Customer Reviews

Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the world he made up

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
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SOMETHING INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL HAPPENS by K.C. Cole is 380 pages long. The pages are good quality bright white paper, not beige newspaper-type paper. There are no photographs or diagrams, aside from photos of Mr. Oppenheimer on the front cover and the author (with reflection of Mr. Oppenheimer) on the back cover. Excellent source documentation is found, as the section on footnotes and bibliography is lengthy (pages 328-380).

The book is a biography of Frank Oppenheimer, younger brother of the reknowned Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. The narrative begins with Frank's childhood in New York, where he found an interest in art and flute playing. We learn of his undergraduate years (1930-1933) at Johns Hopkins University, and graduate years at Cal Tech to study physics. We learn of Frank's interest in communism (pages 46-50) and consequent extended scrutiny by the FBI (pages 75-127, 139). In effect, this scrutiny came to an end when Frank finally succeeded in securing a full-time research position at the University of Colorado in 1959 and eventual promotion to full professor in 1964 and attainment of professor emeritus in 1979 (pages 128-147). We learn of Frank's contribution to the atomic bomb effort, where he supervised the refinement of U235 from U238, and calculations of radioactive clouds, which involved working in Pittsburgh, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos (pages 51-65).

Frank easily obtained a faculty position at the University of Minnesota, where he made discoveries in particle physics with high-altitude experiments using balloons (pages 76-92). But Frank was eventually fired in 1949 and subjected to inquisitions from HUAC and the FBI. Frank went into exile as a rancher in rural Colorado, funded at least in part by selling his family's paintings by Van Gough and Picasso (page 103-116), and eventually gained the trust of his neighbors. Frank took a high school teaching job and acquired a reputation for producing high-quality students. As mentioned above, Frank eventually made his way back to the University (Univ. of Colorado) where this was aided by letters of recommendation from a number of physicists who continue to be "household words," e.g., Hans Bethe and George Gamow (page 130). As it turned out, Frank's interests turned to science teaching, and he received two Guggenheims for funding visits to science museums in Europe (page 141).

Thus, up to this point, the book conctains plenty of INTRIGUE, as the narrative concerns atomic bombs, communists, spies, high-altitude balloons landing in weird places around the world, Picasso and Van Gough paintings, and exile in a remote spot in Colorado.

1968 marked a big turning point for Frank, as he formed a board of directors for initiating a science museum in San Francisco, later called the Exploratorium (page 151). The rest is history. The rest of the book concerns the development and funding of the Exploratorium (page 151-321).

The following concerns the literary style. The reader is provided with amusing or perceptive details that place you right at the side of Mr.Oppenheimer. These details include the "burns from forgotten cigarettes" in Frank's desk (page 9), Frank's habit of "bobbing his head back and forth like Howdy Doody" (page 10), and the notion that "he was like Tom Sawyer in a business suit." (page 10). We learn of Frank's philosophy for setting up the Exploratorium, e.g., "no one flunks a museum" (page 17), and that "He hated how science education promoted the myth of the collective right answer." (page 170). We learn an amusing fact about Frank's graduate years where, eager to make new discoveries, believed that he'd discovered new spectral lines, but that it was actually an artifact due to his eyes failing to focus properly in the dark (page 41). We learn of a difference between Frank (stood at the fringe) and Robert (center of any group) (page 44). The following is still another fun fact that transports the reader to the very moment in history--this is the story that management at Los Alamos placed actors in taverns in Santa Fe to engage in dialogues about "electric rockets" in order to initiate rumors, thereby preventing the townsfolk from suspecting that the project was actually about bombs (page 56).

This book will be of especial interest to: (1) Folks who live in the San Francisco Bay area and have been to the Exploratorium; (2) People interested in older brother Robert Oppenheimer, and wanting a better-rounded view of the Oppenheimer family; and (3) Science museum directors and dedicated science teachers.

If there is any criticism to make, I would have liked to see a reproduction of the Acheson-Lilienthal plan (page 70), perhaps in an Appendix. Also, Chapter Four uses the literary technique of starting out with a reproduction of a letter, perhaps a couple of other chapters should start with the same technique. FIVE STARS.

