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Robert Oppenheimer: 10 'explosive' facts about Father of Atomic Bomb

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Life of J Robert Oppenheimer

Played by Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' unfolds the life and times of the American theoretical physicist.

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1. The man who invented atomic bomb

J Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22, 1904, to a pair of first-generation Jewish immigrants.

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2. A child prodigy

Oppenheimer was well versed in philosophy, Greek and Latin at the age of 9; At 12, he delivered a lecture at New York Mineralogy Club.

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3. Tried to poison his professor once

Oppenheimer placed a poisoned apple on his Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge adivsor's desk following an altercation.

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4. First to claim blackholes existed

In 1939, Oppenheimer said several “dying stars whose gravitational pull exceeded their energy production,” existed in outer space.

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5. Work on Atomic Bomb

After becoming director of secret Manhattan project, he began work on atomic bomb in 1942; tested on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.

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6. Hiroshima & Nagasaki WW2 bombings

He was distraught that the bomb was used twice; told then US President Truman that he felt there was "blood on my hands".

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7. A true polyglot

Oppenheimer was known to speak six languages - Greek, Latin, French, German, Dutch and Sanskrit!

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8. Support to German scientists

Oppenheimer allegedly gave three per cent of his salary to German scientists fleeing from Nazi Germany.

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9. The romantic rationalist

He met his wife Kitty Harrison while she was still married to physician Richard Harrison; continued to have affairs.

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10. Never won the Nobel Prize

Oppenheimer was nominated for the Nobel Prize for physics three times, in 1945, 1951 and 1967, but it eluded him, each time.

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