7.30.23
WSU prof weighs in on the legacy of Oppenheimer
What with the recent press blitz surrounding the movie “Oppenheimer,” Wichita State’s Pat Proctor, an assistant professor in the university’s homeland security program and a retired U.S. Army colonel, was tapped by HuffPost to weigh in on the legacy of the real J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was a theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II.
Proctor, who has written extensively on current affairs and military history, was asked by HuffPost to respond to the question, What is Oppenheimer’s legacy? His answer, in part, is this: “Oppenheimer’s work put an end not just to the worst great power war in human history but, at least so far, an end to all great power war.”
The author of several books, including Lessons Unlearned: The U.S. Army’s Role in Creating the Forever Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (2020), Proctor holds a doctorate in history from Kansas State University, a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and three master’s degrees, one in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, another in military arts for theater operations from the School of Advanced Military Studies and a third in military arts for strategy from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
A U.S. Army veteran of both the Afghanistan and the Iraq wars, Proctor has more than 25 years of service in command and staff positions (1989-2019) at locations from Fort Hood, Texas, to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. In 2006, he and his wife Aree moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where they became small business owners, opening Baan Thai Restaurant, which they have built into the largest Thai restaurant chain in Kansas.
In addition to his work in higher education, his extensive military service and his successful business practice, Proctor was elected in November 2020 as the Kansas representative serving the state’s 41st House District.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer,” which explores the personal life of Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb, has proven a box office success, earning as of earlier this week more than $180 million worldwide.
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