The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Karsh photographed Robert Oppenheimer, known as one of the “fathers of the atomic bomb” later, in 1956, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. By this time, “Increasingly concerned about the potential danger to humanity arising from scientific discoveries, Oppenheimer joined with Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Joseph Rotblat and other eminent scientists and academics to establish what would eventually become the World Academy of Art and Science in 1960.” (Wikipedia)

Karsh naturally photographed several of the other prominent people involved, including “father of the hydrogen bomb” Dr. Edward Teller.