Our story to tell

In the summer of 2023, the Lab’s National Security Research Center released its own version of Oppenheimer’s story, connecting past with present and shedding new light on the lasting influence of the Lab’s first director in Oppenheimer: Science, Mission, Legacy.

Drawing from the NSRC’s collections as well as interviews with historians, technical experts, and today’s Lab leadership, the three-part documentary “is a story of historical discovery, world-changing innovation, and unfolding current events,” according to its lead creator Dave Tietmeyer. Like the film’s content, the 10-month journey of its production is a tale of history in the making. Read on to learn how the Lab’s documentary itself became a part of Oppenheimer’s legacy.

More than a movie

In the late spring of 2022, as on-location filming was wrapping up in Los Alamos for the Hollywood Oppenheimer movie (in which current Lab personnel participated as extras and for which the NSRC and the Bradbury Science Museum provided unclassified historical artifacts), Lab filmmaker Dave Tietmeyer had an idea.

Tietmeyer had just finished a  documentary about the Trinity test—the July 16, 1945, detonation of the first atomic weapon, developed by Oppenheimer and his team—through which he was first fully introduced to the NSRC collections. He realized that the Lab was uniquely positioned to tell Oppenheimer’s story, from its 1943 beginning to the first director’s lasting scientific legacy at the Lab.

“I came to the thought that not only is Trinity our story to tell, but Oppenheimer is our story to tell. In the context of Nolan’s movie, this seemed the perfect time to do it,” Tietmeyer said. NSRC leadership agreed.

As the Lab’s classified library, the NSRC traces its lineage back to the original technical library that Oppenheimer assembled in 1943 for Manhattan Project scientists. In addition to the classified and unclassified technical collections that inform the work of today’s weapons researchers, the NSRC also houses documents, photos, and videos related to Lab history, along with an expert team of librarians, archivists, and historians. “Having worked with the NSRC, Dave was familiar with our collections,” said NSRC Director Brye Steeves. “The documents, the photographs, the original handwritten notes . . . We have the historical subject matter experts and all of the media assets that we needed to tell Oppenheimer’s story.”

“LANL, particularly the NSRC and its collections, holds the key to understanding both the complexity of the Lab’s wartime success as well as Oppenheimer’s scientific genius,” said Lab historian Roger Meade. Senior Lab historian Alan Carr added that while Oppenheimer’s and the Manhattan Project’s stories have been told many times by many others, “we can pull together perspectives, images, audio, and video that have never been seen before—and give viewers a glimpse of what it is like to work within Oppenheimer’s legacy at the Lab today. It’s the story as only we can tell it.”

“The Nolan movie is a movie,” said Ethan Frogget, Media Production group leader. “Our documentary is a history and an official communication of the Lab. We could have made this a three-minute video, but Dave wanted to do it right. He believed that the story of Oppenheimer and his legacy for the Lab needed much more time to tell.”

Discoveries, interviews: Behind the scenes

In the yearlong research and filming process for Oppenheimer: Science, Mission, Legacy, historians and technical experts shared their insights over many hours of interviews. These sessions made for some of the most powerful moments in the film.

One such moment arose from a late addition to the documentary that was inspired by a chance discovery: the surprising contents of an old, marked-up folder in the NSRC archives. Inside were dozens of photographs, probably unseen for decades, from Oppenheimer’s last known visit to the Lab in 1964. Tietmeyer saw a rare opportunity to depict the Lab’s first director toward the end of his life. (Oppenheimer died in February of 1967.) No longer in the spotlight but no less cherished by the Lab community, Oppenheimer gave a talk during that visit about Nobel laureate and Manhattan Project contributor Niels Bohr that packed the Los Alamos High School auditorium.

In the documentary’s third episode, Tietmeyer weaves the rediscovered 1964 photographs with clips from the NSRC’s original recording of Oppenheimer’s  talk, bringing his voice and the 10-minute standing ovation that greeted him as he walked on stage to one of the film’s most emotional scenes. The moment brought historian Jim Kunetka, author of The General and the Genius and one of the documentary’s interviewees, to the verge of tears on camera.

