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Each time Vladimir Putin raises the spectre of nuclear confrontation, the trail ultimately leads back to one man.

Eighty years before the Russian president invaded Ukraine, and brought the potential of such weapons back to mainstream attention, J Robert Oppenheimer was recruited to lead a team that would construct the world’s first atomic bombs.

Ukraine war – follow the latest developments

The Manhattan Project, set up during the Second World War in 1942, was guided by fear that if the US and its allies didn’t make them first, Hitler’s Nazi scientists would.

A left-wing theoretical physicist not known for his leadership qualities or laboratory acumen, the American was an unconventional pick but proved a devastatingly effective one.

As blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer hits cinemas, Sky News looks at how the father of the atomic bomb still shapes the world decades after his creation was deployed.

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An unusual recruitment

Oppenheimer was appointed by General Leslie Groves, the project’s military leader, to head up Site Y – a secret weapons research facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

But there were, as Oppenheimer biographer Professor Ray Monk puts it, “all sorts of reasons” not to appoint him, notably perceived association with communist organisations that had made him a suspect of the FBI.

Born to a Jewish family in New York in 1906, his student years had seen him drawn to the left as Germany’s fascist regime saw friends and relatives oppressed and forced to flee.

During studies at Harvard, Cambridge, and Germany‘s Gottingen university in the 1920s, he was known for being a “disaster in the laboratory”. Of his time studying physics at Harvard, Oppenheimer himself said: “My feeling about myself was always one of extreme discontent.”

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the new director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, N.J., is shown in front of a blackboard full of mathematical formulas, Dec. 17, 1947. Dr. Oppenheimer served as wartime director of the Manhattan Project when it developed and produced the first atomic bomb. (AP Photo)
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Oppenheimer worked in education before and after the war

He may have been unconvincing in the lab, but found his calling as a university lecturer in California. His ability to explain complex science in a relatively straightforward and compelling way proved key to impressing Groves, who interviewed countless scientists before a chance meeting with Oppenheimer.

Crucially, he also recognised the need for urgency.

Prof Monk says: “Oppenheimer knew Heisenberg, one of the greatest scientists in the world, who he worked with at Gottingen, was leading the Nazi bomb project and was worried they would get one before the Allies.

“He was in no doubt at all – the duty of all scientists in the US, and the allied countries, was building a bomb first.”

Catalog Number: Oppenheimer J Robert C35.Oppenheimer and Groves at Ground Zero, September, 1945..Credit: Digital Photo Archive, Department of Energy (DOE), courtesy AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives
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Oppenheimer enjoyed an unconventional relationship with Leslie Groves. Pic: Digital Photo Archive, Department of Energy

Building the bomb

Los Alamos was one of three sites critical to the development of the atomic bomb.

The others were a factory in Hanford, Washington, where plutonium was made; and a hidden base in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for enriching uranium.

The two elements would act as fuel for the bombs made at Los Alamos, two of which would be dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND OPPENHEIMER’S BOMB

The basis of atomic bomb is the process of nuclear fission – when the nucleus of an atom is split into two smaller nuclei, releasing a large amount of energy in the process.

This was discovered in 1938 by two German scientists, and Oppenheimer realised its destructive potential when word reached him in 1939.

The prospect of weaponising nuclear fission focused the minds of scientists across Europe, with plutonium and uranium identified as elements that could undergo the process.

With the process understood, the race was on to weaponise it.

Cynthia C Kelly is founder and president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation, dedicated to the preservation of the Manhattan Project and crucial to having the three sites gain national park status in the US.

“It was a first-of-a-kind effort across the board,” she says of the Manhattan Project, named after the New York City district where it was founded.

With the city that never sleeps deemed too busy for such a secretive initiative, the three laboratories were set up in isolated places far away from urban centres and the coast. They brought together geniuses from across America and overseas – including Britain and some who fled Nazi Germany – into one single-minded pursuit.

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“It required creative minds from the machinists to the craftsmen – everything had to be perfect,” Kelly adds, with a “classic absent-minded professor” at the heart of it.

“They had to take this energy, which had been uncontrolled up to now, figure out how to control it, and package it tightly enough to fit in the bomb bay of an aeroplane that could transport it and drop it.

“They had little confidence in harnessing this technology in time for the end of the war.”

On the test ground for the atomic bomb near Almagordo, N.M., Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, University of California physicist, smokes his pipe as he contemplates the site on Sept. 9, 1945. (AP Photo)
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Oppenheimer on the test ground for the atomic bomb near Almagordo, New Mexico

Becoming Death

But harness it they did – and the world would change forever.

The first atomic bomb test in New Mexico happened on 16 July 1945, after which Oppenheimer uttered a line that, along with his trademark fedora and pipe, has become quintessential to his public image.

