Oppenheimer - A Restless Mind | Biographical Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ม.ค. 2025
- Theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer led the team of scientists who developed the atomic bomb that was used to end the Second World War.
Whatever your views on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is no doubting the key role Oppenheimer played in bringing the Manhattan project together and making sure it achieved its goal.
But Oppenheimer was a complex man, full of contradictions, a brilliant scientist who was once so overwhelmed by emotion he tried to strangle a friend and poison his college tutor.
This video explores the extraordinary life of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb, going behind the headlines to find out what really made him tick.
Oppenheimer - A Restless Mind | Biographical Documentary
Finding Out More:
The best biography is the highly regarded, if rather lengthy, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. There are several others that focus on the Manhattan project or the politics of the 1954 Security Hearing, but this is the one that focusses on Oppenheimer, the man. I have added it to my Amazon store page if you are interested: www.amazon.com...
Academic References:
Black, D. W., and Boffeli, T. J. (1989). Simple schizophrenia: past, present, and future. The American journal of psychiatry, 146(10), 1267-1273.
Copyright Disclaimer:
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.
Images:
Wikimedia Commons
Los Alamos National Historical Park
Atomic Archive
Music (via Wikimedia Commons)
Carlos David López Grether: Vida CC3.0
Kosta T Castello di Trokai CC4.0
Karg-Elert - Caprices for Flute Op.107 CC3.0
Lloyd Rodgers - Twelve from the Black Book 1,6 and 9 CC0.
Komiku - The wind CC0
Komiku - Welcome to the machine CC0
Komiku - The road we used to travel when we were kids CC0
Jossi - Native American flute - Performed on a 1987 flute crafted by Chief Arthur Two-crows. CC2.5
Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.
Your description of him in the first half of the video made the argument for autism loud and clear. As an autistic adult and professor with autistic teens, I really appreciate your treatment of the subject. I found your videos completely by chance but I've enjoyed every one
Thank you, I think I am beginning to understand the autism awareness lobby more these days.
100% autism. Shame it didn't benefit me like it did him as I'm unemployable.
@@professorgraemeyorston You take a journalistic approach to your subjects, neither heroizing nor villainizing them. I have shared this video with people like me who are reluctant to see the Oppenheimer film for fear it will romanticize the people behind the devastation of nuclear war. Your video summarizes his life and perhaps the hubris that pulled him into complicity with it all.
@@OrangeEevee338 hi I just saw the Oppenheimer film yesterday. In my opinion, they did not romanticize the people behind the devastation of nuclear war. Also on a side note, It’s a LONG film! 3 hours!
I try not to be. When people tell you that you're hurting them, you always have the choice to listen and work on yourself. You can be autistic and narcissistic, unfortunately. Power and fame often make people think they don't need to work on themselves @@mattmarkus4868
He definitely seemed like a person that is quite annoying. Not everybody is charming and fun to be around. His intelligence was extraordinary. I’m glad that his unhappiness and frustration did not result in actually killing somebody.
I really like your videos, still just scratching the surface.
Thank you Prof. Yorston, this is a fascinating and informative biography. My late brother had ASD, and I immediately recognized similarities in personality characteristics between the two. I’m glad I found your channel, and I recently subscribed.
Thank you, welcome aboard!
@@professorgraemeyorston Your video on Jimi Hendrix was was disrespectful... you said he died in 1971... when in fact he died September 18, 1970 aged 27 .. idiot , next time do your research
I just LOVE seeing a new vid pop up from you. I always enjoy. Excellent story telling and a welcome break from the usual repetitive non-sensical news cycle. Thank you. :)
Thank you, glad you're enjoying them - do let me know if you have any ideas for topics.
This is my new favorite channel, thanks Professor!!!
Thank you I am going to see the film soon. He was brilliant and complex.
I'm looking forward to seeing it as well.
His facility with languages made me think of my grandkids' learning to talk, back when they had itty-bitty frontal cortexes. The "flow" boys talk about "temporary hypo-frontality," and people with certain diseases take up painting, begin to improvise musically, or become avid lovers. Maybe some people are born without inhibition.
At the end, when they were describing his characteristics, the first thing I thought of was the Asperger‘s Spectrum. I’m sure he had other characteristics with a psychiatric moniker. Really enjoyed this video. Thank you so much for sharing. Your presentation is impeccable.
I shall share this with my son. 😎
Thank you.
Thanks!
Thank you, this will help fund future videos.
Great summary! I've been researching Oppenheimer for my own new book, and you gave a few extra insights that hadn't come up elsewhere.
Glad it was helpful! What's your book about?
@@professorgraemeyorston Biographical material on Oppenheimer and Heisenberg and some insights into
how far the German bomb program really got, why so many physicists were reading Sanskrit texts from ancient
India, and what the Germans traded to America in May 1945.
Sounds interesting.
Professor Yorstin, this was wonderful! Thank you so much for all you do!
My pleasure.
