The Day After Trinity
Encyclopedia
The Day After Trinity is a 1980 documentary film
directed and produced by Jon H. Else
in association with KTEH
public television in San Jose, California. The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the theoretical physicist who led the effort to build the first atomic bomb, tested in July 1945 at Trinity site in New Mexico. Featuring candid interviews with several Manhattan Project
scientists, as well as newly declassified archival footage, The Day After Trinity was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
of 1980, and received a Peabody Award
in 1981.
The film's title comes from an interview seen near the conclusion of the documentary. Robert Oppenheimer is asked for his thoughts on Sen. Robert Kennedy's efforts to urge President Lyndon Johnson to initiate talks to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. "It's 20 years too late," Oppenheimer replies. After a pause he states, "It should have been done the day after Trinity."
. A CD-ROM that was released in 1995 included interviews, transcripts, annotations, biographies and other information.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed and produced by Jon H. Else
Jon H. Else
-Awards:* 1988 MacArthur Fellows Program• 1989 Emmy, "Yosemite The Fate Of Heaven" director• 1993 Emmy, "The Great Depression" writer• 1998 Emmy "Don't Say Goodby" cinematographer• 1999 Emmy "Sing Faster: The Stagehands Ring Cycle"...
in association with KTEH
KTEH
KQEH is a public television station in San Jose, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as a PBS member station on channel 54. The station is owned by Northern California Public Broadcasting with sister-stations KQED in San Francisco and KQET in Watsonville, the latter mirroring KQED.Until...
public television in San Jose, California. The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the theoretical physicist who led the effort to build the first atomic bomb, tested in July 1945 at Trinity site in New Mexico. Featuring candid interviews with several Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
scientists, as well as newly declassified archival footage, The Day After Trinity was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
of 1980, and received a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
in 1981.
The film's title comes from an interview seen near the conclusion of the documentary. Robert Oppenheimer is asked for his thoughts on Sen. Robert Kennedy's efforts to urge President Lyndon Johnson to initiate talks to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. "It's 20 years too late," Oppenheimer replies. After a pause he states, "It should have been done the day after Trinity."
Cast
- in order of first appearance
- Haakon ChevalierHaakon ChevalierHaakon Maurice Chevalier was an author, translator, and professor of French literature at the University of California, Berkeley best known for his friendship with physicist J...
— writer, friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer - Hans BetheHans BetheHans Albrecht Bethe was a German-American nuclear physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. A versatile theoretical physicist, Bethe also made important contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics and...
— Los AlamosLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
physicist, NobelNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureate in physics - Francis FergussonFrancis FergussonFrancis Fergusson was an American academic and critic, a theorist of drama and mythology. Fergusson taught for a time on the faculty of the department of English at Rutgers University and is regarded as an influence on poet Robert Pinsky....
— writer, friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer - Robert SerberRobert SerberRobert Serber was an American physicist who participated in the Manhattan Project. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he was the eldest son of David Serber and Rose Frankel. He married Charlotte Leof in 1933. Rose Serber died in 1922; David married Charlotte's cousin Frances Leof in...
— physicist, Los Alamos - Robert WilsonRobert R. WilsonRobert Rathbun Wilson was an American physicist who was a group leader of the Manhattan Project, a sculptor, and an architect of Fermi National Laboratory , where he was also the director from 1967–1978....
— physicist, Los Alamos - Frank OppenheimerFrank OppenheimerFrank Friedman Oppenheimer was an American physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, was a target of McCarthyism, and was later the founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He was the younger brother of J...
— physicist, Los Alamos, brother of Robert Oppenheimer - I.I. RabiIsidor Isaac RabiIsidor Isaac Rabi was a Galician-born American physicist and Nobel laureate recognized in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance.-Early years:...
— Manhattan Project physicist, Nobel laureate - Freeman DysonFreeman DysonFreeman John Dyson FRS is a British-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum field theory, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. Dyson is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists...
— physicist, Institute for Advanced StudyInstitute for Advanced StudyThe Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
, Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.... - Stirling ColgateStirling ColgateStirling Colgate is an American physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a professor emeritus of physics at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology . He was America's premier diagnostician of thermonuclear weapons during the early years at the Lawrence Livermore National...
— physicist, Los Alamos - Stan Ulam — mathematician, Los Alamos
- Robert Porton — G.I., at Los Alamos during World War II
- Francoise Ulam — writer, wife of Stanislaw Ulam
- Dorothy McKibben — former head, Manhattan Project office, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Robert Krohn — physicist, Los Alamos
- Jane Wilson — writer, wife of Robert Wilson
- Jon Else — filmmaker, interviewer
- Holm Bursom — rancher, Socorro, New Mexico
- Dave MacDonald — rancher, Socorro, New Mexico
- Susan Evans — resident, New Mexico
- Elizabeth Ingram — merchant, San Antonio, New Mexico
- Haakon Chevalier
Appearing on archive film
- J. Robert Oppenheimer
- General Leslie GrovesLeslie GrovesLieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
- President Harry TrumanHarry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
- Senator Joseph McCarthyJoseph McCarthyJoseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
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Home video releases
The Day After Trinity was released on VHS cassette by Pyramid Home Video, and on Region 1 DVD by Image EntertainmentImage Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
. A CD-ROM that was released in 1995 included interviews, transcripts, annotations, biographies and other information.