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The Atomic Hero: Robert Oppenheimer and the Making of Scientific Icons in the Early Cold War

This article explores the nature and construction of Robert Oppenheimer’s public image in the early Cold War. It argues that non-scientific attributes were the defining features of his increasingly iconic status, and it traces the evolution of how those non-scientific attributes interacted with scientific achievement in his public image from 1945–1954. Oppenheimer, as the “father of the atomic bomb,” presents a telling case study which sheds light on how the atomic age impacted Americans’ conceptions of science and scientists. In the immediate postwar years, Oppenheimer’s image was that of an individualized scientific hero, much as Albert Einstein had appeared for an earlier generation. The continuing renegotiation of the science-society relationship during the early Cold War, however, changed his cultural role. Oppenheimer became a more ambiguous but still admired figure, suggesting a path of moderate dissent in which nuclear weapons could be critically considered without necessitating broader political or institutional challenges.