Thank you so much for informing us Mr Yorston. Always looking forward to your next video. Greetings from Alsace, France 👍👍
Merci beaucoup!
Interesting assessment...he's been a lifelong hero of mine, and my therapist and I discussed how he would have had an autism spectrum diagnosis (as would several of the Los Alamos scientists.) One thing you didn't cover is how he was able to pivot and motivate all those people at Los Alamos. He comes off as quite charming in some interviews (Edward R Morrow's See It Now from 1955) and many people found him engaging. So he managed to learn to be highly functional in social situations. Sadly, he passed some of his mental illness issues on to his daughter, who committed suicide when she was in her 30s. I often wonder how that family would have fared in the modern world, with better understanding and treatments for anxiety, post-partum depression, and alcoholism. Thanks for this video.
He was highly intelligent and I think he gradually learned about his own emotions and desires as a young man and how other worked ticked.
@@professorgraemeyorston He was a quick study, no question. You quoted some of his letters to Frank and others. There's an anthology of his letters as a young man which is still in print and is worth seeking out. It really is a window into his mind.
Thank you! This was a great video!
My pleasure.
Brilliant as usual and a glimpse into mind of a scientific great! I not read anything about him, and though I watched the film is a public hall I left at half time as with the appalling acoustics and following the style of mumbling and shooting half iight, seemingly fashionable, as an old codger I could not hear! But his was crystal clear and very enjoyable. Rob
...and made for slightly less than $100 million
Beautifully cromulent use of "streets ahead" to describe Oppenheimer in the first few minutes. He certainly was.
Thank you, that's a word you don't hear every day!
A compassionate presentation.
The March 1945 fire-bombing of Tokyo is the single most destructive bombing raid in human history. 16-sq.miles (41-km2) of Tokyo were destroyed, leaving an est.100-150k humans dead and one million homeless. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 resulted in the immediate death of an est.70-150k humans (wikipedia).
War is the moral evil created by humans throughout history.
Thank you.
Meticulously presented!! look forward to see more of such biography.
Thank you - do you have any suggestions for subjects?
This is great. I'm really looking forward to your videos. Given your bookshelf, have you thought about talking about Leonardo da Vinci? Freud, of course, got there first, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on repression and creativity and the emergence out the middle ages. Thanks for these great videos!
Thank you, yes Leonardo would make a good subject.
Will definitely read American Prometheus now.... you've recommended it.... thank you!
Hope you enjoy it! It's a long book, but well written.
Great job and very impressive! Genius people are always strange!
Often, but not always.
Always excellent! Von Neuman? Hedy Lamarr? Sorry to ask, could not resist! Thank you for the numerous people you make me discover!
Your content and presentation is the BEST ❤😊
Thank you.
that photo close up at the end looks like the leader of that suicide cult HEAVENS GATE in 1997 in san diego where everyone took poison thinking a space craft was going to pick them up. love to see you do a show on the Aum Shinrikyo cult and maybe why the hell there are so many of these extreme groups.
I just started watching your videos on your channel. VERY interesting!!!! I really like your channel. Now I want to watch all your other videos!!! Thank you for your instructional, informative & riveting you tube videos. Also, I like how you show the people in the videos -computer generated quoting their quotes! Good stuff. 👍👍👍👍 ( I’m a Yank lol ).
Thank you and welcome aboard!
I am just eight minutes in and already I’ve learned a few things about Oppie that I didn’t know. Great use of pictures that put us in the locations of this man’s life and for showing images I’d not seen before of Robert. I’m not sure I like the AI generated facial animations and voice, but it’s a very good use for such a thing, but maybe not the greatest thing when authenticity is paramount.
Glad you enjoyed it! On reflection I agree about the AI animations, it was the first time I've used them and I don't think I will again.
Yes,the AI generated facial animations and voice are a bit creepy.l generally prefer the standard documentary approach of using still photos and film and video footage.
Yes, nip this AI lip sync stuff in the bud! Leave it to the troll professionals to deep fake history.
There does seem to be a connection made frequently and going back to at least Newton between genius at physics (and maths) and ASD - in the 20th century Tesla, Einstein and Dirac spring to mind. Perhaps it takes unusual minds to deal with matters the rest of us find damn near impossible.
I was lucky enough to stumble on your video of the "Mad Hatters, which has led to a week of the most fascinating videos for which many thanks. There is one artist I would love to hear your analysis of - Hieronymus Bosch. Although there is not much known about his life, could he have suffered from Ergot poisoning? or simply an over-active imagination.?
Thank you, he certainly depicted ergotism, but I don't know much about his life - I'll look into him.
Original Picassos and Van Goghs, not Ikea prints. 😂😆
I quite liked that line too!
At 1:40 i think that is Alan Turing not Oppenheimer...
Sounds like Sheldon from the big bang theory.
Tall, slender brilliant physicist. Precocious with a restricted number of interests. Rigid and a perfectionist with difficulty accepting other opinions.
That's Oppy!
