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HE IS known as the father of the atomic bomb, but J. Robert Oppenheimer was much more than that. As scientific director of the Los Alamos atomic weapons laboratory during the second world war, Oppenheimer was a social symbol, a “nodal point” where scientific, political and military interests clashed. It is this sociological aspect of his life that Thorpe focuses on here. On his fall from grace as a suspected communist fellow traveller, he is sympathetic without making excuses. One chapter is headed, using Oppenheimer’s own words, “I am an idiot”. Disappointingly for a sociological study, Thorpe never lifts his…