Oppenheimer’s secret city is a shrine to the Manhattan Project

WALK AROUND the old historic centre of Los Alamos, New Mexico, and J. Robert Oppenheimer greets you at every turn. The local event centre—which hosted an Oppenheimer festival to celebrate the release of Christopher Nolan’s new film about the father of the atomic bomb—is just off Oppenheimer Drive. A bronze statue of Oppenheimer, dapper hat and pipe included, stands on a street corner. The local pub offers Oppenheimer trivia. To pay homage to the “Trinity test” detonation of Oppenheimer’s bomb in the New Mexican desert, there is Trinity Drive, Trinity Urgent Care and Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church.