In the 1930s, Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist interested in neutrons which led him to be the first to mathematically predict the existence of black holes. So how did an expert in theory end up leading the experimental development of the atomic bomb during WWII?

Chadwick (1932; discovery of neutron report) https://www.nature.com/articles/129312a0
Oppenheimer & Volkoff (1939; maximum mass of a neutron star) https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/...
Oppenheimer & Snyder (1939; gravitational collapse beyond maximum limit) https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/...
Tolman (1934; textbook) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...
Fermi et al. (1934; radioactivity from neutron bombardment) https://www.jstor.org/stable/2935604?...
Hahn & Strassman (1939; chemistry of nuclear fission)
Meitner & Frisch (1939; physics of nuclear fission) https://www.nature.com/articles/143239a0
Hawking (1974; black holes in GR) https://link.springer.com/article/10....
Penrose (1964) https://journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1...
Hawking (1971; gravitationally collared objects of low mass) https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/p...
Rezzolla, Most & Weih (2018; revised TOV limit from LIGO) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10...
Webster & Murdin (1972; first observational black hole candidate) https://www.nature.com/articles/235037a0

My previous video on where the name “black hole” comes from:    • Where does the name  "black hole" com...  

00:00 Introduction
01:12 The discovery of the neutron and its properties through the 1930s
02:26 Impact of the pace of discovery on society
03:32 Supernova, neutron stars and Oppenheimer
05:00 Oppenheimer’s maximum limit of the mass of a neutron star
07:05 The TolmanOppenheimerVolkoff limit
08:11 Beyond this limit: Oppenheimer predicts black holes
09:42 Black holes to atomic bombs
10:57 Bloopers

Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV



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‍ I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.


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