You may be right. However, it was first popularized by atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, in relation to witnessing the first atomic bomb test in 1945:
Other sites report the original Sanskrit as Kalosmi lokaksaya krt pravrddho.
You may be right. However, it was first popularized by atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, in relation to witnessing the first atomic bomb test in 1945:
Other sites report the original Sanskrit as Kalosmi lokaksaya krt pravrddho.
The “I am become death…” line was also supposedly spoken by Robert Oppenheimer after the Trinity atomic bomb test.
The translation “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” is from Oppenheimer who recalled the quote after witnessing the explosion of the first atomic bomb July 15, 1945.
The quote is from the Bhagavad Gita (“Song of God”) a famous ancient Indian poem, and part of a larger text known as the Mahabharata. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna convinces the warrior Arjuna (whose resolve to fight is wavering) that he must do his duty and fight in an upcoming battle.