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Oppenheimer, and the atomic bomb: As director of the Manhattan project, J. Robert Oppenheimer headed up one of the most spectacular scientific undertakings of the 20th century. Then a lot of innocent people died. This made him sad:
I have no remorse about the making of the bomb and Trinity [the first test of an a-bomb]. That was done right. As for how we used it, I understand why it happened and appreciate with what nobility those men with whom I'd worked made their decision. But I do not have the feeling that it was done right. The ultimatum to Japan [the Potsdam Proclamation demanding Japan's surrender] was full of pious platitudes. ...our government should have acted with more foresight and clarity in telling the world and Japan what the bomb meant.
This is less an issue of an stray invention than it is the unavoidable, unintended consequences of technological progress, but still. Wow.
