J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Oppenheimer later recalled that, while witnessing the explosion of the Trinity nuclear test, he thought of verses from the Bhagavad Gita (XI,12):
दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता। यदि भाः सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मनः।।११-१२।।[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Bhagavad_Gitacite_note-8) If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one…[9][[10]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Bhagavad_Gitacite_note-10)
Years later he would explain that another verse had also entered his head at that time:
We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Bhagavad_Gitacite_note-The_Decision_to_Drop_the_Bomb-11)[a]