SparkNotes: J. Robert Oppenheimer: Review Test

1. From where was Oppenheimer's family?

(A) Germany

(B) Japan

(C) Mexico

(D) Hungary

2. What type of science was Oppenheimer first interested in as a child?

(A) Chemistry

(B) Mineralogy

(C) Physics

(D) Biology

3. How old was Oppenheimer when he presented his first scientific paper?

(A) twelve years old

(B) twenty-two years old

(C) thirty-two years old

(D) forty-two years old

4. At Harvard University, how many courses did Oppenheimer take each semester, on average?

(A) three

(B) five

(C) eight

(D) ten

5. In what subject did Oppenheimer major while at Harvard?

(A) Biology

(B) Chemistry

(C) Ancient Greek

(D) Physics

6. Where did Oppenheimer first study when he was in Europe?

(A) Cambridge University

(B) University of Göttingen

(C) Oxford University

(D) The Sorbonne

7. Oppenheimer studied under J. J. Thompson, who discovered which subatomic particle?

(A) Proton

(B) Neutron

(C) Nucleus

(D) Electron

8. What was the second European University in which Oppenheimer studied?

(A) Cambridge University

(B) University of Göttingen

(C) Oxford University

(D) The Sorbonne

9. In what year did Oppenheimer receive his Ph.D. in physics?

(A) 1927

(B) 1929

(D) 1933

10. Where did Oppenheimer teach when he returned to the United States?

(A) University of California at Berkeley

(B) Harvard University

(C) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(D) Cornell University

11. What did Oppenheimer's students eventually think of him as a teacher?

(A) They thought he was boring

(B) They thought he didn't know what he was talking about

(C) They thought he was the best teacher they had ever had

(D) They thought he was confusing

12. What was Oppenheimer's nickname among his friends?

(A) Bobby

(B) Oppie

(C) Rob

(D) The Bomb Guy

13. What made Oppenheimer take an interest in politics?

(A) Reading the newspaper

(B) His parents suggested that it would be a good idea

(C) The school ordered him to

(D) He saw how the depression affected his students and saw fascism take hold in Europe

14. Who is Jean Tatlock?

(A) Oppenheimer's wife

(B) Oppenheimer's girlfriend, who introduced him to radical politics.

(C) Oppenheimer's assistant at Los Alamos

(D) Oppenheimer's first physics teacher

15. With what political movement were most of Oppenheimer's new radical friends affiliated?

(A) Fascism

(B) Communism

(C) Monarchism

(D) Socialism

16. Who was Haakon Chevalier?

(A) Oppenheimer's communist friend and a professor of French Literature

(B) Oppenheimer's high school English teacher

(C) Oppenheimer's best friend in college

(D) The leader of the attempt to take away Oppenheimer's security clearance

17. What finally made Oppenheimer turn away from communism?

(A) The United States' entry into World War II

(B) Hearing about Soviet atrocities from scientists who had lived in the Soviet Union

(C) The signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact

(D) All of the above

18. What is the name of the physical process that made the atomic bomb possible?

(A) Relativity

(B) Nuclear fusion

(C) Radiation

(D) Nuclear fission

19. The two radioactive elements that would be used in the creation of the first atomic bombs were which two of the following?

(A) Hydrogen and oxygen

(B) Uranium and barium

(C) Uranium and plutonium

(D) Hydrogen and plutonium

20. Why did Albert Einstein write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt?

(A) To warn him about the possibility of an atomic bomb

(B) To tell him not to enter World War II

(C) To tell him that Germany had created an atomic bomb

(D) To tell him that Oppenheimer was a Soviet spy

21. In what year did Oppenheimer first learn that the United States was working on a secret atomic bomb project?

(A) 1939

(B) 1941

(D) 1945

22. What kind of uranium isotope was necessary for the atomic bomb?

(A) U-231

(B) U-235

(C) U-238

(D) U-240

23. What was the Manhattan Project?

(A) The secret project to develop radar

(B) The secret German project to bomb New York City

(C) The secret project to develop an atomic bomb

(D) The secret project to imprison communists

24. Who was the leader of the Manhattan Project?

(A) General Leslie Groves

(B) J. Robert Oppenheimer

(C) Edward Teller

(D) Albert Einstein

25. What was the location of the secret lab that Oppenheimer directed during World War II?

(A) Oak Ridge, Tennessee

(B) Los Alamos, New Mexico

(C) New York City, New York

(D) Chicago, Illinois

26. What was the code-name for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima?

(A) Little Boy

(B) Fat Man

(C) Thin Man

(D) Big Boy

27. What was the name of the method that made the Hiroshima bomb work?

(A) Implosion method

(B) Shock wave method

(C) Gun-assembly method

(D) Water pressure method

28. When the Allies invaded France in 1944, what did they learn about the German bomb program?

(A) The Germans were ready to detonate their first bomb

(B) The German bomb program was practically non-existent

(C) Hitler knew about the Manhattan Project and was ready to surrender

(D) The Germans had stolen all the secrets of the Manhattan Project

29. What was the code-name for the site of the first nuclear bomb explosion?

(A) Manhattan

(B) Destroyer

(C) Little Boy

(D) Trinity

30. What words went through Oppenheimer's head when he saw the first nuclear explosion?

(A) "Oh dear God, what have I done!"

