From Germany to the US and Back Again

Julius Robert Oppenheimer (JRO) created the school of Theoretical Physics in the United States. As a young man he went to learn from the creators of Quantum Mechanics in Germany. After meeting the German and European luminaries he returned to the country he loved so much: The United States of America. The only place in the world where a secular humanist could develop theoretical physics as a profession.

Today we can read that Reinhard Genzel and his group, had discovered an astrophysical object, G2, which is being destroyed by Sag A*. I find it fascinating that Oppenheimer established the existence of black holes in the 1930s, and now Genzel discovers G2 in Germany:

"Oppenheimer's notable achievements in physics include the Born–Oppenheimer approximation for molecular wavefunctions, work on the theory of electrons and positrons, the Oppenheimer–Phillips process in nuclear fusion, and the first prediction of quantum tunneling. With his students he also made important contributions to the modern theory of neutron stars and black holes, as well as to quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and the interactions of cosmic rays. As a teacher and promoter of science, he is remembered as a founding father of the American school of theoretical physics that gained world prominence in the 1930s. After World War II, he became director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton."

Professor Genzel worked at Berkeley, the center which Oppenheimer established after coming back from Europe. After the war the most important work in theoretical physics was done in the US. The German scientists were not able to apply their own theories for war, the Americans did, under the guidance of Oppenheimer. After the bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, the center of mass of important work in Physics moved west to the USA.

The work on Black Holes was not appreciated during JRO's lifetime. Now Genzel is anxiously waiting, like the rest of us, for the moment, early next year, or later this year, when an object, dubbed G2, gets the closest to the four million solar mass Black Hole in the center of the Milky Way.

This is an experiment Oppie would've liked to witness.

This great scientist was an indefatigable proponent of scientific cooperation against the close minded attitude of  Americans, like John Edgar Hoover, and Lewis Strauss.

BTW: Genzel and his team used the Brackett line to do their job. Frederick Brackett was an American scientist.