“Bringing in Oppenheimer’s voice and the applause was an addition that came later in production,” said Carr. “It’s powerful and the most emotional part of the film.”

Steeves adds, “It gives me goosebumps every time. It’s quite dramatic and my favorite part of the documentary. This man’s accomplishments and what would be his enduring legacy after his death are exemplified in this scene.”

Authors like Kunetka and Kai Bird (whose 2005 book American Prometheus was the basis for Nolan’s Oppenheimer movie) as well as the subject’s grandson, Charles Oppenheimer, lend another layer to the story of science, mission, and legacy: Oppenheimer as his friends, family, and colleagues knew him. An in-depth version of Bird’s interview was recently released as a “bonus” fourth episode that delves deeper into Oppenheimer’s life in its social context.

To complete the arc from 1943 to 2023, Tietmeyer also gathered insights from modern-day Los Alamos leaders, including current director Thom Mason. Their perspectives of Oppenheimer’s lasting influence on science and culture at the Lab brought the scope of the film into the present day.

Watch the bonus fourth episode of the NSRC documentary Oppenheimer: Science, Mission, Legacy—an in-depth interview with biographer Kai Bird.

Becoming part of Oppenheimer’s history

Midway through production, Tietmeyer and his team suddenly found themselves a part of history in the making and revising the documentary’s final episode—twice—in response to current events.

In December 2022, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm officially vacated the decades-old decision by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC; the DOE’s precursor) to revoke Oppenheimer’s security clearance. Besides its impact on Oppenheimer’s personal life and career, the 1954 decision had far-reaching consequences in the scientific community. The implication made during the hearing that Oppenheimer’s policy recommendations as a government advisor were a litmus test for his political loyalty led to concerns that scientists could be silenced for publicly expressing dissenting views.

In a statement, Granholm called the decision part of a “flawed process” and underscored the DOE’s “responsibility to correct the historical record and honor Dr. Oppenheimer’s profound contributions to our national defense and the scientific enterprise at large.” Once he heard the news, Tietmeyer said, “We realized that we had to switch gears. Originally, we weren’t even talking about the AEC hearings. We were focusing on Oppenheimer’s legacy at the Lab.” The production team shifted focus for the film’s final episode—“Legacy”—to include this part of Oppenheimer’s history and its unexpected contemporary conclusion. They finalized this version and held a public screening of the full documentary in partnership with the Los Alamos Historical Society in mid-July 2023 (see page 12).

Little did anyone know that there would be one more revision to the ending, involving the secretary of energy herself. In the spring of 2023, the Laboratory invited Secretary Granholm to Los Alamos for a screening of Oppenheimer: Science, Mission, Legacy in honor of her vacating the AEC’s 1954 ruling. After months of working through schedules with the DOE office, the news came that the secretary would indeed make her first-ever visit to the Laboratory to view a 45-minute version of the film and participate in a panel discussion immediately afterward.

With the secretary’s visit in August, Tietmeyer saw another way to deepen the film’s depiction of Oppenheimer’s life—by incorporating footage of the panel discussion, which also included Lab Director Mason; Charles Oppenheimer; and Jill Hruby, Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The result brought Oppenheimer’s history and legacy fully into the present moment.

“It was amazing that the secretary came all the way here to watch our film,” said Frogget. “While she was here, we were able to get her first recorded commentary on the decision to vacate the AEC’s revocation of Oppenheimer’s clearance. This will be relevant for decades to come.”

“Oppenheimer’s life and work mattered then and they still matter today,” said Steeves. “Secretary Granholm’s vacation of the AEC decision is part of his legacy—his dissent in scientific conversations elsewhere did not mean disloyalty. Truth in science matters, and our documentary spells that out for audiences.”

Reflecting on the evolution of Oppenheimer: Science, Mission, Legacy, Tietmeyer said, “We were constantly tweaking it. And who knows when a new discovery will come out of the NSRC collections? The story may never end.” He added, “The real ‘Oscar winners’ here are Brye, Alan, Roger, and the NSRC staff, who were incredible to work with. And I have to thank my Media Production filmmakers who assisted with the project. It was a complete team effort and an enjoyable experience.”