5/09/2006
The tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer by C Mott Woolley
In American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer [1], Toni, Oppenheimer's "very sweet" daughter, is described as having "acquired a near-perfect command of West Indian Calypso, the Creole English common in the islands. She loved the island's steel-band music. As a young adolescent, she was a dead-serious child, with beautiful smooth features, tragic dark eyes, long lustrous dark hair, and the condescending politeness of a princess. Extremely shy, she hated to have her photograph taken." In 1977 on the island of St John in the US Virgin Islands, Toni hanged herself. She was 33 years old.