J. Robert Oppenheimer Timeline

April 22, 1904

 Born New York City

1921

Graduates from Ethical Culture School, New York

1922

First visit to the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico (Los Alamos)

1922

Enrolls in Harvard

1925

Graduates from Harvard with top honors

1925

Sails for England to work in the
 Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge

1926-27

Studies at Cambridge and University of Gottingen

1927

 Ph.D. in physics from University of Gottingen

1929-1947

Professor at University of California at Berkeley and Cal. Tech

1930

Cockroft and Walton split the atom

1932

James Chadwick discovers the neutron

December 22, 1938

Hahn and Strassmann publish paper
describing atomic fission

1939

Leo Szilard confirms that neutrons are produced and explosive chain reaction likely

1940

Marries Katherine Puening Harrison

1943-45

Director of the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos

1945

First atomic bomb explodes near
Alamogordo, New Mexico, at Trinity Test Site

1946

Receives Presidential Medal of Merit
for work on Atomic Bomb

1947

Becomes director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University

1947-1952

Chairman, General Advisory Committee,
Atomic Energy Commission

1954

Suspended from General Advisory Committee, AEC

1963

Receives Enrico Fermi Award,
the AEC’s highest honor (rehabilitation)

February 18, 1967

Dies, Princeton, New Jersey