# Oppenheimer's ''Destroyer of Worlds'' quote: When? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752 "2003-09-25T14:48:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/1 "2003-09-25T14:48:30Z")
We’ve all seen the interview footage. Concerning the A-bomb test, Oppenheimer is saying (don’t recall the exact words), “Some cried. _I_ was reminded of a line from the Bhagavad-Gita. . .” The question: When was that interview done? It was such a top-secret thing that it was probably years later. I believe that’s the first record of his quote concerning the test (although he just said that it had gone thru his mind, not that he actually _said_ it). ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/2 "2003-09-25T15:39:04Z")
And as a related question, inspired by \* The Search for Red October\* the movie: When the “Political Officer” confronts the Captain about this quote from a book, what was the book?? I’ve tried Googling for this quote and Oppenheimer, but have not found the title of a book that has Oppenheimer saying this. Might be related enough to Earl’s question so I can tag along without being banished to the Cafe… ---
**Author:** ![ghostman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ghostman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ghostman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/3 "2003-09-25T18:26:20Z")
From The Hunt for Red October, it is “I am become death, the destoyer of worlds” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/4 "2003-09-25T19:53:45Z")
“Now I am become death, the destoyer of worlds,” July 16, 1945, at Trinity Site. Near as I can determine he said it as well as thought it. He for sure said it to Richard Rhodes, who published “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” in 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/5 "2003-09-25T20:59:09Z")
Oppenheimer didn’t say it to Richard Rhodes. Rhodes cites another book, The Decision To Drop The Bomb by Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed, as his source for the quote. This book was in turn based on a 1965 TV documentary done by the same pair, which was also the source for the filmed Oppenheimer interview the OP mentions. So the filmed interview dates from 1965. However, the story had appeared in print long before that, in two books: Robert Jungk’s Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists (1958), and William Laurence’s Men and Atoms: The Discovery, the Uses, and the Future of Atomic Energy (1959). The above is cribbed from the following paper on Opperheimer: [http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/jun00/Hijiya.pdf](http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/jun00/Hijiya.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![ghostman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ghostman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ghostman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/6 "2003-09-26T11:46:03Z")
Actually, how the scene in red october goes is: Putin : “A man with your responsibilities reading about the end of the world? ‘I am become death, the destroyer of worlds’” Ramius : “It is an ancient Hindu text; quoted by an American.” Putin : “An American?” Ramius : “Mmm. He invented the atomic bomb. He was then accused of being a communist” Who knows tho, it’s just a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppenheimers-destroyer-of-worlds-quote-when/203752/7 "2003-09-26T13:22:01Z")
OK, now I have a list of possible books Ramius could have been reading: " The Making of the Atomic Bomb " " The Decision To Drop The Bomb " " Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists " " Men and Atoms: The Discovery, the Uses, and the Future of Atomic Energy " Thanks for the leads, I’ll go to the Cafe to ask which book it might have been.