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| Dear friends,
It’s been one year since the Oppenheimer movie came out and went on to win seven Academy Awards. My huge thanks to everyone who reached out during this incredible global moment – and to those of you who have helped in large and small ways. I hope you feel like a part of the family and the Oppenheimer Project. With so much attention still focused on my grandfather’s legacy, it’s a good time to update you on our progress. The Project was founded to ensure that J. Robert Oppenheimer’s values, wisdom, and policy vision live on today. It was his view that the Trinity detonation on July 16th, 1945 brought us into a new world with new rules. Avoiding calamity from new technologies requires redoubling our efforts at unity and cooperation. The Oppenheimer Project is aiming to be a leader in ‘Existential Hope’. Fear only gets you so far – the world needs some rays of light. Aside from participation in global forums on peace and security and on avoiding an AI arms race, we have made progress on transforming the paradigm on nuclear fission into something with the potential to save the world, not destroy it. Our necessary ambition to decarbonize the globe—and bring prosperity along with it—must be paired with a renewed commitment to international cooperation. In this way, expanding fission can be a peace-builder as well as a decarbonization tool. The Oppenheimer Project is not a family foundation. Rather, we intend to serve as a platform to advance efforts aligned with our mission of bringing JRO’s legacy to life. To me, the biggest success of this past year is that we’ve proved the value of this concept with an expanded team of experts: Theo Kalionzes, Sue Suh, Ryan Pickering, Emma Oppenheimer in addition to Karen Pak Oppenheimer, along with numerous other close advisors. We welcome your engagement and support. This message is dedicated to my mother, Virgina Oppenheimer, who with such equanimity in the face of her own mortality is an inspiration to all who knew her and especially me, passed away this March 2024. Love you Mom. Charles Oppenheimer, Founder Here are quick highlights of what we’ve been up to over the past year! |
Progress on our Three Pillars
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 We are launching the Oppenheimer Dialogue Funder Roundtable Series on the margins of New York Climate Week in September, which is designed to develop a community of practice at the nexus of climate, nuclear and technology policy. The series was inspired by a group of climate and energy thought leaders we brought together on J Robert’s 120th birthday in April.
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At San Francisco Climate Week this Spring, we partnered with the Department of Energy, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Anthropocene Institute on a standing-room only event that explored  |
 In April, along with General Groves’ grandson Dick Groves, Charles delivered remarks at the Department of State headquarters in Washington D.C., describing the critical importance of bringing his grandfather’s legacy and vision to bear on modern global challenges.
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Also in April, our Senior Advisor, Theo participated in an event organized by Wilton Park in South Africa on accelerating sustainable development in Africa by scaling up peaceful nuclear uses.In June, Charles  |
| We launched Oppenheimer Energy, a startup that aims to lower the barriers to building new nuclear power plants in the United States by focusing on reducing regulatory, financial and technical barriers to increasing nuclear energy.
Charles joined former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on stage in Brussels at the first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit, co-chaired by the Belgian Prime Minister and the Director General of the IAEA. It gathered world leaders and other stakeholders in the public and private sectors to highlight the role of nuclear energy in displacing fossil fuels and achieving global energy security.
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Coming up…
Will you support the Oppenheimer Project?The Oppenheimer Project is uniquely positioned to lead a collective impact strategy at the nexus of scientific innovation, policy, industry, civil society, and diplomatic spheres to grow international cooperation and global prosperity. We welcome financial support to move our work forward. Will you join us? Donate Today |
| Special thanks to our Founders Circle
We are deeply grateful to our founding donors, especially those whose significant contributions have been crucial to our growth and reach. We welcome new supporters to join the Oppenheimer Project’s Founders Circle. If you are able to contribute at a major level, please reach out to karen@oppenheimerproject.org to learn more. |