On more that one occasion, K.C. Cole's biography of Frank Oppenheimer comes rather close to reading like fan girl praise with lots and lots of adulation for its subject. But she checks herself before she wrecks herself: "Still, I think it's fair to say that while the unpleasant side of Frank's nature is part of his legacy - mostly affecting his family - even those who saw his dark side tend to remember him with admiration and affection." (Page 22)

As "Something Incredibly..." rolled along, I easily got caught up in the praises and stories of Robert Oppenheimer, a man whom I knew nothing about prior to reading this book. His life was definitely interesting and his stature as physicist-for-the-everyman could probably rival Feynman. So if you really enjoyed "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman," then you will likely really get into Frank Oppenheimer.

The story starts from his Manhattan childhood, through his formal schooling, lightly dipping its toe into the Communist party, explains his role in the development of the atomic bomb, getting kicked to the curb by his country during the McCarthy-era red scare, up to the stories behind his legendary museum known as the Exploratorium. The fact that he once cheated on his wife is briefly mentioned.

Two gripes keep me from rating this book a 4, and one is the lack of any visual aides. A good half of the book is dedicated to unfolding the inner workings of the Exploratorium. The museum, so I'm told, is filled with gadgets, toys, and illusionary art. Even though K.C. Cole tries to explain it all in writing, I get the nagging feelings that I'm never going to "get it" unless I see it. Or maybe I'll get part of it if I see some photographs and/or diagrams. Alas, the flattering portrayal of a wondrous illusionary piece of artwork known as the Sun Painting is reduced to black ink on white paper. When it comes to writing about interactive physics, I don't think it's too much to ask for a few visual aides.

Other complaint; it was around page 200 that I felt that the oh-wasn't-Frank-just-an-eccentric-yet-brilliant-man-without-limits horse had been beaten a few hundred times too many. Although it is important to remember that Frank Oppenheimer did most certainly march to the beat of his own drummer, the constant reminder of his uncompromising character through anecdotes (all of a similar nature) felt like this secondary point was being jack hammered into my head - not to mix metaphors. In other words, I get it. Frank was weird and smart, a good educator, enthusiastic, idealistic and maybe a touch cynical. The second half of the book just takes too much time to bask in Frankness, though that is entirely my opinion.

At the end of the day, I'm glad I read this book. Good stories, an interesting life, lots of conflict, all that good stuff. I just wish the author would have trimmed the fat here and there as well as given us some things to look at.

Robert Oppenheimer was an extremely controversial figure following his stewardship of the Manhattan Project. His work as head of the effort to build the first atomic bomb lasted some three years. Years in which many of the world's most talented physicists worked in secret while the most expensive engineering project in human history was built from scratch around them. Oppenheimer stroked their egos, assuaged their guilt and acted as a liason between the unruly scientists and the strait-laced, infinitely more rigid military men and government agents who constituted the security apparatus. It was their job to crack the whip and to keep a distrustful eye on them. Oppenheimer had pre-war left-wing sympathies but kept aloof from joining any organizations. He was never a Communist. Unfortunately for him, his mistress, his brother Frank and Frank's wife all were. Too valuable to remove, he was tolerated until after the war when fear of the Russians and the drive to build the 'super' or hydrogen bomb spurred the government to revoke his security clearance after several infamous hearings behind closed doors. Frank Oppenheimer, also a physicist, had worked on the atomic bomb as well. He was caught in the crossfire, outed as having been a communist in the 1930s and his career as a scientist shattered. He felt as if his life had ended.

Frank spent ten years in exile working on a Colorado ranch. Eventually he found his way back to an academic career teaching physics at the University of Colorado. Devising increasingly more sophisticated and visually arresting physics experiments for the students, he housed them in a laboratory that was open most days from 8:30 to 5. He called it his 'library of experiments'. The success of this method of teaching by scientific showmanship gave Frank the idea for a museum of science in which these wonderful experiments and fascinating demonstrations could be open and available to all. The idea for the Exploratorium had been born.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco has been a great success and is now the model for museums all over the world. Frank Oppenheimer wound up changing the world for the better. In many ways it was his answer to the atomic bomb. This wonderfully informative and often quite moving book is Frank's story. It is a story whose delay in being told is mitigated by the expert way that author K. C. Cole, a science writer and friend of Frank Oppenheimer's for many years, has told it in simple unadorned prose. The book is candid, unflinching and wide-ranging in its scope. The Oppenheimer brothers lived brilliant, privileged lives that might have ended in tragedy. Due to Frank Oppenheimer's perserverance, integrity and imagination, their legacy is more than that terrible flash and vast explosion that roiled the desert on that long ago July evening in 1945. This is an inspirational book in many ways.

