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J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Hollywood Movie Aside, Just How Good a Physicist was Oppenheimer?

A-bomb architect “was no Einstein,” historian says, but he did Nobel-level work on black holes.
by Adrian Cho, David C. Cassidy via Science on July 17, 2023

Why Roller Coaster Loops Aren’t Circular Anymore

Just over 100 years ago, loop-the-loops were painful, not sturdy, and much more dangerous than they are today.
by Edward Vega via Vox on June 29, 2022
David Dobson with scientific equipment.

Nuclear Proliferation and the “Nth Country Experiment”

A mid-1960s “do-it-yourself” project produced “credible nuclear weapon” design from open sources.
by William Burr via National Security Archive on January 23, 2025
Tennessee Valley Authority.

The Dam and the Bomb

On Cormac McCarthy.
by Walker Mimms via n+1 on April 3, 2024
Frank Oppenheimer holding prism up to face

The Atomic Bomb, Exile and a Test of Brotherly Bonds: Robert & Frank Oppenheimer

A rift in thinking about who should control powerful new technologies sent the brothers on diverging paths.
by KC Cole via Knowable Magazine on March 5, 2024
Robert Millikan and Albert Einstein standing side by side.

The Posthumous Trials of Robert A. Millikan

Robert A. Millikan was once a beloved figure in American science. In 2021, his name was removed from buildings and awards. What happened?
by David Kordahl via 3 Quarks Daily on January 1, 2024
Silhouette of Oppenheimer wearing a fedora.

How Do We Know the Motorman Is Not Insane?

Oppenheimer and the demon heart of power.
by James Robins via The Dreadnought on December 20, 2023
J. Robert Oppenheimer

Why the Fascination with Oppenheimer?

J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project scientists are a rare example of weapons designers who have gone down in history.
by Ryan Dahn via Physics Today on August 17, 2023
Senator Brien McMahon and J. Robert Oppenheimer. April 26, 1954.

The True Story Behind Oppenheimer’s Atomic Test—And How It Just Might Have Ended The World

It turns out there was an "unlikely" chance the first atomic bomb could have ignited the atmosphere — which didn’t stop the Manhattan Project.
by Kelsey Piper via Vox on July 19, 2023
The sixty-four hexagrams from the King Wen sequence of the I Ching.

The I Ching in America

Europeans translated the "Chinese Book of Changes" in the nineteenth century, but the philosophy really took off in the West after 1924.
by Livia Gershon, Richard J. Smith via JSTOR Daily on May 4, 2023
A 1955 AT&T publicity photo shows [in palm, from left] a phototransistor, a junction transistor, and a point-contact transistor.

How the First Transistor Worked

Even its inventors didn’t fully understand the point-contact transistor.
by Glenn Zorpette via IEEE Spectrum on November 20, 2022
Illustration of John von Neumann surrounded by mathematical formulas, by Valentin Pavageau

John von Neumann Thought He Had the Answers

The father of game theory helped develop the atom bomb—and thought he could calculate when to use it.
by Samanth Subramanian via The New Republic on March 8, 2022
A performer on stage

The Mermaid in the Fishbowl

The rise of optical illusions and magical effects.
by Stephen R. Wilk via OUPblog on June 27, 2021
Space Shuttle Challenger explosion

How Legendary Physicist Richard Feynman Helped Crack the Case on the Challenger Disaster

Kevin Cook on the warnings NASA ignored, with tragic results.
by Kevin Cook via Literary Hub on June 9, 2021
Cover of the book, "Restricted Data: the History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States" by Alex Wellerstein

Secrets, Sins, and Nuclear Insecurity

Only a certain kind of person, both foolish and resolute, would choose to study a subject so extensive, yet so restrictive, as the secrets of nuclear weapons.
by Joshua Roebke via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 19, 2021
Ernest Wilkins and an atom.

The Unsung African American Scientists of the Manhattan Project

At least 12 Black chemists and physicists worked as primary researchers on the team that developed the technology behind the atomic bomb.
by Farrell Evans via HISTORY on May 17, 2021

John Wheeler’s H-bomb Blues

In 1953, as a political battle raged over the US’s nuclear future, the physicist lost a classified document on an overnight train from Philadelphia to DC.
by Alex Wellerstein via Physics Today on December 1, 2019
Margaret Hamilton stands next to a stack of paper as tall as she is - the software she and her team produced for the Apollo project.

The Hidden Heroines of Chaos

Two women programmers played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. Their previously untold story illustrates the changing status of computation in science.
by Joshua Sokol via Quanta on May 20, 2019

When Good Scientists Go Bad

Science doesn’t make you magically objective, and it’s not separate from the rest of human experience.
by Maki Naro, Matthew Francis via The Nib on May 15, 2019

The History Behind Baseball’s Weirdest Pitch

The improbable success of the curveball.
by Tyler Kepner via Literary Hub on April 24, 2019

The Physics Of Why Timekeeping First Failed In The Americas

The world's greatest clockmaker sent a clock to the new world – and everything went haywire.
by Ethan Siegel via Forbes on September 21, 2018

The Nuclear Fail

Physicist and writer Leo Szilard was vital to the creation of the atomic bomb. He also did everything he could to prevent its use.
by Emily Harnett via Hazlitt on July 30, 2018
Library card noting a book checked out to Dr. Oppenheimer.

Atomic Bonds

What was J. Robert Oppenheimer doing with a book about science in early America?
by Nadine Zimmerli via Uncommon Sense on May 3, 2018
Man and woman testing buttons on machine at Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory

Tomorrow People

For the entire 20th century, it had felt like telepathy was just around the corner. Why is that especially true now?
by Roger Luckhurst via Aeon on June 3, 2024
A magnifying glass sitting on top of "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S. Kuhn.

What Was the “Paradigm Shift”?

When Thomas Kuhn coined the term, he wasn’t referring simply to “out of the box” thinking.
by Audra J. Wolfe via The New Republic on May 22, 2024

The Annotated Oppenheimer

Celebrated and damned as the “father of the atomic bomb,” theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer lived a complicated scientific and political life.
by Matthew Wills via JSTOR Daily on March 7, 2024
J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leslie Groves

Beyond Tortured Genius: Science and Conscience in Two Rediscovered Oppenheimer Films

"The Day After Trinity" and "The Strangest Dream" evacuate the mythical tropes of the tortured genius biopic that Hollywood loves to rehearse.
by Lauren Carroll Harris via Literary Hub on August 31, 2023
A photograph of a bouquet flowers with the center of the image intentionally cut out.

Nothing to See Here

For centuries the study of optics and the use of invisibility in science fiction have developed side by side, each inspiring the other.
by James Gleick via New York Review of Books on July 27, 2023
Actor portraying Oppenheimer.

The Real History Behind Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'

The "father of the atomic bomb" has long been misunderstood. Will the new film finally get J. Robert Oppenheimer right?
by Andy Kifer via Smithsonian on July 18, 2023
John Von Neumann and computer charts.

The World John von Neumann Built

Game theory, computers, the atom bomb—these are just a few of things von Neumann played a role in developing, changing the 20th century for better and worse.
by David Nirenberg via The Nation on November 28, 2022
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