History Month: Eureka!
This special film screening focuses on the question of whether all inventions are eureka moments. Oppenheimer shows the dichotomy of theoretical physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer in his invention of the atomic bomb. The bomb was developed to save the world from the Nazi regime at the risk of destroying the entire world. To this day, the weapon is used as a geopolitical threat.
In a mini-lecture preceding the film, university historian Ab Flipse tells the story of a special contemporary of Oppenheimer: Professor Sizoo, the first VU-professor of physics in 1930. Sizoo's work formed the basis for nuclear physics research in the Netherlands. He also published on the ethical aspects of the new nuclear technologies and after World War II became chairman of the Dutch National Defense Organization and director of the NATO institute SHAPE Air Defense Technical Centre. Sizoo can hardly be called the Dutch Oppenheimer - the contexts in which the two physicists operated were too different - but the dilemmas raised by the bomb were equally real for both.
The mini-lecture will be held in English.
The film will be introduced by Ab Flipse, a university historian at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). He researches diverse aspects of VU's history and has published, among other things, a book on the history of its Physics Department.
Oppenheimer
As early as 1938, German scientists had discovered the principle of nuclear fission, a discovery that made the development of an extremely powerful bomb theoretically possible: the devastating atomic bomb. It was Albert Einstein, among others, who urged US President Roosevelt to conduct his own research into this. The idea that Nazi Germany would have such a powerful weapon was so terrifying that the Americans decided in 1941 to develop such a weapon themselves; the Manhattan Project was born. A team of brilliant physicists, led by nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, went to work at Los Alamos Laboratory.
Christopher Nolan is an acclaimed director who stands out with intelligently told stories invariably portrayed with dazzling beauty, such as Memento, Inception and Interstellar. The historical biopic Oppenheimer is a exciting thriller about a man who must develop a weapon of mass destruction as quickly as possible, but who is also acutely aware of the moral implications. What is it like to work on developing a weapon that can save the world and destroy it at the same time? Starring Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife Kitty. Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh and Gary Oldman also make appearances.
