STRAUSS
(V.o.)
... I was determined to get him to run the Institute.
- to welcome the rail-thin figure of Oppenheimer (forty-three),
emerging from a taxi in hat and coat, pipe in mouth, iconic.
STRAUSS
Dr Oppenheimer, an honour.
OPPENHEIMER
Mr Strauss.
STRAUSS
It's pronounced 'straws'.
OPPENHEIMER
'Oh-ppenheimer', 'aw-ppenheimer'- any way you say it
they know I'm Jewish.
STRAUSS
I'm a proud member ofTemple Emmanuel - 'straws' is the
Southern pronunciation. Welcome to the Institute. I think
you could be very happy here.
OPPENHEIMER
Oh?
STRAUSS
Well, you'll love the commute - the position comes with
that house for you and your wife.
Strauss points along an avenue oftrees to Olden Manor . . .
STRAUSS
And your two children . . .
Oppenheimer nods as he follows Strauss into the Institute.
INT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -
CONTINUOUS (B&W)
Strauss leads Oppenheimer through the Institute.
STRAUSS
I'm a great admirer ofyour work.
OPPENHEIMER
You're a physicist by training, Mr Strauss?
STRAUSS
No, I'm not trained in physics, or anything else. I'm a selfmade man.
OPPENHEIMER
I can relate to that. . .
STRAUSS
Really?
OPPENHEIMER
(dry)
My father was one.
INT. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED
STUDY - MOMENTS LATER (B&w)
Strauss shows Oppenheimer into the well-appointed office.
STRAUSS
This would be your office.
Oppenheimer drifts to the windows - a lawn rolls down to a
pond. He spots a figure - long grey hair poking from under
his hat -
STRAUSS
I'm told he's there most afternoons.
The figure gently tosses a stone into the water.
STRAUSS
I've always wondered why you didn't involve him in the
Manhattan Project.
Oppenheimer turns to Strauss, interested . . .
STRAUSS
The greatest scientific mind of our time?
OPPENHEIMER
Of his time. Einstein published his Theory ofRelativity
more than forty years ago, but never embraced the
quantum world it revealed.
STRAUSS
'God doesn't play dice.'
OPPENHEIMER
Precisely. You never thought ofstudying physics formally?
STRAUSS
I had offers. But I chose to sell shoes.
OPPENHEIMER
Lewis Strauss was once a lowly shoe salesman?
STRAUSS
No. Just a shoe salesman.
(opens the door)
I'll introduce you -
OPPENHEIMER
No need. I've known him for years.
Strauss, awkward, stays in the doorway and watches . . .
From afar: as Oppenheimer approaches, Einstein's hat blows
off his head, unleashing a mess of grey hair, hat rolling across
the grass to where Oppenheimer scoops it up, and we .. .
Cut to:
INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -
DAY (COLOUR)
I flip a page. Continue reading my statement.
OPPENHEIMER
I struggled badly trying to visualize this new world . . .
INT. ROOMS AT CAMBRIDGE - DAY
The Young Me lies on the floor, staring up . . .
OPPENHEIMER
(V.o.)
. . . you had to retool your mind to see things hovering just
out of sight. . .
INSERT CUT: POINTS OF LIGHT MOVE LIKE SPARKS, BUT IN A
WAVE.
OPPENHEIMER
(V.o.)
. . . then you could unlock forces never before
imagined . . .
I wipe tears from my eyes.
INSERT CUT: STARS. SPARKS FROM A CAMPFIRE. I PAT THE NOSE
OF A HORSE IN THE DARKNESS AS I FEED IT AN APPLE.
I grow calm, my eyelids lowering . . .
INSERT CUT: AN APPLE - GREEN WITH A STEM AND A TINY
LEAF . . .
I open my eyes - jump out of bed - scramble to dress -
EXT. QUADRANGLE, CAMBRIDGE - MOMENTS LATER
I RUN, DESPERATE, AGAINST the Crowd -
INT. LABORATORY, CAMBRIDGE - DAY
I burst in - Blackett looks up. another man has his back to
me. Between them on the workbench -the poisoned apple . . .
