Letters

Quoteworthy Science Misquoted

In the April issue of the APS News, J.Robert Oppenheimer is given credit for a quote that he himself took from an Indian source, the Bhagavad Gita. Does anyone find it a bit interesting that the "The Bhagavad Gita" originated in India. Oppenheimer quoted the following excerpt upon the first atomic weapon exploding at the Trinity site in Alamagordo, New Mexico, USA: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds."

Wayne Saslow
Texas A&M University