Oppenheimer Wasn’t Religious but his Religion Shaded his Academic Life
Nolan’s film touched several times on Oppenheimer’s Jewish heritage, although he wasn’t a particularly observant. He was a secular humanist interested in, as The Times of Israel calls it, “universal moral tenet,” Oppenheimer biographer Ray Monk says the Oppenheimer “always insisted he was neither German nor Jewish.” His time at Harvard University was shaded by antisemitism, through admissions quotas were established for Jews. His fellow students shut him out socially, even as he showed ambivalence toward his heritage. When he taught at UC-Berkely, he tried to bring fellow physicist and engineer Robert Serber onto the physics faculty. Department Head Raymond Birge blatantly said, “One Jew in the department is enough.” Despite the barriers he faced for a faith he didn’t even practice, he was supportive of his Jewish family. Antisemitism would permeate through Oppenheimer’s career, with his concern for his Jewish family and fellow scientists.