Did Robert Oppenheimer try to kill his professor by poisoning him? Here's what we know

In the movie, Robert Oppenheimer is seen trying to kill his professor by leaving a poisoned apple at his table.

Since its release, Christopher Nolan's latest film Oppenheimer has found itself in the middle of several controversies.

Based on the book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the film starring Cillian Murphy in the role of the acclaimed scientist has garnered positive reactions from critics and audiences alike, but the degree of its historical accuracy has been called into question of late, with some on the internet pointing out some factual inaccuracies, such as the numbers of stars on the US flag at the time.

However, while most of the aforementioned inaccuracies are minor, the latest scene from the film to create a stir is that of the titular theoretical physicist trying to poison his professor by using potassium cyanide on an apple.

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Not only has the scene left many shocked, it has also sparked discussions on whether Oppenheimer was actually guilty of the sinister plot or whether the scene was a byproduct of dramatisation for the purposes of entertainment.

In view of the ongoing buzz about the scene, Oppenheimer's grandson, Charles, has shed some light on what he thinks went down at the time.

In an interview with TIME magazine, Charles shared his thoughts about the movie in general, and on certain scenes, including the one mentioned above.

While Charles told TIME that the dramatised representation of history was "really largely accurate", he did say there were parts that were not.

Specifically, Charles pointed out the poision scene, telling TIME, "The part I like the least is this poison apple reference."

However, Oppenheimer's grandson went on to clarify that the issue with the scene stemmed from the source material—the book—and was not an improvisation by Nolan.

"If you read American Prometheus carefully enough, the authors say, 'We don't really know if it happened.' There's no record of him trying to kill somebody. That's a really serious accusation and it's historical revision. There's not a single enemy or friend of Robert Oppenheimer who heard that during his life and considered it to be true," said Charles.

Shedding more light on why the incident was in the book itself, Charles said, "American Prometheus got it from some references talking about a spring break trip, and all the original reporters of that story—there was only two maybe three—reported that they didn't know what Robert Oppenheimer was talking about. Unfortunately, American Prometheus summarizes that as Robert Oppenheimer tried to kill his teacher and then they [acknowledge that] maybe there's this doubt."

Charles further said that while the inclusion of the scene in the movie did not bother him per se, he added that he had reservations about its addition in the book.

"It bothers me that it was in the biography with that emphasis, not a disclaimer of, this is an unsubstantiated rumour that we want to put in our book to make it interesting," Charles was quoted as saying by TIME.

What does American Prometheus say about the incident?

A glance through the book, American Prometheus, gives us a better idea of the genesis of what Charles called a "rumour."

As per the book, the purported incident took place in 1925, when Oppenheimer's relationship with his head tutor, Patrick Blackett, had deteriorated, with the relationship becoming a "source of intense anxiety" for the young theoretical physicist.

Then, in the autumn of 1925, Oppenheimer purportedly poisoned an apple and left it on Blackett's desk. While the book acknowledges that Blackett never ate the apple and that the use of cyanide by Oppenheimer was "improbable", it does mention that a poisoning incident took place even if the motive behind it was not murder.

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In fact, the book states that Oppenheimer himself admitted to his friend Francis Fergusson that he had attempted to do something along the aforementioned lines.

"He [Oppenheimer] had kind of poisoned the head steward. It seemed incredible, but that was what he said. And he had actually used cyanide or something somewhere. And fortunately the tutor discovered it. Of course there was hell to pay with Cambridge," Fergusson was quoted as saying in the book.

While Oppenheimer initially faced the possibility of explusion over the incident, his parents lobbied the university to not press criminal charges, and after "protracted negotiations", it was decided that Oppenheimer would be put on probation and take sessions with a prominent psychiatrist in London.