Dear Readers,

Welcome to the Spring issue of Princeton Magazine, with J. Robert Oppenheimer on the cover. Oppenheimer is known as the father of the atomic bomb and Scientific American lists him as one of the greatest American physicists in history. more

Government photograph of J. Robert Oppenheimer (in light colored hat with foot on tower rubble), General Leslie Groves (in military dress to Oppenheimer’s left), and others at the ground zero site of the Trinity test after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (some time after the actual test). September 1945. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Princeton Years

By Anne Levin

For three days last April, the Institute for Advanced Study resembled its 1950s self. Vintage cars were parked outside. Actors Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey Jr. were spotted in and around Fuld Hall and Olden Manor, wearing mid-century-appropriate clothing.

These actors and accompanying crew had descended upon the Institute — one of the world’s foremost centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry —to shoot scenes for a feature film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the famed theoretical physicist and the Institute’s director from 1947 to 1966. Oppenheimer led the World War II Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Less than a decade later, he was the most prominent victim of the McCarthy era “red scare.” Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, is due to be released in July. more

Elements of floral displays at local venues begin life on a preserved farm in Stockton

By Ilene Dube | Photo courtesy of Frederica Keep

Granted, it was a fairly balmy day in January to begin with, but when Peter McCrohan invited me inside the Mediterranean house, I found myself peeling off layers — wool hat and scarf, gloves, down jacket. He calls it the Mediterranean house because the plants he’s raising inside this greenhouse — white squill, oxblood lily, spider flower, and nerine — prefer a climate like that of grapes and olives.

“They grow in the winter and are dormant in summer,” says the tall 71-year-old farmer, wearing a worn leather cowboy hat and a down vest over a flannel shirt. “But they are frost tender, so I put a double-layered cloth over them at night. I mulch if it goes below 10 degrees outside.” Sitting at a patio table in the greenhouse, he looks down at his phone, noting that temperatures will dip into the single digits by the end of the week. more

Sierra Club NJ Director Stresses Importance of “Clean Sources”

By Taylor Smith | Cover photo by Shutterstock.com

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Anjuli Ramos-Busot was continually aware of the power and influence of nature. “I was always fascinated by the natural world. How could I not be?” she says.

From hurricanes and tropical storms to changing currents, insects, and colorful plant and wildlife, nature was everywhere, and Ramos-Busot remembers that, even as a child, she had an interest in science. “I have always been a scientist at heart,” she says. “Understanding and protecting nature drives me and is who I truly am.” more

Healthy Delights from Nature’s Bounty

By Mary Abitanto | With photos by the author

As I take my walks on winter mornings, I am amazed to see the early signs of spring. The daffodils and crocuses start to peek through the hard, cold ground and, despite the frigid temperatures, are determined to break through. I love persistence, and it’s a good life lesson. more

Mansion in May 2023 Designer Showhouse and Gardens

By Laurie Pellichero

Three Fields, an elegant French manor style home situated on almost 36 acres of pastoral, rolling fields in the Borough of Mendham, has been chosen as the site for the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center’s (WAMMC) 20th Mansion in May Designer Showhouse and Gardens.

Located just an hour from Princeton, Three Fields is a 9,000-square-foot stone and brick home designed by New York architect Greville Rickard for Benjamin Duncan Mosser and his wife, the former Florence Willets Mosford. It was built between 1928 and 1930 and its many architectural elements include tall, steeply pitched tile roofs accented by dormers; wood casement windows; and French doors that open to the formal gardens, ponds, and fields beyond. The façade is made up of several conjoined units, as if the mansion had been expanded over the years. more