Which biography was adapted into Nolan's Oppenheimer?

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer was adapted from American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The 2005 biography was written by historian Kai Bird and physicist-historian Martin J. Sherwin. It follows Oppenheimer from his education and rise in theoretical physics through his leadership of the Los Alamos Laboratory during the Manhattan Project and his later political downfall during a 1954 security-clearance hearing.

Nolan began developing the film after reading the book, which gave him both the historical foundation and the dramatic structure for the screenplay. Rather than presenting a straightforward cradle-to-grave biography, he focused heavily on Oppenheimer's moral conflict, wartime decisions, relationships, and confrontation with Lewis Strauss and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

American Prometheus took roughly 25 years of research and won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. The title invokes the Greek myth of Prometheus, who stole fire for humanity and was punished for it—a fitting metaphor for Oppenheimer's role in creating nuclear weapons and his later anguish over their consequences. The film was released in 2023, with Cillian Murphy in the title role.