Atomic Heritage Foundation/Getty Kitty Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt.
In the movie “Oppenheimer,” physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer plays a key role.
Be forewarned that this article will contain some spoilers for the movie since it closely tracks with real life.
Played by Emily Blunt, Kitty Oppenheimer stays at her husband’s side through marital infidelity (to Jean Tatlock) and a flawed hearing into his Communist sympathies. In the movie, her own past Communist affiliations are used to strip her husband of his security clearance (a decision vacated by the U.S. government in 2022.)
But what is the real story of Oppenheimer’s wife?
Here’s what you need to know:
Kitty Oppenheimer was a Trained Botanist & Lab Technician Who Had 2 Children With Robert Oppenheimer
Although I think more could’ve been mined about Kitty Oppenheimer in the film, Emily Blunt’s stoicism and strength throughout (especially during her interview scene) is very much deserving of a supporting actress Oscar nomination next year. A shocking *first* nomination at that!
According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer was born Katherine Puening in 1910. She died in 1972. She is described as a “German-American botanist and wife of Los Alamos Scientific Director J. Robert Oppenheimer.”
“Katherine Puening was born on August 8, 1910 in Recklinghausen, Germany and moved to America at the age of two. Her family had a noble background, and as a child, she would occasionally receive letters addressed to ‘Her Highness, Katherine,'” the site explains.
Kitty was a lab technician at Los Alamos, according to that biography, and she was a trained botanist. She was known at Los Alamos for her social life, hosting cocktail parties for other women there.
According to the Foundation, her husband “frequently sought her advice on a host of issues facing the Manhattan Project.” Together, they had two children, Peter and Toni, according to the Foundation.
The biography describes “Kitty’s own fiery personality,” which is showcased in the movie. The Nuclear Museum reports that Kitty had a troubled relationship with her children, with their son, Peter, once describing her as descending into alcoholism. Today, Peter lives on Oppenheimer’s ranch and has three children, Dorothy, Charlie, and Ella, the site reports. Toni Oppenheimer took her own life at age 32.
Kitty Oppenheimer Admitted Being a Member of the Communist Party
GettyAmerican atomic scientist Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904 – 1967)
As is shown in the movie, Oppenheimer’s security clearance was stripped by a personnel board of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
A transcript of that hearing contains questions relating to Kitty Oppenheimer.
“It was reported that your wife, Katherine Puening Oppenheimer, was formerly the wife of Joseph Dallet, a member of the Communist Party, who was killed in Spain in 1937 fighting for the Spanish Republican Army,” the transcript says. “The Board concludes that this allegation is true.”
It notes,
Mrs. Oppenheimer testified that she was married to Joseph Dallet from 1934 until he was killed in Spain, fighting for the Spanish Republican Army in 1937.
Mrs. Oppenheimer admitted knowing that Dallet was a member of the Communist Party and was actively engaging in Communist Party activities.
It was further reported that during the period of her association with Joseph Dallet, your wife became a member of the Communist Party. The Communist Party has been designated by the Attorney General as a subversive organization which seeks to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means, within the purview of Executive Order 9835 and Executive Order 10450.
The Board concludes that this allegation is true.
According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, Kitty Oppenheimer was married three times before she met her husband, J. Robert Oppenheimer. She was married to Richard Harrison, a British doctor, when she met the physicist the site reports.
According to the board’s transcript, “Mrs. Oppenheimer testified to having been a member of the Communist Party from about 1934 to June 1936 and having engaged in Communist Party activities in the Youngstown, Ohio, area.”
In 1995, the FBI cleared Oppenheimer of having been a Soviet spy, according to The Los Angeles Times.
According to US News and World Report in 2009, several authors were allowed to review KGB archives, which exonerated Oppenheimer of spying. “Robert Oppenheimer continuously refused to help the KGB, much to Moscow’s frustration,” the article notes.
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