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” he observed after the so-called Trinity Test, quoting a sacred Hindu text in a reminder of his acumen as a philosopher as well as a scientist.

A few weeks after, death followed on an unimaginable scale. On 6 August, a uranium-based bomb named Little Boy was detonated over Hiroshima; and another, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.

The latest blast was larger larger than the bomb dropped on Japan's Nagasaki in 1945
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The atomic bomb dropped on Japan’s Nagasaki in 1945

Both cities were left unrecognisable, 200,000 people died, and Japan surrendered. Oppenheimer was shaken.

“Right up until the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, he had no moral qualms whatsoever,” says Prof Monk.

“Even when the Germans surrendered (on 7 May 1945), and it was obvious the Americans were still going to use the bomb against the Japanese, he had no qualms.

“But he thought one demonstration of the awesome power of this weapon was enough.”

-FILE PHOTO MARCH 1946 - This general view of the city of Hiroshima showing damage wrought by the atomic bomb was taken March 1946, six months after the bomb was dropped August 6, 1945. The 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and the end of World War II is August 1995
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Hiroshima in March 1946, six months after America’s atomic bomb was dropped

A new world

Despite its undoubted role in ending the Second World War, which cost the lives of some 90 million people, Oppenheimer was changed by the atomic bomb, believing it made the prospect of future conflict “unendurable”.

“It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country,” he said in 1946, later signalling his opposition to his government’s plan to develop even bigger nuclear weapons.

Oppenheimer was ignored and held in deep suspicion, and his security clearance at the Atomic Energy Commission eventually rescinded. He died of lung cancer in 1967 with none of the power he once yielded.

FILE-This Oct. 17, 1945 file photo Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer of the New Mexico laboratories of the atomic bomb making project, testifies before the Senate Military Affairs Committee in Washington
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Oppenheimer testifies before the Senate military affairs committee in Washington in 1945

Nuclear weapons have not been used again, but the threat lingers. America and Russia’s arsenals are far smaller than their Cold War peak, but they hold 90% of an estimated global stockpile of 13,000 weapons.

Other nuclear powers include China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Like Putin, Kim Jong Un has on several occasions threatened to use them. The Nuclear Threat Initiative, an organisation focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats, says the world could be “sleepwalking into a nuclear disaster”.

Ever since Oppenheimer witnessed the Trinity Test in the New Mexico desert, Cynthia C Kelly says there’s been “no way to put the genie back in the bottle”.

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‘Nuclear weapon threat never goes away’

Beyond the mountain

While Oppenheimer failed in his post-war efforts, his work is the best example world leaders have of why they wouldn’t want to risk “mutually-assured destruction” by launching a nuclear weapon.

Two cities devastated beyond recognition have seemingly served as the ultimate deterrence.

“Oppenheimer was invited to say he regretted developing the atomic bomb many times, most prominently when he visited Japan, and his answer was always no,” says Prof Monk.

“It can be argued the fact the weapons have never been used again shows deterrence works.”

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Will Russia use nuclear weapons?

Beyond deterrence, the Manhattan Project also unleashed an era of science and innovation still being felt today, including nuclear energy vital to weaning ourselves off greenhouse gases.

Last year, American scientists performed the first-ever nuclear fusion experiment to achieve net energy gain, paving the way for a “clean energy source that could revolutionise the world”.

Some experts have called for a Manhattan Project-style initiative to combat climate change, leveraging the same urgency and determination to tackle a crisis that threatens us all. The startling rise of artificial intelligence, already compared to the threat of nuclear weapons by its very creators, may present another such opportunity.

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Energy: Is fusion the future?

Unfortunately, nothing seems to focus the minds quite like war.

“Weapons are one part of the nuclear story, and that will be with us until we blow ourselves up,” says Kelly.

“Hopefully that won’t happen and, as Oppenheimer put it, we can see beyond the mountain.”

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New Universal theme park set to open in UK – with promise of ‘billions’ of pounds for the economy

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New Universal theme park set to open in UK  - with promise of 'billions' of pounds for the economy

A deal for a new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire has been confirmed, which Rachel Reeves says will bring “billions” to the economy and create thousands of jobs.

It will be the first Universal-branded theme park and resort in Europe and is set to open in 2031, when it is expected to become the UK’s most popular visitor attraction.

The government said it will bring an estimated £50bn into the British economy and will create about 28,000 jobs – nearly 20,000 during the construction phase, and 8,000 more in hospitality and the creative industries when it opens.

A 500-room hotel and a retail and entertainment complex is planned alongside the theme park, which will be built on a former brickworks.

