Oppenheimer in New York: Upper West Side Walking Tour

5.0 (14 reviews) 2 h 30 min Free cancellation

out of 5

14 reviews

5.0

J. Robert Oppenheimer — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

Oppenheimer in New York tour group — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

About this activity

Discover the New York story behind one of the 20th century’s most complex figures. This guided walking tour explores how J. Robert Oppenheimer’s years on the Upper West Side shaped his ideas, ambitions, and the world-changing science that followed. Walk through the neighborhoods, institutions, and meeting places where intellectual debate, politics, and innovation converged during the New Deal and wartime eras. Learn how the city’s energy, ideals, and contradictions influenced the man often called the “father of the atomic bomb.”

Private and Luxury Cultural Tours Historical Tours Walking Tours Culture Excellent Quality Weather Dependent - Moderate

At a glance

Duration: 2 h 30 min
Confirmation: Instant confirmation
Ticket: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group: Up to 15 people
People per booking: 1–12
Guide: English
Operated by: Purefinder New York

Ages: Adults (10–100 years)

What is included

Included

Included: All Fees and Taxes

Itinerary

Upper West Side

10 min

We will visit the premarital home of Ella Oppenheimer, Robert Oppenheimer's mother, to discuss J. Robert Oppenheimer's immigrant ancestry.
Upper West Side

10 min

We will visit the site of Oppenheimer's birth to discuss his parents' life in New York.
Upper West Side

15 min

We will visit the former home of Edwin R. A. Seligman to discuss Oppenheimer's education at the Ethical Culture School.
Upper West Side

10 min

We will visit the Clarendon, the former home of William Randolph Hearst, who was the talk of Oppenheimer's childhood neighborhood and had ties with the world leaders who would be forever connected by WWII and Oppenheimer.
Riverside Drive

15 min

We will visit the childhood home of J. Robert Oppenheimer to discuss his childhood and adolescence.
Soldiers' and Sailors Monument New York

15 min

Visitors will learn about the history of Riverside Drive that coincided with Oppenheimer's formative years.
Riverside Drive

10 min

We will visit the Master Apartments to discuss FDR's New Deal and the various ideologies of that era that prospered and informed Oppenheimer as a young man.
New York Buddhist Church

15 min

We will look at the Shinran Statue to discuss the cause and the effect of the atomic bomb.
Riverside Drive

10 min

We will visit the home of Isidor Rabi, a pioneer in 20th-century physics, a Nobel Prize winner, and a close friend of Oppenheimer.