oppenheimer, j. robert

1. American physicist who directed the Los Alamos, New Mexico, laboratory during the development of the first atomic bomb (1942-1945). After World War II, he became an advocate for the peaceful use of atomic energy and opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb.

An American physicist of the twentieth century. Oppenheimer led the research and development of the atomic bomb (see also atomic bomb) and was head of the Manhattan Project.