BLACKETT
You alright?
I nod, awkward, trying to control my breathing . . .
BLACKETT
Niels, meet J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The other man turns, offers his hand - Niels Bohr.
BOHR
What does the ‘J’ stand for?
BLACKETT
Nothing, apparently.
Bohr takes me in -this strange, breathless young man . . .
BOHR
You were at my lecture. You asked the only good question.
BLACKETT
Nobody’s denying his insight. It’s his labouratory skills that
leave a little to be desired.
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
I heard you give the same lecture -
BOHR
At Harvard. And you asked the same question. Why ask
again?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
I hadn’t liked your answer.
BOHR
Did you like it better yesterday?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
A lot.
BOHR
You can lift the rock without being ready for the snake
that’s revealed. Now, it seems, you’re ready.
Bohr picks up the poisoned apple from Blackett’s desk . . .
BOHR
You don’t enjoy the lab?
I shake my head. Bohr gesticulates with the apple as he
talks -1 watch it bob around - a kitten following a ball of
string . . .
BOHR
Get out of Cambridge, with its beakers and potions. Go
somewhere they’ll let you think . . .
(assesses me)
Gottingen.
BLACKETT
Born?
BOHR
Born. Get to Germany. Study under Max Born. Learn the
ways of theory. I’ll send word.
Bohr raises the apple to take a bite -1 grab it -
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
Wormhole.
- drop it into the wastebasket. Blackett peers at it, curious.
BOHR
How’s your mathematics?
BLACKETT
Not good enough for the physicist he wants to be.
BOHR
Algebra’s like sheet music. The important thing isn’t can
you read music, it’s can you hear it. Can you hear the
music, Robert?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
I can.
sparks explode in waves, waves of fire crashing on a shore
of glass, flying over the medieval spires of Gottingen,
I watch born and bohr and dirac, galaxies of particles
disperse and reform, a cubist painting transfixes the
Young Me, an orchestra plays Stravinsky, I read the waste
LAND, I WRITE FURIOUSLY at a desk, I WRITE FURIOUSLY On
a chalkboard, I smash a glass, and another, and another,
watching the shards skid across the floor, catching and
refracting light, I watch raindrops scintillate a PUDDLE,
stream down a windowpane, I disturb the surface of a sink
full of water, watching ripples propagate and interfere,
I bounce a ball against a corner of my room, studying its
trajectory . . .
Cut to:
EXT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -
DAY (B&w)
Strauss watches Oppenheimer hand the hat to Einstein. Strauss
checks his watch, then starts down the hill towards them. As
he approaches, Einstein turns, walking towards Strauss with a
GRIM EXPRESSION . . .
STRAUSS
(friendly)
Albert. . .
Einstein passes without acknowledging Strauss. Strauss reaches
Oppenheimer -
STRAUSS
What did you say to him?
OPPENHEIMER
He's fine. Mr Strauss, there are things in my past you need
to be aware of.
STRAUSS
As Chairman ofthe AEC I have access to your security file.
I've read it. The job's yours.
OPPENHEIMER
You're not worried?
STRAUSS
After all you've done for your country?
OPPENHEIMER
Times change, Mr Strauss.
STRAUSS
The purpose ofthis Institute is to provide a haven for
independent minds. You're the man for the job.
OPPENHEIMER
Then Fil consider it. And Fil see you at the AEC meeting
tomorrow.
Oppenheimer turns, heads back up the hill.
STRAUSS
(taken aback)
This is one ofthe most prestigious appointments in the
country. . .
Oppenheimer looks back at Strauss, grins -
OPPENHEIMER
With a great commute. That's why I'm considering it.
Strauss watches him go, shaking his head.
SENATOR MCGEE
(V.O.)
So, Dr Oppenheimer brought your attention to his past
associations before you appointed him?
INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM - DAY
(b&w)
STRAUSS
Yes.
SENATOR MCGEE
And they didn't concern you?
STRAUSS
Just then I was more concerned about what he'd said to
Einstein to sour him on me.
