There have been people throughout mankinds history who have been choosen, task, manipulated or inspired to play the role of catalyst in moving mankind
in a specific direction.
I've studied Oppenheimer for some time once I became aware that he was one such person, but one with a dark hand upon his shoulder.
He is identifiable for his knowledge and access to what Isaac Newton termed "prisca sapientia" or pristine knowledge. Newton was also tormented by
this source, and he tried hard to deny it through his unpublished works to John Locke where he disputed the existence of the Trinity.
If you don't believe in coincidences, it is interesting to note that
The joint work of the scientists at Los Alamos resulted in the first artificial nuclear explosion near Alamogordo on July 16, 1945, the site of which
Oppenheimer named "Trinity". Oppenheimer later said this name was from one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets
There is no doubt Oppie, as his students called him, was tormented, not only by the realization of what he helped unleash upon the world, but by how
he came by his knowledge. When a close friend of his in Paris, Francis Ferguson, engaged in a complicated dialog on experimental physics, listening
to Oppie's frustrations and idea's, the story told was that Oppenheimer just jumped up and tried to strangle him. It was more likely that Francis
simply asked him how he was getting these insights and knowledge without reams of calculations.
Oppenheimer was never comfortable with his ability to tap into the well of pristine knowledge, so when forced to confront that question, he appeared
as "deeply troubled" to his peers.
In the end, Oppenheimer could no longer deny that his use of this knowledge, this source of energy if you will, was not of him, or from him, and spent
the rest of his life trying to become a cooling force for the genie he let out of the bottle.
[edit on 19-6-2009 by GriffinRD]
[edit on 19-6-2009 by GriffinRD]