(B) "Oh, brave new world. "

(C) "Death be not proud."

(D) "I am become Death / The destroyer of worlds."

31. On what Japanese city was the first atomic bomb dropped?

(A) Tokyo

(B) Hiroshima

(C) Nagasaki

(D) Kyoto

32. On what date was the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan?

(A) August 9, 1945

(B) August 14, 1945

(C) August 10, 1945

(D) August 6, 1945

33. Which President decided to drop the bomb?

(A) Franklin D. Roosevelt

(B) Harry S. Truman

(C) Dwight D. Eisenhower

(D) John F. Kennedy

34. What was the May-Johnson Bill?

(A) A bill turning the Manhattan Project over to the military

(B) A bill banning the use of nuclear weapons

(C) A bill handing control of the atomic bomb over to President Lyndon Johnson

(D) A bill supporting the creation of a hydrogen bomb

35. What did the Baruch Plan, presented to the United Nations after World War II, propose?

(A) That nuclear weapons be banned

(B) That nuclear power be placed under international control

(C) That the United States give the Soviet Union a sample atomic bomb

(D) That the United States control all the world's nuclear weapons

36. In 1946, Oppenheimer was appointed the Chairman of the General Advisory Committee of which Commission?

(A) Joint Commission on Atomic Weaponry

(B) Congressional Commission on Nuclear Power

(C) Atomic Energy Commission

(D) Presidential Nuclear Power Commission

37. When did the Soviet Union detonate its first atomic bomb?

(A) 1942

(B) 1945

(D) 1952

38. What was the common nickname of the hydrogen bomb?

(A) The Jumbo

(B) The Super

(C) The Big Guy

(D) The Big H

39. Which physicist was the biggest supporter of the hydrogen bomb project?

(A) Hans Bethe

(B) Albert Einstein

(C) Niels Bohr

(D) Edward Teller

40. What was Oppenheimer's reaction to the suggestion that the United States should build a hydrogen bomb?

(A) That it was the right thing to do

(B) That it was scientifically impossible for such a bomb to work

(C) That it would be morally wrong to build a bomb that was that powerful

(D) That it would cost too much money

41. How much more powerful was the hydrogen bomb than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima?

(A) ten times as powerful

(B) 100 times as powerful

(C) 1,000 times as powerful

(D) 10,000 times as powerful

42. In 1953, J. Edgar Hoover received a letter alleging that Oppenheimer was which of the following?

(A) Communist

(B) Fascist

(C) Socialist

(D) Republican

43. The tendency in 1950s to accuse everyone of having been a communist is known as

(A) Fascism

(B) McCarthyism

(C) Nihilism

(D) Patriotism

44. Was Oppenheimer ever a member of the Communist Party?

(A) Yes

(B) No

(C) Yes, but he regretted it for the rest of his life

(D) We may never know

45. Many scientists believed that the hearings against Oppenheimer were intended to persecute him for which of the following?

(A) His behavior at Los Alamos

(B) His support of the hydrogen bomb

(C) His opposition to the hydrogen bomb

(D) His friendship with Edward Teller

46. Who was one of the only prominent physicists to testify against Oppenheimer at his loyalty hearings?

(A) Albert Einstein

(B) Edward Teller

(C) Hans Bethe

(D) Leo Szilard

47. The Personnel Security Board decided which of the following about Oppenheimer ?

(A) He was a loyal citizen

(B) He had been a member of the Communist Party

(C) He had been and was still a Soviet spy

(D) He was having an affair with a Soviet spy

48. The Personnel Security Board decided that Oppenheimer should what?

(A) Go to jail

(B) Regain his security clearance

(C) Lose his security clearance

(D) Run for congress

49. The Atomic Energy Commission decided against Oppenheimer because they believed he had which of the following?

(A) Communist ties

(B) A "defective" character

(C) A terminal disease

(D) A big mouth

50. In 1963, Oppenheimer was awarded what by President Lyndon Johnson?

(A) Nobel Prize

(B) Pulitzer Prize

(C) Enrico Fermi Award

(D) Albert Einstein Award