PHYSICIST

J. Robert Oppenheimer

1904 - 1967

Photo of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Icon of person J. Robert Oppenheimer

J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer; OP-ən-hy-mər; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons. Born in New York City, Oppenheimer obtained a degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1925 and a doctorate in physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany in 1927, studying under Max Born. After research at other institutions, he joined the physics faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was made a full professor in 1936. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of J. Robert Oppenheimer has received more than 56,341,574 page views. His biography is available in 96 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 85 in 2019). J. Robert Oppenheimer is the 15th most popular physicist (up from 56th in 2019), the 45th most popular biography from United States (up from 213th in 2019) and the most popular American Physicist.

J. Robert Oppenheimer is most famous for being the director of the Manhattan Project, which was a project to develop the first atomic bomb.

Memorability Metrics

  • 56M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 80.15

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 96

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.79

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 6.32

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, J. Robert Oppenheimer ranks 15 out of 851. Before him are Hans Christian Ørsted, Pierre Curie, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, James Prescott Joule, and Robert Hooke. After him are Werner Heisenberg, Evangelista Torricelli, Henri Becquerel, Enrico Fermi, André-Marie Ampère, and Erwin Schrödinger.

Most Popular Physicists in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1904, J. Robert Oppenheimer ranks 2. Before him is Salvador Dalí. After him are Deng Xiaoping, Pablo Neruda, Reinhard Heydrich, Dr. Seuss, Umberto II of Italy, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, Jean Gabin, B. F. Skinner, Ève Curie, and Johnny Weissmuller. Among people deceased in 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer ranks 2. Before him is Che Guevara. After him are René Magritte, Konrad Adenauer, Vivien Leigh, Puyi, Casimir Funk, Vladimir Komarov, Mohammad Mosaddegh, Clement Attlee, Ilse Koch, and Spencer Tracy.

Others Born in 1904

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1967

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In United States

Among people born in United States, J. Robert Oppenheimer ranks 45 out of 20,380. Before him are Aretha Franklin (1942), Al Pacino (1940), Robert De Niro (1943), Janis Joplin (1943), Harry S. Truman (1884), and F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896). After him are Mark Twain (1835), Zodiac Killer (1940), Maria Callas (1923), Bernie Sanders (1941), Cher (1946), and Clint Eastwood (1930).

Others born in United States

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among PHYSICISTS In United States

Among physicists born in United States, J. Robert Oppenheimer ranks 1. After him are Richard Feynman (1918), Barry Barish (1936), Robert Andrews Millikan (1868), Carl David Anderson (1905), Ernest Lawrence (1901), Percy Williams Bridgman (1882), John Bardeen (1908), Clinton Davisson (1881), Willis Lamb (1913), Owen Chamberlain (1920), and Ben Roy Mottelson (1926).

American born Physicists

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous