Oppenheimer's famous quote 'I am become Death' isn't really his. The ominous words come from Hindu scripture.

• J. Robert Oppenheimer watched the first atom bomb explode and thought, "Now I am become Death."
• The famous quote is not an Oppenheimer original. The god Vishnu says it in Hindu scripture.
• Watch the moment Oppenheimer spoke those foreboding words on NBC, below.

J. Robert Oppenheimer once declared himself — or, possibly, the power of the atom bomb he had unleashed — "Death, the destroyer of worlds." The title is bleak but fitting.