The Oppenheimer Alternative

Writing with “a sense of wonder that hasn’t prevailed since the days of Heinlein” (Books in Canada), best-novel Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer brings you “a truly science-fictional work of alternate history” (S.M. Stirling).

While J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project team struggle to develop the A-bomb, Edward Teller wants something even more devastating: a weapon based on nuclear fusion — the mechanism that powers the sun. But Teller’s research leads to a terrifying discovery: by the year 2030, the sun will eject its outermost layer, destroying the entire inner solar system — including Earth.

After the war ends, Oppenheimer’s physicists combine forces with Albert Einstein, computing pioneer John von Neumann, and rocket designer Wernher von Braun — the greatest scientific geniuses from the last century racing against time to save our future.

Meticulously researched and replete with real-life characters and events, The Oppenheimer Alternative is a breathtaking adventure through both real and alternate history.

Advance Praise for The Oppenheimer Alternative
• “I loved it!”
—Lee Smolin, author of The Trouble with Physics

• “An imaginative restructuring of a phantasmagoric life into an alternative phantasmagorical story. Oppenheimer fans will be intrigued.”
—Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

• “Really great, a page turner; I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Another fine addition to the Sawyer canon!”
—Andre Bormanis, co-executive producer, The Orville and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

• “Incredibly realistic: the characters, locations, the era, and even the science. I felt like I was back in Los Alamos — and I should know: I worked there! Breathlessly riveting; Sawyer pulls it off masterfully.”
—Doug Beason, former Associate Laboratory Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory

• “I knew many of these physicists, and Sawyer nails them accurately.”
—Gregory Benford, author of The Berlin Project
About the Author

Robert J. Sawyer’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name.

He is one of only eight writers ever to have won all three of the science-fiction field’s top awards for best novel of the year: the Hugo (which he won for Hominids), the Nebula (which he won for The Terminal Experiment), and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (which he won for Mindscan).

A member of the Order of Canada and one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, Rob lives near Toronto.