A few chuckles from the room.
SENATOR MCGEE
But later?
STRAUSS
Well, we all know what happened later.
Cut to:
INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -
DAY (COLOUR)
The board members listen as I continue reading . . .
OPPENHEIMER
After Gottingen I moved on to Leiden in Holland . . .
INT. LECTURE HALL, LEIDEN - DAY
A packed hall. The Young Me nervously checks my notes.
OPPENHEIMER
(V.o.)
. . . where I first met Isidor Rabi. . .
A stocky young man, isidor rabi (thirty), plonks down next to
a dutch student who reluctantly shifts, giving him room.
RABI
A Yank lecturing on the new physics? This I have to hear -
I’m an American myself.
DUTCH STUDENT
How surprising.
RABI
Let me know if you need any help with the English.
I start lecturing ... in dutch. Rabi, confused, leans in.
RABI
Wait, what’s he saying?
INT. TRAIN, LEIDEN TO ZURICH - NIGHT
I stare out the window at dark trees, steam and shadows. Rabi
dumps his bags down, slumps opposite, sizes me up. Offers me
an orange -
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
No, thank you.
RABI
It’s a long way to Zurich. You get any skinnier we might
lose you between the seat cushions. I’m Rabi.
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
Oppenheimer.
Rabi starts peeling his orange.
RABI
I caught your lecture on molecules. Caught some of it -
we’re a couple of New York Jews - how do you know
Dutch?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
I thought I’d better learn it when I got here this semester.
Rabi stops peeling his orange to stare at me -
RABI
You learned enough Dutch in six weeks to give a lecture on
quantum mechanics?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
I wanted to challenge myself.
RABI
Quantum physics isn’t challenging enough? Schvitzer.
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
Shvitzer?
RABI
‘Show-off.’ Dutch in six weeks but you never learned
Yiddish?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
(smile)
They don’t speak it so much my side of the Park.
RABI
Screw you. Homesick?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
You know it.
Rabi peels his orange. He turns serious . . .
RABI
Ever get the feeling our kind isn’t entirely welcome here?
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
Physicists?
RABI
Funny.
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
Sometimes. Not in the department.
RABI
They’re all Jewish, too.
Rabi tosses me a slice of orange.
RABI
Eat.
I take the orange, ‘sipping’ at it.
RABI
In Zurich there’s a German you have to seek out -
YOUNG OPPENHEIMER
Heisenberg.
INT. LECTURE HALL, ZURICH - DAY
A tall man of twenty-six turns from the blackboard -
Heisenberg. I study his every move. Rabi nudges me ‘See?’ . . .
INT. SAME - LATER
Rabi introduces me to Heisenberg.
HEISENBERG
Oppenheimer, yes. I liked your paper on molecules.
OPPENHEIMER
Probably because you inspired it.
HEISENBERG
If I inspire anything else, let me know. We could publish
together.
OPPENHEIMER
I have to get back to America.
HEISENBERG
Why? There’s no one there taking quantum mechanics
seriously.
OPPENHEIMER
That’s exactly why.
RABI
He’s pining for the canyons of Manhattan.
OPPENHEIMER
The canyons of New Mexico.
HEISENBERG
You’re from New Mexico?
OPPENHEIMER
New York, but my brother and I have a ranch outside
Santa Fe. That’s the America I miss right now.
HEISENBERG
Then you best get home, cowboys.
RABI
That’s his thing - me and horses? I don’t think so.
GRAY
(V־° ‘•Did you ever encounter Heisenberg again?
INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -
DAY
I smile to myself.
OPPENHEIMER
Not in person. But you might say our paths crossed.
ROBB
Doctor, during your time in Europe, you seem to have met
a wide range of other countries’ physicists . . .
(consulting notes)
Born, Bohr, Pauli, Dirac, Einstein, Heisenberg . . . ?
OPPENHEIMER
That’s right.
Robb looks up at me . . .
ROBB
Any Russians?
OPPENHEIMER
None that spring to mind.
