Oppenheimer’s story reinforces the importance of global governance during scientific revolutions

J. Robert Oppenheimer was the first chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ board of sponsors, a group composed of the world’s leading scientists based at the University of Chicago. Because I serve as the bulletin’s president, I am fielding a lot of questions lately about why I think Christopher Nolan’s eponymous film about Oppenheimer, which hit theaters nationwide on Friday, is resonating so deeply with the public. The all-star cast, feted director, and script — based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Prometheus” — all forecast a big opening weekend, of course. But th...