Oppenheimer (surname)

Oppenheimer is a toponymic surname, derived from the German town Oppenheim, common among Germans and Ashkenazi Jews. Most uses refer to J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the American physicist who headed the Manhattan Project. Other notable people with the surname include:

In arts and media

 * Alan Oppenheimer (born 1930), American film actor
 * Andrés Oppenheimer (born 1951), Argentine author and journalist known for his analysis of Latin American politics
 * Jerry Oppenheimer (fl. 1980s–2010s), American biographer
 * Jess Oppenheimer (1913–1988), American radio and television writer, producer, and director, creator of I Love Lucy
 * Joel Oppenheimer (1930–1988), American writer
 * Joshua Oppenheimer (born 1974), American film director
 * Joshua Oppenheimer (fl. 2000s–2020s), American screenwriter
 * Lillian Oppenheimer (1898–1992), American origami pioneer
 * Max Oppenheimer (1885–1954), Austrian painter and graphic artist
 * Meaghan Oppenheimer (born 1986), American screenwriter and producer
 * Stephen Oppenheimer (born 1947), British paediatrician, geneticist, and writer on genetics and human prehistory

Minerals

 * Bernard Oppenheimer (1866–1921), South African and British diamond merchant and philanthropist, brother of Ernest
 * Ernest Oppenheimer (1880–1957), diamond and gold mining entrepreneur and financier; controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, brother of Bernard
 * Harry Oppenheimer (1908–2000), South African businessman of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, son of Ernest
 * Nicky Oppenheimer (born 1945), chairman of De Beers and of The Diamond Trading Company, son of Harry

Other businesses

 * Damon Oppenheimer (born 1962), Vice President and Director of Amateur Scouting for the New York Yankees
 * Joseph Süß Oppenheimer (1698–1738), financial adviser to Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
 * Samuel Oppenheimer (1635–1703), Jewish banker
 * Peter Oppenheimer (fl. 1980s–2020s), American business executive, first CFO of Apple Inc

In government and law

 * Charles Cuprill Oppenheimer (1916–2011), lawyer and Rotary District Governor for Puerto Rico
 * David Oppenheimer (1834–1897), second mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
 * Kay Oppenheimer (fl. 2000s), member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
 * Reuben Oppenheimer (1897–1982), justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals
 * Santiago Oppenheimer (1869 – ca. 1930), mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1906
 * Suzi Oppenheimer (born 1934), New York politician

In science and academia

 * Clive Oppenheimer (born 1964), British volcanologist
 * Daniel M. Oppenheimer (fl. 2000s–2020s), American professor of psychology at UCLA
 * Frank Oppenheimer (1912–1985), American physicist, brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer, founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco
 * Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943), German sociologist and political economist
 * Hillel Oppenheimer (1899–1971), Israeli professor of botany, son of Franz
 * Jane M. Oppenheimer (1911–1996), American embryologist and historian of science
 * Katherine Oppenheimer (1910–1972), German-American biologist, wife of J. Robert Oppenheimer
 * Melanie Oppenheimer (born 1957), Australian historian
 * Michael Oppenheimer (born 1946), American professor of geosciences at Princeton University, authority on climate change
 * Rebecca Oppenheimer (born 1972), American astrophysicist
 * Stephen Oppenheimer (born 1947), British popular science writer in prehistory

In other fields

 * Damon Oppenheimer (born 1962), Vice President and Director of Amateur Scouting for the New York Yankees
 * David Oppenheim (rabbi) (1664–1736), also called Oppenheimer, rabbi of Prague and bibliophile
 * Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer (1901–1974), also known as Isabel la Negra, Puerto Rican madam
 * Joseph Oppenheimer (1820–1893), German-British businessman and inventor of telegraphic equipment
 * Josh Oppenheimer (born 1969), Israeli-American basketball coach, and former basketball player
 * Thomas Oppenheimer (born 1988), German ice hockey player