The Oppenheimer security hearing (1954) of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) explored the background, actions and associations of J. Robert Oppenheimer (pictured). He had headed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, where he played a key part in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Doubts about Oppenheimer's loyalty dated back to the 1930s, when he was associated with Communist Party USA members, including his wife and his brother. At Los Alamos and in the AEC, he was involved in bureaucratic conflict between the Army and Air Force over the types of nuclear weapons the country required, technical conflict between the scientists over the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb, and personal conflict with AEC commissioner Lewis Strauss. The panel found that he was loyal and discreet with atomic secrets, but did not recommend that his security clearance be reinstated. This ended his role in government and policymaking. He became an academic exile, cut off from his former career and the world he had helped to create. The findings were seen as fair by some and as an expression of anti- Communist McCarthyism by others.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_security_hearing
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1603:
King James VI of Scotland acceded to the thrones of England and Ireland, becoming James I of England and unifying the crowns of the kingdoms for the first time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I
1869:
The last of Māori leader Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titokowaru%27s_War
1934:
The Tydings–McDuffie Act came into effect, which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the United States after a period of ten years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tydings%E2%80%93McDuffie_Act
1989:
The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled more than 10 million US gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing one of the most devastating man-made environmental disasters at sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill
2015:
The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberately crashed the aircraft in a mass murder–suicide in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
escapology: The study or art of escaping from a constriction, such as a rope, handcuffs, etc. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/escapology
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When we estrange ourselves from history we do not enlarge, we diminish ourselves, even as individuals. We subtract from our lives one meaning which they do in fact possess, whether we recognize it or not. We cannot help living in history. We can only fail to be aware of it. If we are to meet, endure, and transcend the trials and defeats of the future — for trials and defeats there are certain to be — it can only be from a point of view which, seeing the future as part of the sweep of history, enables us to establish our place in that immense procession in which is incorporated whatever hope humankind may have. --Robert Heilbroner https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Heilbroner
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