J. Robert Oppenheimer
Past Director
Affiliation
Natural Sciences
Theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer served as the third Director of the Institute from 1947 until 1966, thus far the longest tenure of any Institute Director. Prior to his Directorship, in 1942, Oppenheimer was appointed to the Manhattan Project, and he oversaw the construction of the Los Alamos laboratory, where he gathered the best minds in physics to work on the problem of creating an atomic bomb. While Director of the Institute, Oppenheimer was simultaneously Chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1947 through 1952, overseeing all atomic research and development in the United States.
Dates at IAS
Faculty
School of Natural Sciences
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Director
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Degrees
University of Göttingen
Ph.D.
1927
Harvard University
B.A.
1925
Honors
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1963
Enrico Fermi Award
1946
Presidential Medal for Merit
1945
Member, American Philosophical Society
1941
Fellow, National Academy of Sciences
Appointments
Atomic Energy Commission
1947–1952
Chairman, General Advisory Commission
University of California, Berkeley and California Institute of Technology
1929–1947
Professor of Physics; Assistant Professor of Physics; Associate Professor of Physics
Los Alamos National Laboratory
1943–1945
Director
