Who Was Jean Tatlock? The Character Played By Florence Pugh In Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller Oppenheimer continues to thrust viewers into the nerve-wrecking paradox of a physicist who risked destroying the world in order to save it. The movie that’s flocking masses to theatres narrates the story of Julius Robert Oppenheimer and his contribution to the creation of the atomic bomb. But what’s also left the audience intrigued is the character of Jean Tatlock played by actress Florence Pugh. An emotional yet intellectual Stanford-educated psychiatrist, Jean’s romance tale with Julius Robert Oppenheimer was equal parts intense yet torturous. Here, we have detailed everything that you need to know about the free-spirited woman who became prone to bouts of melancholy which eventually led to her tragic death.

Who was Jean Tatlock?

Florence Pugh essayed Jean as a force to be reckoned with who constantly pushed against social conventions that degraded and limited women during the 1930s and 1940s. Jean Tatlock was shown to be blunt in Oppenheimer who always knew what she wanted. She was a daughter of a prominent literary scholar, who studied to become a psychiatrist with a graduate degree from Vassar College and the Stanford Medical School. A member of the Community Party USA, Jean served as a reporter and writer for the party’s publication titled Western Worker. Eventually, her romantic ties with the director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II and her membership with the Communist Party led her to be placed under FBI surveillance with her phone tapped.

Jean Tatlock and Julius Robert Oppenheimer’s Romance:

Jean Tatlock and Julius Robert Oppenheimer began dating each other in 1936. At the time Jean was merely a graduate student while Oppenheimer was a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Reportedly, the physicist proposed to her for marriage but Jean refused him twice. She notably gets credited for introducing Julius to people sympathetic to communist beliefs and radical politics. The duo continued dating until Julius became romantically involved with Katherine Harrison who he married in November 1940.

Jean Tatlock’s death:

Jean Tatlock died by alleged suicide in January 1944. Her body was found by her father half submerged in a bathtub. She allegedly drowned herself leaving a suicide note behind.