During World War II, the American physicist Robert Oppenheimer was at the head of the research work for the production of the atomic bomb. He was removed from that position in 1953 due to disagreements with the US Atomic Commission regarding the development of the hydrogen bomb. The investigation that was conducted against him during the infamous time of anti-communist hysteria and the "witch hunt" during the time of Senator McCarthy is testimony to the great moral and psychological dilemma in which the scientists of that era found themselves.