The accomplishments and tribulations of one of the 20th Century’s most famous physicists, Robert Oppenheimer, were in the spotlight this past summer with the release of Christopher Nolan’s epic film, Oppenheimer.  The film intersperses scenes involving Oppenheimer’s  role in establishing a world-class physics community in the United States, his leadership of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II, and his personal life with dramatic exchanges during a sham security trial held in 1954 during the “red scares” of the McCarthy era. That trial stripped Oppenheimer of his government security clearance and opened a rift among physicists. Oppenheimer’s complex personality and extraordinary life provided high drama to Nolan’s film, which stayed close to the acclaimed biography of Oppenheimer, American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Lewes resident, Fred Dylla, a physicist who studied with several of Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project colleagues while he was a graduate student at MIT, will discuss the impact of Oppenheimer on generations of scientists in the US, and his valiant attempts to put atomic weapons and energy under international controls. The audience discussion will be moderated by Linda Dylla, a physics science writer who served as a communications director for the Department of Energy Laboratories that superseded Los Alamos and the other Manhattan Project laboratories.

Seating is limited so registration is required.