(from notes)
Returning to America I accepted appointments at both
Caltech . . .
EXT. BERKELEY - DAY
I walk across campus to the physics department. . .
OPPENHEIMER
(V.o.)
. . . and up at Berkeley.
INT. CORRIDOR, BERKELEY - CONTINUOUS
I struggle to unlock a door ... it opens -
INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY - CONTINUOUS
A dusty storage space. Scattered tables and chairs. A piano.
EXT. CORRIDOR, BERKELEY - MOMENTS LATER
I step out of the classroom. Look next door . . .
INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY - DAY
I enter. A handsome young scientist, ernest lawrence, works
on an assemblage of curved pipes and wiring with students,
including Luis alvarez.
OPPENHEIMER
Dr Lawrence, I presume.
LAWRENCE
You must be Oppenheimer. I hear you want to start a
school of quantum theory.
OPPENHEIMER
I am starting it. Next door.
LAWRENCE
They put you in there?
OPPENHEIMER
I asked for it. I wanted to be close to you experimentalists.
LAWRENCE
Theory will get you only so far.
(gestures)
We’re building a machine to accelerate electrons.
OPPENHEIMER
Magnificent.
LAWRENCE
Would you like to help?
OPPENHEIMER
Build it? No. But I’m working on theories I’d like to test
with it.
LAWRENCE
When do you start teaching?
OPPENHEIMER
I’ve got my first in an hour.
LAWRENCE
Seminar?
OPPENHEIMER
Pupil.
LAWRENCE
One student? That’s it?
OPPENHEIMER
I’m teaching something no one here’s dreamt of. But once
people start hearing what you can do with it. . .
LAWRENCE
(grins)
There’s no going back.
INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY - LATER
I stand there, expectant. A student opens the door, looks around,
embarrassed -
STUDENT
I’m sorry, I must have missed -
OPPENHEIMER
No, this is it. Mr Lomanitz, right?
lomanitz (twenty-one) nods, takes a seat.
OPPENHEIMER
What do you know about quantum mechanics?
LOMANITZ
I have a grasp on the basics -
OPPENHEIMER
Then you’re doing it wrong.
(rapid-fire)
Is light made up of particles or waves?
Lomanitz opens his mouth to speak -too slow -
OPPENHEIMER
Quantum mechanics says it’s both - how can it be both?
LOMANITZ
It can’t.
OPPENHEIMER
It can’t. But it is. It’s paradoxical and yet... it works.
Lomanitz is hooked. I turn to the board, chalk out an
equation . . . when I turn back -
There are now five students (including serber and snyder)
listening intently ... I move to Lomanitz to hand him his paper.
I pat his shoulder.
OPPENHEIMER
You’re gonna be okay.
Dissolve to:
A packed classroom, hanging on my every word as I - now
thirty-two, slim, well-dressed, confident -teach in the round.
Lawrence listens at the edge, fascinated.
OPPENHEIMER
Consider a star ... a vast furnace burning in outer
space. . .
INSERT CUT: A STAR. A SUN. BURNING, ROILING.
OPPENHEIMER
Fire pushing outwards against its own gravity - balanced.
But if its furnace cools, gravity starts winning. It
contracts . . .
I look around. Make eye contact with Hartland snyder . . .
SNYDER
Density increases . . .
OPPENHEIMER
Increasing gravity . . .
INSERT CUT: THE SUN IS SHRINKING, MORE AND MORE
RAPIDLY . . .
SNYDER
Increasing density. A vicious cycle. Until. . . What’s the
limit here?
OPPENHEIMER
I don’t know. See where the math takes us. I guarantee it’s
somewhere no one’s been before.
SNYDER
Me?
OPPENHEIMER
Your math’s better than mine.
EXT. BERKELEY - DAY
Energetic, dashing, I stride across campus, a group of students,
including Snyder and Lomanitz, following me, hanging on my
every word . . .
OPPENHEIMER
Einstein can’t accept the Copenhagen interpretation -
LOMANITZ
‘God doesn’t play dice.’
