04/22/1904 AD born
J. Robert Oppenheimer was born to Ella (née Friedman), a painter, and Julius Seligmann Oppenheimer, a wealthy textile importer.
His father, Julius, born in Prussia, Germany, came to the US as a teenager in 1888 with few resources, no money, no baccalaureate studies, and no knowledge of the English language. He was hired by a textile company and within a decade was an executive there, eventually becoming wealthy.
The Oppenheimers were both secular Ashkenazi Jews; his father was German Jewish, and his mother, who was from New York, descended from a German Jewish family that had lived in the U.S. since the 1840s.
In 1912, the family moved to an apartment on the 11th floor of 155 Riverside Drive, near West 88th Street, Manhattan, an area known for luxurious mansions and townhouses. Their art collection included works by Pablo Picasso and Édouard Vuillard, and at least three original paintings by Vincent van Gogh.
Robert had a younger brother, Frank, who also became a physicist.
Oppenheimer was initially educated at Alcuin Preparatory School; in 1911, he entered the Ethical Culture Society School.
This had been founded by Felix Adler to promote a form of ethical training based on the Ethical Culture movement, whose motto was "Deed before Creed". His father had been a member of the Society for many years, serving on its board of trustees from 1907 to 1915.
Oppenheimer was a versatile scholar, interested in English and French literature, and particularly in mineralogy.
He completed the third and fourth grades in one year and skipped half of the eighth grade. During his final year, he became interested in chemistry.
Lattitude: 40.7128° N
Longitude: 74.006° W
Region: North America
Modern Day United States
