Alex WellersteinVerified account

(Side-note: I recently read David Simon's "Homicide," which is EXCELLENT. In it, he has a very fascinating section on the psychology of the interrogation. Key to successful interrogation is the suspect thinking they are smart enough to talk their way out of it.)

(It is entirely unsurprising to me, knowing what I do of Oppenheimer, that he thought he was clever enough to talk his way out of his clearance being stripped. And like most suspects he was totally wrong, totally unprepared to deal with cross-examination from a veteran lawyer.)

That's fair. Seaborg certainly believed he shouldn't have demanded a hearing and just let his clearance expire, but Oppenheimer told him "I can take care of my own affairs, Glenn." Whoops.

Oppenheimer had a lot of pride and arrogance, and ultimately it led him to a very ugly outcome. He may be remembered as a martyr, but his last decade was a largely unpleasant one.

I don't think even Strauss expected him to ask for a hearing, it was so obviously the wrong thing to do. It would have been so much better to just say, "if the gov't doesn't want me, they don't have to have me."

And then gone on to do other things, and wait for opinions to change. When I teach about Oppenheimer, I highlight the difference between his outcome and his brother Frank's; the latter served his time in internal exile (as a rancher), and then came back as a beloved educator.

Complete sidenote: did you know what happened to Oppenheimer's house? I spoke to the Berkeley staffer who bought it off him not too long back. Didn't realise the physics department decided to keep it 'in the department' and sell only among themselves for 50 odd years.

Anyway, thanks for this. Super interesting. My focus is more Seaborg/Flerov and all the Berkeley/Dubna stuff, so it's great to hear more from both of you on the bigger picture.