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History Extra podcast

Oppenheimer: “destroyer of worlds”

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.34.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2023

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When the atom bomb was dropped in 1945, how did its inventor, J Robert Oppenheimer, feel? To mark the release of Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster Oppenheimer, biographer Kai Bird joins Elinor Evans to discuss the man behind the creation of nuclear weaponry, and the difficult moral and political questions that dogged the genius physicist throughout his life. (Ad) Kai Bird is the co-author with Martin Sherwin of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Prometheus-Triumph-Tragedy-Oppenheimer/dp/183895970X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1689331913&sr=8-1&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:03.5

Welcome to the History Extra Podcast, fascinating historical conversations from BBC History

1:10.2

Magazine and BBC History Revealed.

1:19.2

Revolving around the life of the inventor of the Attenbomb, Christopher Nolan's new film

1:24.6

Oppenheimer looks set to be one of the biggest movies of the year. Released in UK cinemas today,

1:31.4

the film is inspired by a 2005 book co-authored by the late Martin Sherwin and the guest for today's

1:38.7

episode, Kai Bird. Martin in Kai's book, American Prometheus, The Triumph and Tragedy of Jay

1:45.8

Robert Oppenheimer, won a Pulitzer Prize for its exploration of the paradoxes and complexities

1:52.7

of the physicist's life, achievements and legacy. Kai joined Eleanor Evans to talk about the man

1:59.3

who inspired the book in the film and to give a historian's take on the Blockbuster movie.

2:04.4

Kai, thanks so much for joining me and I wanted to start by asking what brought you to write about

2:08.8

Oppenheimer in the early 2000s with Martin Sherwin? Well, thank you Eleanor for having me.

2:13.4

That's an interesting story. I was, I'm a working biographer and by 1998 I had published my

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