Oppenheimer Quote from the Bhagavad Gita

Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, known for his role in the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb, famously recalled a verse from the Bhagavad Gita upon witnessing the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The quote he referenced is from Chapter 11, Verse 32, where Lord Krishna reveals His universal form to Arjuna and says:

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

This particular English rendering is attributed to Oppenheimer who paraphrased the verse; the original Sanskrit verse translates more directly as:

"I am time, the great destroyer of the world, and I have come here to engage all people."

The verse is Lord Krishna's response to Arjuna's curiosity about Krishna's cosmic form, which symbolizes the endless cycle of creation and destruction that is intrinsic to the universe.