WASHINGTON — The U.S. Energy Department on Friday vacated a decision made in 1954 to revoke the security clearance of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.”
Oppenheimer died in 1967 from cancer. The scientist played a key role in the Manhattan Project, a large-scale U.S. government effort to create the first nuclear weapons. His security clearance was revoked amid what the Energy Department said was an effort to discredit him.
“As time has passed, more evidence has come to light of the bias and unfairness of the process that Dr. Oppenheimer was subjected to while the evidence of his loyalty and love of country have only been further affirmed,” the department said in a statement.
Oppenheimer is the subject of a forthcoming biographical film directed by Christopher Nolan.
