January 8th, 2025, 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
The recording of this class is at https://youtu.be/1VSa7HOzJYY
Related materials are at https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1ZcsReqQGY-X70nZvUi4hy-IK7tP60Uik
More information about Rabbi Shlachter is on his website www.PhysicsRabbi.com and you can email him at PhysicsRabbi@gmail.com
In June 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) revoked the security clearance of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific leader of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bombs. Particularly in Los Alamos, NM, the main location for the Project, the canonical view today of the clearance clash between Oppenheimer and 1954 AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss paints Oppenheimer as the victim and Strauss as the villain.
This presentation will focus on the Jewish dimension of these two individuals and reflect on how their opposing approaches to their respective Jewish heritage may have contributed to the revocation. We’ll begin by exploring the history of the Jewish presence in the United States and the mechanisms used by Jews to integrate into American society. A little-known connection between Strauss and the Los Alamos Jewish Center will be described. Through the efforts in part of the Los Alamos-based J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee, in December 2022 the Secretary of Energy apologized for the clearance revocation and vacated the June 1954 decision In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Seeing the movie Oppenheimer is not a prerequisite for the talk, but it can be useful to view the film in advance since it focuses on both Oppenheimer’s personality and Strauss’s revocation of his security clearance.
Jack Shlachter is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for over thirty years with briefer stints at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Atomic Energy Agency, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the latter two based in Vienna, Austria. He led both the Physics Division and Theoretical Division during his LANL career.
In parallel, Jack is an ordained rabbi who has led the Jewish congregation in Los Alamos for many years, was the rabbi in Center Moriches, NY, during his years at Brookhaven, and now serves as rabbi of HaMakom, a congregation in Santa Fe, NM, as well as the Los Alamos Jewish Center. He has also provided itinerant rabbinic support to far-flung Jewish communities including those in Vienna, Beijing, Warsaw, and Bangkok.
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