Young Oppenheimer was a Smart-Aleck Genius
Oppenheimer grew up in New York City with his textile importer father Julius and mother Ella and brother Frank, who also became a physicist. He was a thoughtful, introverted kid who preferred poetry and collecting rocks over playing with his peers. In a New York Times profile of Oppenheimer in 1963, the physicist recalls he didn’t go the playground much, but one of the times he did, another kid tossed a ball out of the playground area. The playground director scolded the child, but Oppenheimer precociously did the math and determined that the force of the ball hitting the sidewalk wasn’t enough to hurt anyone. By third grade, he was doing lab experiments, and at 10, he was studying physics and chemistry. He finished third and fourth grade in one year, and skilled part of eighth grade due to his accelerated mind.