St. John –
Film Oppenheimer still a traveler’s talk. Nicknamed as Father of the Atomic BombOppenheimer spent his last days on this desert island.
Oppenheimer is a biopic film that tells the life story of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was instrumental in the research and development of the atomic bomb under The Manhattan Project in the 1940s.
Oppenheimer considered the creator of the atomic bomb. In the past, Oppenheimer openly grapples with the moral consequences of his bomb after the Second World War.
Few people know that Oppenheimer spent most of his last days in the Caribbean as an outcast.
As reported by the BBC, the impact of politics greatly affected Oppenheimer’s personal life. He spends the rest of his days effectively holed up on a remote island called St. John in the Virgin Islands, United States of America (USA).
“In 1945, after (the US military dropped atomic bombs on) Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer was hailed as a national hero. His image was placed on the cover of Time and Life magazine and he became America’s most famous celebrity scientist,” said Kai Bird, who his book, entitled American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer, won the Pulitzer Prize.
Kai Bird co-authored the book with the late Martin J Sherwin, which later inspired Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer biopic.
“Then in 1954, he suddenly became a pariah (the lowest class of society) and disappeared from national life until the day he died,” said Kai Bird.
Oppenheimer Hiding on the Island of St. John
St. John is a great place to hide and be anonymous. Today, the two-acre lot where the physicist disappeared and lived part time in a modest cottage from 1955 until his death in 1967 is public land, known locally as Oppenheimer’s Beach.
Although it doesn’t appear on most tourist maps, it is often touted as one of the best beaches in the Virgin Islands and one of its best-kept secrets.
Likewise, the little-known story of how Oppenheimer went from hero to villain and outcast in the Caribbean offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of the US’s most celebrated scientists, and the island that ultimately shaped his final days.
According to Birds, Oppenheimer became “humiliated, badly injured, and physically and psychologically exhausted”.
So, the summer of 1955, Oppenheimer left his home in Princeton, New Jersey, boarded a 72-foot sailing ship with his wife and two children and sailed for St John.
“He fled. Fleeing fame as the father of the atomic bomb, but also the fame that plagued him after the 1954 trial, suspicions of infidelity, suspicion of being a Communist or possibly a spy,” Bird said.
“When they (the Oppenheimer family) saw the island for the first time, Oppenheimer fell in love with St John, so, he came back the following year and finally found some property on the beach and built a very simple cabin and that’s where he spent the rest of his life. You You know, he goes through it months out of the year, both in winter, but sometimes in spring and summer. It’s not about penance; it’s about returning to the physical, natural world,” Bird said.
In their book, Bird and Sherwin write that there is almost no telephone or electricity in St John. Peacocks and donkeys roam the dirt roads of the island.
St John himself has only been a US territory for 37 years and 90 percent of its 800 residents are descendants of formerly enslaved people who were kidnapped by previous Danish landlords from Africa to work on their sugar and cotton plantations.
This island is only the size of Manhattan. The first bar on the island was two years away from being built, and the largest building was a one-story West Indian gingerbread-style cottage.
“The reason they (the Oppenheimer family) chose St John is because it’s remote,” said David W Knight Sr, a local historian whose family is good friends with members of the Oppenheimer family.
“No one will abuse (Oppenheimer). No one knows who he is or cares about. It’s a great place to hide and be anonymous. It’s that simple,” said David W Knight Sr.
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This article was published on CNN Indonesia.
Watch Video “Cilian Murphy Spends a Lot of Time for the Role of ‘Oppenheimer'”
(wsw/wsw)
2023-07-29 16:05:57
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