I work in the science center field, and have been to dozens of science centers. Definitely my favorite is San Francisco's Exploratorium. It's every bit as amazing as KC Cole's book makes it out to be (and the book will make a lot more sense if you've been there).

This book is a biography of Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer, whom the author worked for and was good friends with. His story is indeed an interesting one, from his wealthy childhood, his career in physics, work (along with more famous brother Robert) on the Manhattan Project, his post war fears of nuclear proliferation, victim of McCarhtyism, rebirth as a teacher, and creation of a museum that really did revolutionize science education. Cole has no shortage of personal accounts from herself and other associates, and many parts of the book are inspiring, and very thought provoking.

The downside, and it's a big one, is that Cole could have used a little more journalistic distance from her subject. The tone of much of the book often goes into gushing, verging on worshipful.

One example: Treating every utterance of Frank's as received wisdom doesn't help the book. When Frank angrily lambastes a worker for using glue to seal together part of an exhibit, Cole treats this as yet another example of what a wonderful visionary Frank was. Oppenheimer's reason for the rant was that he wanted all the functions of how exhibits worked to be visible and understandable to visitors - no black boxes, no hidden devices making this function, and he deemed glue too mysterious. That's a good m.o. that serves the Exploratorium well, ergo he wanted screwss, "no glue!". But I couldn't help but think that this could have been the genesis of another educational Exploratorium set of exhibits: how the heck DO things get held together? Screws, nails, velcro, glue, tape... all use different methods, and it seems like these topics would have nicely complement other Exploratorium exhibits that involve electromagnetism or water (which use their own ways to attract).

A promising avenue for exploration? Maybe. But my main point is: the idea apparently never occurred to Oppenheimer because of dogmatic thinking, the kind he normally opposed. And pointing out that this (or anything) might have been a shortcoming of his never occurs to Cole. Everything, down to his extramarital affairs, is yet another example of how wonderful Frank was.

And overall, he certainly was. It's just that Cole's attempts to ignore anything to the contrary - even if it doesn't change the overall conclusion - takes away from the book. Especially a book focused on science, where such evidence cherry-picking is not supposed to occur.

It's a decent book, though if you want a somewhat drier but more objective one, try finding Hilda Heine's "Exploratorium".

Or better yet, take some advice from Oppenheimer himself. "Learning science without stuff", he said, "is like learning how to swim without going into the water." No book can make you appreciate him like checking out the Exploratorium itself.

Frank and Robert were incredibly close brothers in their younger days, but Robert was not supportive when Mccarthyism spelled the end of his brother's career in physics. Frank blatantly lied to his dean at the University of Minnesota claiming the pat: "I am not now and I never have been a member of the communist party." He had, he was and it signaled the end of his career. It was later conjectured that he lied to protect his brother, but Robert's illustrious career went up in smoke not long after, despite his efforts to help. He couldn't get a job in physics if he tried. Blackballed was the word of the day and Frank didn't wear it well. He didn't need "a tie for haying." Frank Oppenheimer, "the gentle Jewish intellectual from Manhattan," landed in Pagosa Springs in a primitive cabin without electricity.

It was a long, difficult fall into obscurity, but he and his wife Jackie settled in with their two children and were determined to learn to ranch. Later, Frank's daughter claimed that she "had two very depressed parents." As the years went by the ranch began to succeed and take hold and later Frank obtained a teaching job at a local high school. In the meantime, "Robert Oppenheimer was effectively obliterated." The glorious days of the Oppenheimer brothers were a thing of the past. Frank struggled to reach his students and tried by any means he could to interest them. At first they balked and then they flocked to his side with enthusiasm and excitement to dabble in physics. Later, when the Exploratorium was in full swing, they recognized many of the experiments they themselves had embraced.

