J. Robert Oppenheimer, left, and Lewis Strauss. Courtesy photos
JROMC NEWS RELEASE
The J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee is pleased to announce its next free lecture which will take place at 7:30 p.m., Monday, July 10 at SALA Event Center, in Los Alamos. The title of the lecture by Jack Shlachter is “Fifty (Well, Maybe Two) Shades of Grey: Nuance in the Relationship Between Lewis Strauss and J. Robert Oppenheimer”. It is part of Los Alamos ScienceFest and is co-sponsored by the Los Alamos Jewish Center.
Abstract: In June 1954 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) revoked the security clearance of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific leader of the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs. Particularly in Los Alamos, the canonical view today of the clearance clash between Oppenheimer and 1954 AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss paints Oppenheimer as the victim and Strauss as the villain.
This presentation will focus on the Jewish dimension of these two individuals and reflect on how their opposing approaches to their respective Jewish heritage may have contributed to the revocation. We’ll begin by exploring the history of the Jewish presence in the United States and the mechanisms used by Jews to integrate into American society. A little-known connection between Strauss and the Los Alamos Jewish Center, co-host of this presentation, will be described. Through the efforts in part of the Los Alamos-based J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee, in December 2022 the Secretary of Energy apologized for the clearance revocation and vacated the June 1954 decision In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Speaker Biography: Jack Shlachter is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for more than 30 years with briefer stints at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Atomic Energy Agency, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the latter two based in Vienna, Austria; he led both the Physics Division and Theoretical Division during his LANL career. In parallel, Jack is an ordained rabbi who led the Jewish congregation in Los Alamos for many years, was the rabbi in Center Moriches, New York, during his years at Brookhaven, and now serves as rabbi of HaMakom, a congregation in Santa Fe, NM as well as the Los Alamos Jewish Center. He has also provided itinerant rabbinic support to far-flung Jewish communities including those in Vienna, Austria, and Beijing, China.