Haakon Chevalier

Through interviews with Manhattan Project scientists and newly declassified archival footage, this documentary examines the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his leadership of the Manhattan Project. The film traces the development and testing of the first atomic bomb and follows Oppenheimer’s later opposition to nuclear proliferation during the early years of the Cold War.

Documentary, first broadcast in 1966, that tells the history of the superbomb, exploring the race by scientists to imitate the nuclear reactions of the sun and build the first thermonuclear weapon. The film reveals how the careers and reputations of some of the scientists involved were seared in the process.