Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967)

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed… A few people cried… Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form, and says, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the Manhattan project in an interview in 1965, describing the initial reactions to the first nuclear bomb explosion, detonated as a test early in the morning of July 16, 1945.

Related reading:

J. Robert Oppenheimer
Wikipedia

Bhagavad Gita
Wikipedia

Manhattan Project
Wikipedia

Atomic Bomb Test
Greasy.com

Oppenheimer And the Manhattan Project: Insights into J. Robert Oppenheimer, “Father of the Atomic Bomb”
Freshwap.net (12 March 11)

A Brief History of The Atomic Theory
reich-chemistry