The Manhattan Project (leadership)

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Who

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American Jewish physicist who served as scientific director of the Los Alamos laboratory

When

1942–1945

Where

Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States

J. Robert Oppenheimer directed the scientific work at Los Alamos during the World War II effort to build the first atomic bomb. Born to a non-observant German Jewish family in New York, Oppenheimer led a team that included many Jewish refugee scientists who had fled Nazi Europe.

Part of “The Gifts of the Jews” — verified Jewish contributions to the world, with sources.