Childhood, early schooling, early trips to New Mexico and Europe. Influences of parents, brother (J. Robert Oppenheimer), and physics teacher; impressions, contacts with scientists, and experiences at Johns Hopkins University, Cavendish Laboratory, Florence Laboratory, Caltech, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Minnesota, and University of Colorado; political involvements and subsequent blacklisting; ranch years, 1949-1959; return to scientific career; and current involvement in science museums (San Fransisco Exploratorium).