I wonder if they'll show any of the crazy stuff he did in the movie.
Thank you💕
You’re welcome 😊
Professor Graeme
What's your opinion on M K Ultra
And how this could turn a brilliant mind
Who was working at these levels in military/government at this scary time in history in the US
I am always touched by your compassion and ability to see the humanity in those real people you comment on
MK Ultra is a fascinating topic and it is on my list, but it is a complex one!
He was first a failed murderer and then a genocide. And then he was a remorseful genocide. He could not kill his tutor, his friend or the woman in the train, but successfully killed millions of civilians. What a mark.
Sorry, who were the millions he killed....
A person cannot be a "genocide". Your English is regrettable. 🙄
Excellent
Thank you
Suggestions. Elvis, Rasputin, Marlon Brando, Klaus Kinski. Stalin. Mussolini. Greta Garbo. Lewis Carroll.Henry 8th, Princess Diana.
Very much reminds me of the character Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory.
Yes he is almost a caricature of the autistic physicist.
Have you done a piece on Joe McCarthy?
Great suggestion.
Thank you
Thanks for watching.
wonderful!!!
Many thanks!!
Being a socially awkward semi Autistic person … but nowhere near as smart as that guy … I’d say your presentation makes sense to me .. good stuff Sir.
Thank you.
A gift from the creator 🍀
Would the ideas of Adler have helped him more than those of Freud?
I'm not aware of any scientific outcome studies that would enable me to answer that question.
This is extremely revealing and fascinating-and it shows how phony and simple-minded Christopher Nolan's movie is.
I suspect a truer depiction of his personality would have been rather dull for a movie.
@professorgraemeyorston Well, it wouldn't have been dull for me. It would have made the movie far more interesting because there was tremendous drama within Oppenheimer himself. There was fascinating psychological material to explore here, but, instead, Christopher Nolan completely whitewashed his character. He seemed almost passive in the movie -and rather bland.
@@professorgraemeyorston I disagree, as well. As a young person I was mesmerized by his interview in Fred Freed's *Decision to Drop the Bomb.* (We've all seen the Bhagavad Gita quote, it comes from there.) He was fascinating.
@@marcevan1141 Good point. I had an acting coach point out that Hamlet is not indecisive--he's just making conflicting choices every minute. Missed opportunity, and it pains me to say it.
Definition of WAR CRIME…
Rules For Thee, But Not For Me
Very true.
I mean maybe he was chosen for the Manhattan project because he had no religious upbringing and therefore no scruples. It would also explain why he had such murderous tendencies when young prior to being psychoanalysed.
OMG!!! Oppenheimer had a very creepy deep voice. Almost like a predator
That's the AI. There are a ton of his recorded lectures available...listen to those and see if you have the same response.
I'm in two minds about using AI - I want to make the videos watchable, but don't want to overdo it.
@@professorgraemeyorston it was a good experiment. AI may be more natural in about six months...try again when it "knows" more.
You could have skipped the bad AI. It distracts.
Seems pretty clear to me that he had ADHD, and potentially some Cluster B traits as well...
You haven't mentioned any religious activity on his part. One may assume that he was an atheist. That may explain why he had no scruples with the Manhattan project beforehand. Are religious people protected from autism, I wonder ?
Video from 1958,Princeton, speech, Q and A, said no Physics wouldn't affect daily life, I say Seatbelts.
How dare anyone call him a traitor! This man saved the world! Yeah he was a pig on a personal level but he saved us!
I agree he was not a traitor.
Do you really think you need the cheesy animations that "show" Oppenheimer talking? I would have thought you were above such gimmicks. Apparently not.
Sounds as though he was a hypocrite. Killing was fine if he attempted it. But, unacceptable for any other reason.
promo sm
Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
Autistic people can appear narcissistic, but they are fundamentally different.
He had autism. Its painful for me to watch this.
Probably - why is it painful?
Professor, its painful because i have family members who act this way at times. Many of my family members are on the spectrum.
The man died young like King George the 5th being a heavy smoker . They both medication themselves. Its sad.
What sort of doctor are you?
Probably a doctor of know it all.
murderer
The christopher nolan movie sucked
I have to say I got about the same information into my film on about one millionth of the budget!
ADHD ?
Sounds like it to me, being ADHD myself, bit of autism as well maybe.
They so often go together and I think it is likely in his case.
He should have been locked up and the key thrown away!
It is interesting to think whether history would have been different if he had been prosecuted for his attempted poisoning.
The movie was boring and redundant. Good luck sitting for almost three hours.
I enjoyed the movie - they stuck to the facts pretty well for a Hollywood biopic.
It is not. It shows to the best how things happened and how the sophisticated humanity was involved.
INCEL
I think he was confused and overwhelmed.
Evil man
A matter of opinion.
He didn't hold the future of humanity in his hands , he was given a staff , a venue and was told to do a job . If he hadn't done it the United States government would have assigned somebody else .
True, but he felt personally responsible.
Excellent,
Thank you!