Of all the famous Princeton people, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s contributions to society are probably the most controversial. Dubbed the “father of the atomic bomb,” Oppenheimer played a large role in developing nuclear weapons as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II. The bombs he helped create were the ones that were used in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While Oppenheimer was indirectly responsible for the deaths of many, it is important to note that he spent much of his later life actively working to limit the role of nuclear weapons in the world. He spent the last 20 years of his life as director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he died in 1967.

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