"Bohr was the recipient of the Atoms for Peace Prize. None of us knew what the prize was for, but everyone knew that this was the right man to give it to."

- J. Robert Oppenheimer, May 14th, 1964.

In this talk, the father of the atom bomb explores the perils of the nuclear arms race, the weaponization of science, the tragedy of confrontational Cold War politics, and the loss of his friend and inspiration, Niels Bohr, who died just two years before.

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Original video found here, I've reduced the background noise, cut applause and distracting sounds, and minimized harmonic interference, although it was poorly mic'd and nonetheless has a few artifacts remaining.

My gratitude to the UCLA Communication Archive for preserving this wonderful piece of history.

As always these talks are syndicated for educational and nonprofit purposes in accordance with Fair Use. They are produced ad-free, because I listen to my own stuff on here and like you, I hate ads.

Furthermore my historical and philosophical writing, which is also entirely free is available at my blog, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Hemlock⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Substack.

The music of the intro and outro (Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major) is licensed under non-commercial attribution, and can be ⁠⁠⁠⁠found here⁠⁠⁠⁠ and has been remixed by me.

Enjoy.