Universal, which is owned by Sky News’ US parent company Comcast, expects the 476-acre site just south of Bedford to generate nearly £50bn for the economy by 2055, with 8.5m visitors in its first year.

The plan remains subject to a formal planning decision process from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Universal has committed to working with local colleges and universities to train students for hospitality jobs.

There are Universal theme parks in Florida (pictured), California, Japan, Beijing and Singapore. Pic: AP
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There are Universal theme parks in Florida (pictured), California, Japan, Beijing and Singapore. Pic: AP

Among some of the famous Universal films are Wicked, Minions, Oppenheimer, Bridget Jones, Fast and the Furious, and Jurassic World.

There are five Universal theme parks already: Orlando in Florida, Hollywood, Japan, Beijing, and Singapore.

The new Universal theme park will be just south of Bedford
Image:
The new Universal theme park will be just south of Bedford

Speaking to Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the deal was “huge”.

“This is not just about numbers on the spreadsheet,” she said.

“This is about good jobs. It’s about growth. It’s about raising people’s living standards and putting money in people’s pockets. And it’s a massive vote of confidence in the United Kingdom.”

Welcoming the timing of the announcement, Ms Nandy added: “This deal comes off the back of one of the most tumultuous few weeks in global markets that I think anyone can remember within living memory.”

She said the fact that the government had been able to show it kept a “cool head” and “we don’t take knee-jerk decisions in response to global events” was one of the reasons it was able to announce the deal.

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A deal for a new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire has been confirmed
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The proposals to transform the site, a former brickworks, remain subject to a formal planning decision process

The government has said about 80% of employees at the theme park are expected to come from local areas, and it will support the “Oxford-Cambridge corridor” revived by the chancellor in January after the Conservatives scrapped plans for an Abingdon-Milton Keynes train link in 2021.

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It will also commit to a “major investment” in infrastructure around the Universal site to ensure it is well-connected and easily accessible.

The announcement comes days after the government approved an expansion of nearby Luton Airport.

Mike Cavanagh, President of Comcast Corporation, said: “We could not be more excited to take this very important step in our plan to create and deliver an incredible Universal theme park and resort in the heart of the United Kingdom, which complements our growing US-based parks business by expanding our global footprint to Europe.

“We appreciate the leadership and support of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Minister for Investment Poppy Gustafsson, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and their teams, as we work together to create and deliver a fantastic new landmark destination.”

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BAFTA Games Awards: Astro Bot tops leaderboard – with psychological horror close behind

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BAFTA Games Awards: Astro Bot tops leaderboard - with psychological horror close behind

Astro Bot was the big winner at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, taking home five prizes, including the coveted best game.

The 3D platformer, which was launched to critical acclaim in September to mark PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, was nominated for eight gongs, while Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, led with 11 nods.

But in the end, the critics – some of whom had dubbed Astro Bot a “perfect game” – were right as it dominated the awards at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, hosted by comedian Phil Wang for the second year running.

Astro Bot
Pic:Team Asobi
https://www.teamasobi.com/games/astro-bot
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Astro Bot. Pic: Team Asobi

Nicholas Doucet with his five awards for Astro Bot. Pic: PA
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Nicolas Doucet with his five awards for Astro Bot. Pic: PA

BAFTAs for audio achievement, game design, animation, and best family game completed the set for developers Team Asobi, who designed multiple galaxies and dozens of levels for the titular Astro to journey through, retrieving spaceship parts and rescuing lost robots.

“We’re a team based in Japan, but we have over 12 nationalities. We really mix it up and get ideas from everyone,” Nicolas Doucet, president of Team Asobi, told Sky News.

“We do a lot of jokes in the game, but the joke has a different meaning depending on where you are in the world. So it’s really, really nice to go around and ask everyone ‘is that joke fine in your country?’ And then together we come to a kind of universal playfulness.”

Pic: Innovative platform game Astro Bot swept the night, taking the prestigious best game award too. Pic: BAFTA
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Among the gongs for Astro Bot was the best game award. Pic: BAFTA

It’s a very different atmosphere than that generated by British psychological horror Still Wakes The Deep, which won three awards for best new intellectual property and best supporting and leading roles.

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Compared to John Carpenter’s 1980 sci-fi horror The Thing but on a Scottish oil rig, the game sees players take on the role of an electrician trapped on a damaged facility while being pursued by monsters.

Still Wakes The Deep.
Pic: Sumo Digital Limited
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Still Wakes The Deep. Pic: Sumo Digital Limited

Developer The Chinese Room has been praised for using home-grown talent to voice the characters, including comedian and actress Karen Dunbar, who picked up best performer in a supporting role for voicing Finlay.

