration of Oppenheimer

It might be too late for Oppenheimer to hear the good news, but he has been cleared of what he was previously accused of. US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm released a statement that renders the AEC's decision null.

According to Granholm, the decision was a result of a flawed process and that it was a violation of AEC's own regulations, as mentioned by Ars Technica. Alex Wellerstein, a science historian, mentioned that cleaning Oppenheimer's name was long overdue.

Wellerstein expressed that it doesn't go as far as what Oppenheimer and his family would've wanted, and it couldn't undo what was done to the theoretical physicist. Regardless, it was still a significant event even if it was too late.

In 2014, hundreds of pages detailing Oppenheimer's secret hearings were declassified and released to the public. The testimonies all pointed to the physicist being loyal to his country. All the evidence that led to his reputation's ruin was circumstantial at best.

The Factors That Led to the Belief That Oppenheimer Was a Spy

Oppenheimer was the child of German Jewish immigrants. In the 1930s, he was in groups that were led or infiltrated by Communists. The people closest to him were also party members like his former fiancée, his brother, and his wife.

Fears grew when the Cold War was becoming imminent and they were progressing toward atomic weaponry. This was amidst the emergence of McCarthyism and the event of rooting out subversives within the US.

Around 1953, Oppenheimer was charged with being a Soviet spy in a letter sent by a former congressional aide to the FBI. President Dwight Eisenhower ordered that the physicist not be allowed to nuclear information, afraid that the charges might be right.

Oppenheimer was subjected to 19 hearings, where his views on the creation of the hydrogen bomb were brought up. His resistance played a huge part in the final decision after the hearings, as mentioned in The New York Times.

Edward Teller, the architect of the hydrogen bomb which can explode with 1000 times more strength than an atomic bomb, expressed his mistrust against Oppenheimer. He stated that he would feel more secure if public matters were to rest in someone else's hands.

Experts scanned through the declassified files regarding the secret hearings. Dr. Polenberg from Cornell stated that a difference in opinion did not mean that Oppenheimer was disloyal and that it was hard to see why that was redacted in the files.