Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer

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J. Robert Oppenheimer is among the most contentious and important figures of the twentieth century. As head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, he oversaw the successful effort to beat the Nazis to develop the first atomic bomb - a breakthrough which was to have eternal ramifications for mankind, and made Oppenheimer the 'father of the Bomb'.Oppenheimer was a man of diverse interests and phenomenal intellectual attributes. His talent and drive allowed him as a young scientist to enter a community peopled by the great names of twentieth-century physics - men such as Bohr, Born, Dirac and Einstein - and to play a role in the laboratories and classrooms where the world was being changed forever.But Oppenheimer's was not a simple story of assimilation, scientific success and world fame. A complicated and fragile personality, the implications of the discoveries at Los Alamos were to weigh heavily upon him. Having formed suspicious connections in the 1930s, in the wake of the Allied victory in World War Two, Oppenheimer's attempts to resist the escalation of the Cold War arms race would lead many to question his loyalties - and set him on a collision course with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his witch hunters.As with Ray Monk's peerless biographies of Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell, Inside the Centre is a work of towering scholarship. A story of discovery, secrecy, impossible choices and unimaginable destruction, it goes deeper than any previous work in revealing the motivations and complexities of this most brilliant and divisive of men.Review“It's not just brilliant, original and the best biography of Oppenheimer to date, it's epic. Also totally gripping and immensely satisfying. I didn't want it to end! I've read so much about Oppenheimer, but this is the first time I felt I understood why what happened to him happened.”   —Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind and Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius “The inspired philosophical biographer of Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell now turns his attention to the nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the profound human dilemmas of American science and the atomic bomb. This is an eagerly awaited and important book which will explore new boundaries in the writing of biography itself.” —Richard Holmes, author of The Age of Wonder"In this deeply humanizing biography, Monk invites readers to contemplate the unexpected evil—and good—in the man known as the "father of the A-bomb." ... Monk delves deeper than any predecessor into Oppenheimer's inner life ... perceptive and detailed, this portrait illuminates a potent but complex mind."  —Booklist, starred review"A highly detailed examination of the life and times of Robert Oppenheimer ... Monk does full justice to Oppenheimer's irreplaceable contribution to the development of nuclear energy during and after World War II ... A top-notch biography."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review“Ray Monk’s Robert Oppenheimer does what nothing so far written on the enigmatic physicist has attempted: integrating into a seamless whole a profound inquiry into the formative influences on Oppenheimer’s character, a definitive account of his complex role in the development of the atomic bomb and a penetrating analysis of the philosophical implications of the new physics. It is not just a great biography but a powerful work of art.”—*John Gray, New Statesman*“A triumph of historical investigation … It is the most personal and sensitive biography of Oppenheimer so far published; the man himself rises from the pages, a figure worthy at times of reverence, but often of contempt. We can now understand why some colleagues and students revered him and why those outside his chosen circle often despised him. He could be warm, funny, kind, charming and supportive, yet his cruelty was legendary and his ego immense. Oppenheimer’s great weakness was his addiction to power, which perhaps explains his flexible morality.”—*Gerard DeGroot, The Telegraph“A tour de force … [it] will establish itself as the definitive biography.”—Lisa Jardine, Financial Times"[Monk’s] 800 pages of deep research and lucid prose constitute a masterclass in how biography, done well, gets us closer to the mindset of an age than any other kind of inquiry." —Kathryn Hughes, Guardian*“An extraordinarily rich biography, superbly researched and written with impressive clarity. It is a considerable achievement of scholarship.”—Graham Farmelo, The TimesAbout the AuthorRAY MONK is the author of Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, for which he was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize, and a two-volume biography of Bertrand Russell. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton.