In July 1942, Robert Oppenheimer left his meetings in California and headed via train for Michigan. There, on the shores of Lake Otsego dotted with holiday cabins, a fierce discussion and debate took place: Could the test of a nuclear weapon set fire to the atmosphere?
Oppenheimer's opposite was Arthur Holly Compton, a renowned Nobel Prize–winning physicist. You will not see him portrayed in Christopher Nolan's just-released Oppenheimer, but he was one of the scientist's closest friends. It was Compton who put Oppenheimer in charge of the Manhattan Project and who years later defended him against bogus charges of Communism. And if you're wondering what all of this has to do with cars, well, Arthur Holly Compton also invented the modern speed bump.
"I am become Minor Inconvenience, scraper of splitters" doesn't have quite the same impact as a Vishnu quote from the Bhagavad Gita. Still, as a historical footnote, it's a curious bit of trivia that a man at the very center of the dawn of the nuclear age should also be responsible for something so seemingly low-tech.
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