thoughtcrumbs

Quotes from (the other) Oppenheimer

Frank Oppenheimer (Robert's little brother) was a creative and charming pacifist. So charming, in fact, he was even beloved by his FBI tail (assigned because of his membership in the Communist party for their racial integration campaigns). Oppenheimer believed that students should be able to do fundamental lab experiments at any time, so created a library of permanent experiment stations which eventually morphed into the Exploratorium. He was also known for integrating art and science (or maybe was just trying to convince his artist friends to help construct the museum):

"Artists and scientists are the official 'noticers' of society. They notice things that other people either have never learned to see or have learned to ignore, and communicate those 'noticings' to others."

Oppenheimer and Richard Feynman were good friends, and a quote often attributed to Feynman was more broadly stated by Oppenheimer:

"Understanding is a lot like sex: It has a practical purpose but that's not why people do it."