The first glimpse I ever had of Robert Oppenheimer was in an episode of the landmark British television documentary series The World at War. (Soon to be the topic of this column.) It was in Episode 24 ("The Bomb"), which tells the story of the American nuclear program from its inception to the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Oppenheimer does not play a huge part until they get to the first test of the "Gadget", on July 16, 1945 at the White Sands Proving Grounds, roughly midway between Albuquerque and El Paso. He...