Oppenheimer depicts the life and career of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who aided in the development of the first nuclear weapons during World War II, but the movie doesn’t explain when and how he died. The epic biographical thriller drama, directed and written by Christopher Nolan, follows Oppenheimer’s life from his studies at the University of Cambridge in the mid-1920s to President Lyndon B. Johnson awarding him the Enrico Fermi Award, a lifetime achievement scientific medal, in 1963. Ultimately, Oppenheimer‘s timeline isn’t linear as it jumps back and forth between different periods but still never shows Oppenheimer’s death.

The two-hour and forty-minute film primarily focuses on Oppenheimer’s (played by Cillian Murphy in the Oppenheimer cast) role as the director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory, which designed and built the first atomic bombs, and his 1954 security hearing. The R-rated Oppenheimer explores the complexity of the theoretical physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” resulting in one of the highest-grossing and most critically acclaimed movies of 2023. The epic biographical thriller drama doesn’t paint Oppenheimer as a villain or a hero, which might be why it doesn’t show his death.

J. Robert Oppenheimer Died At Age 62 Of Complications From Throat Cancer

Oppenheimer Was A Chain Smoker

Although Oppenheimer‘s ending doesn’t show it, J. Robert Oppenheimer died of throat cancer when he was only 62 years old. He was a chain smoker, who mostly smoked Chesterfields, for most of his life, which ultimately led to his cancer diagnosis a little over a year before his death. Oppenheimer first underwent surgery, but that was unsuccessful, so, he turned to radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, all the scientist’s attempts to cure his throat cancer failed. Months afterward, Oppenheimer fell into a coma and sadly died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, just a few days later.

J. Robert Oppenheimer Died In 1967, Four Years After Oppenheimer’s Ending

Oppenheimer’s Story Concluded In 1963

J. Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904, in New York City, and died on February 18, 1967, in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 62 (a couple of months before his birthday). Princeton University held a memorial service a week after the theoretical physicist’s death, and his body was later cremated. His wife, Kitty Oppenheimer, took her husband’s ashes to Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands (where they had a home) and scattered them into the ocean. Five years later, Kitty died from an intestinal infection complicated by a pulmonary embolism when she was also 62.

The last shot the audience sees of Oppenheimer in the true story of Oppenheimer is President Lyndon B. Johnson awarding him the Enrico Fermi Award. Given that the ceremony occurred in late 1963, the scientist died four years after the movie’s ending. Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan probably had many reasons why he chose to end the film with Oppenheimer receiving the prestigious award instead of his death. However, the 2023 epic biographical drama likely didn’t show Cillian Murphy’s character’s death to rule out any unnecessary sympathy for Oppenheimer and leave viewers with the knowledge that he wasn’t a hero (or a villain).

How Oppenheimer’s Legacy Changed After His Death

Many Now Sympathize With Oppenheimer Decades After He Died

Many have criticized J. Robert Oppenheimer for his involvement with the creation of the atomic bomb (which led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and the 1954 revoking of his security clearance. However, in the years after his death, Oppenheimer’s legacy hasn’t been that of a murderer or a communist. In 2022, the Department of Energy nullified the decision regarding Oppenheimer’s security clearance and explained that they wanted to correct history and honor the scientist. Meanwhile, as delicately portrayed in Oppenheimer, the argument over whether Oppenheimer was a good or bad guy lives on as it’s not black and white.