The highly anticipated film "Oppenheimer" opened around the country this past weekend. It centers on acclaimed physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.
He is often referred to as the Father of the Atomic Bomb for leading the efforts to devise and construct the world's first nuclear weapon in the early 1940s.
The film tracks his life from his early college years to the first test of the bomb in 1945, to the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
It's a film that retired University of Hawaiʻi physicist Michael Jones has been looking forward to seeing.
Jones helped assemble the "Beginning and End of the Bomb" exhibit at UH's Hamilton Library in 2020, which also focused on the atomic bomb. It ran for two weeks before it was closed due to the onset of the pandemic.
Jones spent much of the 1970s raising awareness about the dangers of hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Today, as tensions rise with Russia, North Korea and Iran, Jones believes "Oppenheimer" will remind people of the gravity of nuclear weapons.
"I hope that makes people aware of the situation, the fact that something has to be done, at the very least not make the situation worse,” he told The Conversation.
"It's almost certainly going to be worse if there are several countries that acquire nuclear weapons."
Jones hopes scientists will continue to do everything in their power to prevent weapons of mass destruction from being used again.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 25, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This interview was adapted for the web by Emily Tom.
