Few scientists enjoy instant name recognition, and when they do it's often more for historical than theoretical reasons. Consider J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father" of the atomic bomb: Most people know he oversaw the Manhattan Project, the source of the original weapons of mass destruction that scorched Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some consider him a hero, crediting him with ending World War II, while others condemn him for unleashing a lethal creation. The surprise, for all, is the change Oppenheimer underwent after the bombs fell, and the resulting government response. During the "red scare" of the early 1950s, he was accused of being a communist because he opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb. This moment, when society succumbed to a fear wrought not by the escalating potential for mutually assured annihilation, but rather the calculated manipulations of its own government, forms the basis for Time Track... More >>>