Chevalier Incident wikipedia, wiki, oppenheimer, cast, haakon chevalier, jean tatlock -:The Chevalier incident happened in 1943 during the Manhattan Project, which was America’s plan to make an atomic bomb during World War II. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the project’s head scientist, was involved. So was his friend Haakon Chevalier, who some people thought was a spy for the Soviet Union.
The incident
The incident -:In early 1943, Haakon Chevalier had dinner with J. Robert Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty at their home in Berkeley, California. They were alone in the kitchen mixing drinks when Chevalier mentioned that George Eltenton, who they both knew from Berkeley and worked for the Shell Development Corporation, told him he could get technical information to the Russians.Oppenheimer didn’t tell anyone about this conversation at the time, but he later told his security officer in September 1946, after the war ended. When he did talk about it, he gave contradictory statements, saying he was approached by multiple people about sharing information with the Soviets, and that he made up the other contacts to protect Chevalier, who he thought was innocent.
The Investigation / Aftermath
The Investigation / Aftermath -:The Chevalier incident, which occurred during the Manhattan Project in 1943, led to a major security hearing for J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1954. This hearing questioned his loyalty to the United States and eventually resulted in the revocation of his security clearance, effectively ending hisThis incident has been a subject of controversy in the history of the Manhattan Project. While some historians argue that Oppenheimer’s actions were justified given the wartime context and his fear of a witch hunt, others believe that he should have reported the conversation to the authorities immediately, viewing his failure to do so as a serious security lapse. The incident highlights the complex ethical and security dilemmas faced by scientists and policymakers during times of war.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer -:Born in New York City on April 22, 1904, J. Robert Oppenheimer was a famous American physicist and science boss. He’s most famous for leading the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II when they made the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer studied chemistry at Harvard University and got a PhD in physics from the University of Göttingen. He did a lot of important work in physics, like the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and the theory of electrons and positrons.Oppenheimer got in trouble during the McCarthy era because people thought he was a communist. They took away his security clearance in 1954, which meant he couldn’t work on nuclear physics anymore. But in 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy said that wasn’t fair and took away the punishment. Oppenheimer died on February 18, 1967, in Princeton, New Jersey, because of throat cancer.
Haakon Chevalier
Haakon Chevalier -:Haakon Chevalier was a French literature professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a close friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was active in politics at Berkeley, joining the Teachers’ Union and the ACLU. Chevalier was very left-wing and might have been a member of the Communist Party. In early 1943, Chevalier told Oppenheimer that he knew how to share information with the Soviets. Oppenheimer said no to Chevalier’s offer but didn’t say anything about it for eight months. The Chevalier offer, and Oppenheimer’s late reporting of it, were used against him in 1954 when they took away his security clearance. Chevalier lost his job at Berkeley in 1950 because of his political views and moved to France. He died in 1985 in Paris.
Jean Tatlock
Jean Tatlock -:Jean Tatlock was an American psychiatrist and a member of the Communist Party USA. She was born on February 21, 1914, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and died on January 4, 1944, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 29. Tatlock met J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1936 while she was studying at Stanford University Medical School. They had a serious relationship for several years, and Oppenheimer said they almost got married twice. Tatlock ended the relationship in 1939, but Oppenheimer visited her in San Francisco as late as 1943. Tatlock struggled with depression and died by suicide. Her death was officially listed as a suicide, but some people, including Tatlock’s brother, suspected she was murdered, possibly by intelligence agents from Los Alamos. Tatlock introduced Oppenheimer to the Communist Party, which eventually led to the revocation of his security clearance almost twenty years later. Tatlock’s story is featured in Christopher Nolan’s biopic “Oppenheimer,” where she is portrayed by Florence Pugh.
Cast
Cast -:The main cast of Christopher Nolan’s biopic “Oppenheimer” includes Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, Dylan Arnold as Frank Oppenheimer, Michael Angarano as Robert Serber, Jason Clarke as Roger Robb, Alex Wolff as Luis Walter Alvarez, Gilbertson as Enrico Fermi, Olli Haaskivi as Edward Condon, James D’Arcy as Patrick Blackett, Matthias Schweighöfer as Werner Heisenberg, Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence, Rory Keane as Hartland Snyder, Emma Dumont as Jackie Oppenheimer, Guy Burnet as George Eltenton, Louise Lombard as Ruth Tolman, and Tom Jenkins as Richard C. Tolman.
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