Dan Snow's History Hit19 Jul 2023

Oppenheimer

On a summer morning in 1945, a device known simply as 'Gadget' was detonated. An enormous explosion tore a crater into the New Mexico desert, melting sand into radioactive green glass and sending a mushroom cloud 7.5 miles into the sky. This was the first controlled detonation of a nuclear weapon, and its mastermind was the American theoretical physicist, J Robert Oppenheimer.

In this episode, Dan is joined by writer and artist Ben Platts-Mills to hear about the man who orchestrated one of the most extraordinary scientific developments in human history. What kind of person was he? How did he go from a shy, studious child to a charismatic celebrity scientist? And what did he think about the perils of the weapons he worked so hard to create?

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.

We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1530)

BONUS: The Complete Map of the Odyssey

A special video podcast where Dan charts the course of Odysseus through the Mediterranean as he investigates the true places that could have inspired the Odyssey. Using his new Big Pad, Dan investigat...

17 Jul 51min

The Real St George and the Dragon

He wasn't an English knight, but actually a Roman soldier, and the dragon didn't appear until centuries later in the medieval period. So what is the origin of the Saint George and the Dragon myth? And...

16 Jul 30min

The Real History Behind The Odyssey

Is there any truth in the Odyssey, and what does it all mean? We know it's a story where a man convenes with monsters and gods, ghosts and mythological beings, but the Odyssey actually does tell us a ...

13 Jul 53min

A Day in the Life of a Gladiator

Step into the roaring arena of ancient Rome, where every sunrise could be a gladiator's last... From brutal training and hard-won fame to the thunderous spectacle that captivated an empire, discover w...

9 Jul 36min

What Happens in The Odyssey?

Dan narrates his own epic retelling of the Odyssey - following Odysseus' route around the Mediterranean. He tells the story of the many trials and tribulations the Greek hero faces on his 10-year jour...

6 Jul 1h 9min

The Birth of America Explained

Born from revolution, this bold vision of liberty toppled the old order and reshaped the course of democracy. Today, we discover how a few powerful ideas changed history forever.Joining us is Gary Ger...

2 Jul 56min

Agrippina the Younger: Rome's Most Notorious Empress

Agrippina the Younger was one of the most powerful players in Roman history: a ruthless political operator who clawed her way to co-rule the empire, only to be murdered by the son she put on the thron...

29 Jun 51min

Life in the Trenches

What was life really like in the trenches of the First World War? In this episode, we step into the mud of the Western Front to hear about the horrors that soldiers faced; from artillery bombardments ...

25 Jun 38min