Years later, the timing was right and Frank was able to finagle San Francisco into seeing his dream. For a one dollar-a-year lease of the "Palace" in May 1969 his dream of a museum, or the Exploratorium as it was so named, was going to be a reality. Frank "imagined it as a place where both art and science could be used as vehicles for understanding." It was a place of discovery and wonder where people could come in off the streets, explore, wonder, discover and even break things at their leisure. It started off small, but began to grow and thrive and brought the gentle man from Manhattan, Frank Oppenheimer, back to life.

I was utterly enthralled by this biography and after I read it, it was one of those books I thought about for a long time. Not about the writing per se, but about the man that almost disappeared after the onslaught of the shameful Mccarthyism era. I liked the way the author, who knew Frank well, was able to impart to the reader his dedication to his work at the Exploratorium. I would have preferred to hear more about what made Frank tick, instead of how he could make things tick. This is, on one level, more of a biography of the Exploratorium than of Frank because they really were one and the same. This wonderful biography is one of those books I usually tuck away to reread when I want to rediscover the magic in it all over again.

Subtitled "Frank Oppenheimer and the World He Made Up", this is a biography of the brother of the more famous Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who help develop the atomic bomb and was later stripped of his security clearing during the witchhunts of the McCarthy era. Frank was also a physicist and played a smaller role in developing the atomic bomb, but he was also persecuted in the 1950s and lost his professorship at a leading university. His story, however, is a much more positive one than his famous brother.

The author of this book, K.D. Cole obviously adored this man. She met him when she was a young writer in the early 1970s and he was just developing his world-renowned Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. He inspired her to learn more about science and physics and, through the years, she has written seven books and numerous articles on scientific topics.

The first part of the book deals with the Oppenheimer brothers and the Atomic bomb. This was familiar to me especially since I had recently read "American Prometheus" which is the story of Robert. This book puts more focus on Frank however and it is especially interesting that after Frank could no longer teach anymore, he and his wife and two children bought a cattle ranch in Colorado. This was a whole new lifestyle for them and they all worked hard physically to keep the ranch going. But Frank had a great need to teach the love of science to young people. At first he taught children in a one-room school house. Later, he became a high-school science teacher in his little town. He was wonderful at inspiring his students, many of whom went on to become scientists in later life.

In the 1970s Frank and his family moved to San Francisco, where he was the impetus for a new kind of groundbreaking museum, the Exploratorium. This was a place where science came to life and museum goers were encouraged to touch, feel and experiment. It took a while but the museum is a now a tremendous success and, even though Frank passed away more than 20 years, ago, it stands as a testimony to the greatness and the vision of the man.

At 327 pages, this book is packed full of the essence of who Frank Oppenheimer was. Not only did I enjoy it as a good read, I also learned a lot about science, and physics in particular. One doesn't have to be a scientist to enjoy this book. Having an open and inquiring mind is enough.

I love biographies, especially when they're about eccentric academics. I was hoping that this book would intrigue me like Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century, which was about a mathematician as well as his drive to solve a seemingly unsolvable math problem.

Unfortunately, this book lacks focus and direction. I realize that not all biographies, just as all lives, do not have "stories" that are inherently interesting and easy to follow. It is the job of the biographer to ensure that the way the information is relayed in a way that makes the reader want to continue reading. Frank Oppenheimer led an interesting, but circuitous life. To maintain my interest, some of his less interesting and less influential years could have been summarized more concisely.

This is both a biography of Frank Oppenheimer and a history of the Exploratorium, which was perhaps the world's best Science Museum - it is as much a major player in this book as anyone in here. Perhaps more than Frank himself.

It's certainly interesting, but I find myself conflicted about the book - I just couldn't get completely pulled into it as a great biography should do. So I'm going to lay out a list of pros and cons.

Pros:
- I'm sure most people know about Frank's older brother Robert and don't even know he existed, but he helped build the atom bomb, and then he buil the Exploratorium. This is certainly the only real look at his life I've ever seen.
- The Exploratorium is a great place, and it's good to see a real history of it.
- This is obviously a work of love.
- The author worked with Frank for decades and obviously had some good access to his papers and was able to interview many people who knew him. The book has been in the works for nearly as long.
- There are lots of amusing anecdotes, and it's an easy read (but as mentioned above, not consuming).
- Frank was definitely an interesting guy.