“I’ve been nominated for quite a few BAFTAs in my time in Scotland, and I’ve never won one,” said Dunbar.

“It was such a great category, so many great performances. When they shouted my name, I think I started clapping for someone else!”

Read more: See full list of winners

Still Wakes The Deep star Karen Dunbar won best performer in a supporting role. Pic: BAFTA
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Still Wakes The Deep star Karen Dunbar won best performer in a supporting role. Pic: BAFTA

Meanwhile, best multiplayer game went to Helldivers II – a satirical, sci-fi shooter that sees players fight bugs, aliens and robots with the gumption and gullibility of the characters in Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers.

It has gained a cult following since launching in February 2024 with so much initial interest it created server problems.

“Games for me are about connecting people and forging those bonds of friendship and the multiplayer award is exactly what it stands for,” said Johan Pilestedt, chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios.

Helldivers II.
Pic:  Arrowhead/Sony
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Helldivers II. Pic: Arrowhead/Sony

From outer space to a fictional Yorkshire town called Barnsworth. Thank Goodness You’re Here! – a cartoonish, comedy platformer – won Best British Game. Like Still Wakes The Deep, it has won praise for the authenticity of its actors and setting.

I think it’s been a real privilege to be able to represent Barnsley on the silver screen,” said Will Todd, who is from the town and one of two game designers behind the project.

Thank Goodness You’re Here! 
Pic: Coal Supper/Panic Inc
https://thankgoodness.game/
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Thank Goodness You’re Here! Pic: Coal Supper/Panic Inc

Co-creator James Carbutt added: “Me and Will wrote everything in our tone of voice, quite literally. The further along development we got, the more we lent into it. I think the voices from different parts of the UK and different voices in gaming are super important, and hopefully we’re one of them.”

By the time the BAFTAs wrapped up, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was only handed one of the 11 BAFTAs it was nominated for, technical achievement.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II 
Pic: Ninja Theory
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Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. Pic: Ninja Theory

But developers Ninja Theory are already adding this year’s win to a tally of five BAFTAs they were awarded for the first game in the series, which created a protagonist with psychosis by drawing on clinical neuroscience and the experiences of people living with the condition.

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BAFTA Games Awards: Full list of winners

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BAFTA Games Awards: Full list of winners

The BAFTA Games Awards celebrate gaming excellence and creative achievement in the best games of the last year.

Hosted by comedian Phil Wang for the second year running, the biggest names in gaming gathered at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

With 41 games nominated across 17 categories, here are all the winners – in bold – from the night.

Animation
Astro Bot
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Artistic Achievement
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Harold Halibut
Neva
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Still Wakes the Deep

Audio Achievement
ANIMAL WELL
Astro Bot
Helldivers 2
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Star Wars Outlaws
Still Wakes the Deep

Best Game
Astro Bot
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Helldivers 2
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Thank Goodness You’re Here!

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British Game
A Highland Song
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Paper Trail
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Still Wakes the Deep
Thank Goodness You’re Here!

Debut Game
ANIMAL WELL
Balatro
Pacific Drive
The Plucky Squire
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
Thank Goodness You’re Here!

Evolving Game
Diablo IV
FINAL FANTASY XIV ONLINE
No Man’s Sky
Sea of Thieves
Vampire Survivors
World of Warcraft

Family
Astro Bot
Cat Quest III
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Little Kitty, Big City
The Plucky Squire
Super Mario Party Jamboree

Game Beyond Entertainment
Botany Manor
Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop)
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
Tetris Forever
Vampire Therapist

Game Design
ANIMAL WELL
Astro Bot
Balatro
Helldivers 2
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Tactical Breach Wizards

Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Helldivers 2
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Super Mario Party Jamboree
TEKKEN 8
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Music
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
Helldivers 2
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Star Wars Outlaws

Narrative
Black Myth: Wukong
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Still Wakes the Deep

New Intellectual Property
ANIMAL WELL
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Still Wakes the Deep
Thank Goodness You’re Here!

Technical Achievement
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Tiny Glade
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Performer in a Leading Role
Alec Newman as Cameron ‘Caz’ McLeary in Still Wakes the Deep
Humberly González as Kay Vess in Star Wars Outlaws
Isabella Inchbald as Indika in INDIKA
Luke Roberts as James Sunderland in SILENT HILL 2
Melina Juergens as Senua in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Y’lan Noel as Troy Marshall in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Performer in a Supporting Role
Abbi Greenland & Helen Goalen as The Furies in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Aldís Amah Hamilton as Ástríðr in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Jon Blyth as Big Ron in Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Karen Dunbar as Finlay in Still Wakes the Deep
Matt Berry as Herbert the Gardner in Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Michael Abubakar as Brodie in Still Wakes the Deep

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