J. Robert Oppenheimer

When facing the unparalleled moral crisis of creating a weapon capable of widespread, global destruction, Oppenheimer, the scientific leader of the Manhattan Project, found clarity not in the Western voices of science, but in the voice of Krishna. As he watched the terrifying success of the first Trinity detonation in 1945, his internal turmoil required a detailed philosophical framework capable enough to provide him the clarity to resolve his internal conflict.

Therefore, the voice that echoed within his mind was the philosophical voice of Krishna and the Gita in Chapter 11. He famously recalled Verse 32 in a televised NBC documentary, where Krishna, revealing his ultimate form, declares, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." This voice provided the only possible context for Oppenheimer's actions, where by paralleling himself with Arjuna, and by identifying his own terrifying scientific creation, he found the philosophical detachment where he needed to accept that he was simply performing his duty as a scientist, and the fact that he was not a moral arbiter and leave the decision of how to use the weapon to politicians and the military.