Cons:
- Either K.C. Cole knew Frank Oppenheimer too well, or he was too much of a contradiction. I got a vague sense of the man, but never any real connection, which is fatally bad in a biography.
- My guess is the author liked Frank too much to be brutally honest. She has no qualms about telling you 'Frank did this really good thing... but he did this really bad thing.' Then just leaves it at 'Well he was a contradiction.' Well good lord, why is a guy who thinks lying is the worst thing in the world repeatedly cheating on his wife? And that's just one of many, many examples.
- It reads like a really, really, really long magazine article. Complete with sections and pull-quotes. This would be good in a magazine article, but:
- It's far too long. I kept reading the same things over and over; not the same events, but the same 'Frank was x' and this expands it out to over 300 pages, which is bad when you can't connect with the subject.
- I wanted more of Frank's writing, from the horse's mouth so to speak. But from a throwaway remark later in the book, that's another book the author is currently editing.

So there you go, I would have liked the book a lot more if it was brutally tightened up. It was interesting reading about Frank and the Exploratorium, and if you're a fast reader like I am you might find it interesting, but otherwise you will never make it through.

Final Warning: If you thought the 50s Communist Scare was a good thing, the pervasive politics of this book will have you burning it long before you get to the end. Oppenheimer and Cole are aggressively progressive in a way that will leave you frothing, but I believe was necessary to create a place like the Exploratorium.

I read this book because K. C. Cole is an excellent science writer, and Frank Oppenheimer is a significant footnote in physics history. What I had not realized going in is that he was a mentor, employer, and friend to Cole, and this book is, at heart, a memoir and a paean to him. That's not necessarily a fault, but understand that that's what it is; if you are looking for straight biography or history the author is too close to the subject for that.

This book has three intermingled parts: a biography of Frank Oppenheimer, a history of the Exploratorium he created, and the author's memories of him.

Trained as a physicist, I was aware of Oppenheimer's work on cosmic rays before World War II, as well as his work on the Manhattan Project during the war (his older brother Robert was the director of the project). I also knew of his problems after the war, when his prior membership in the American Communist Party (and his lying about it) derailed his career. This relatively brief early biographical material in this book fleshes out how he was forced out of academia--probably unfairly, although his initial attempt to lie about his past didn't help him--and "retired" to ranching in Colorado. (His past also helped bring down his brother's career.) Over time he took up teaching high school, then returned to academia. But physics had changed. It had become a much bigger and more competitive endeavor, and less to his taste. He eventually set off to create his idea of a science museum, one where people would play with hands-on exhibits that elucidated nature for them.

I knew of the "Exploratorium" only vaguely, by reputation. The heart of the book is Oppenheimer's development and leadership of the institution, largely as seen through the eyes of the young and, frankly, somewhat star struck writer who came to write this book. There is a lot of history and educational philosophy covered here, but in a very personal way. The author has no distance, except now time, from her subject.

One thing that bothered me was that her discussion of nuclear weapons seems only to channel Oppenheimer from years before his death in 1985, without acknowledging what changes occurred later. A series of agreements between the US and the Soviet Union, and then the US and Russia, substantially reduced the number of warheads on both sides. Maybe not a perfect world yet, but history didn't end when Frank Oppenheimer died. And an argument could be made that these actions were something of a vindication of his views.

The book is well written and, if understanding what it is and isn't, it sounds interesting then you will probably enjoy it.

By the way, it has a foreword by Murray Gell-Mann, one of the greatest physicists of the second half of the twentieth century. In true Gell-Mann style it starts with him patting himself on the back: "Soon after I helped Frank Oppenheimer obtain a a critical million-dollar grant from ...". The story is in the book; after reading the book I can't imagine Frank Oppenheimer making such a statement.

I especially love biographies and usually get a charge out of those describing especially eccentric subjects. That is how this book began and it held my interest well for the first 100 pages or so. Then it really gets tedious and I kept wondering why no editor had been at work here. I almost always finish books completely, but this is one that got so bogged down with tedious details in the second half that I couldn't make myself.

If you have an interest in Oppenheimer, you'll probably find a lot to like in this book as parts are very interesting. If you generally like biographies, you are likely to find yourself aching for a good editor as you plow through this one.