Description:

Oppenheimer, Robert (1904-1967) Physicist Robert Oppenheimer, Father of the Atomic Bomb, asks Polaroid Land Camera inventor Edwin H. Land to once again serve on Harvard's Committee to Visit the Department of Physics - "Our task does not seem difficult to me, but it does not seem to me without importance"

Typed Letter Signed "Robert Oppenheimer" as Director, 1 page, 8.5" x 11". On stationery of The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, April 4, 1950. To Edwin H. Land, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Tiny staple holes in slightly creased upper left corner. Three file holes in left blank margin. Fine condition.

In full, "At the request of the Executive Committee of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, I am writing to you to enquire whether you would be willing again to serve on the Committee to Visit the Department of Physics. May I express my personal hope that you will be willing to serve. Our task does not seem difficult to me, but it does not seem to me without importance."

Scientist and inventor Edwin H. Land (1909-1991) was a co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He was responsible for many photography-related inventions such inexpensive filters that polarized light, his retinex theory for color vision, and his practical system for in-camera instant photos. His Polaroid Land camera, which went on sale in late 1948, made it possible for a picture to be taken and developed in just 60 seconds or even less.

Under Robert Oppenheimer's guidance, the laboratories at Los Alamos were constructed. There, he brought the best minds in physics to work on the problem of creating an atomic bomb. The joint work of the scientists at Los Alamos resulted in the first nuclear explosion at Alamogordo on July 16, 1945, which Oppenheimer named "Trinity." After the war, Oppenheimer was appointed Chairman of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), serving from 1947 to 1952. From 1947 to 1966, Oppenheimer also served as Director of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. There, he stimulated discussion and research on quantum and relativistic physics in the School of Natural Sciences.

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