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Long Island’s Frank Flynn took to Facebook on Christmas Eve to announce he was starting a petition to rename Bay Shore’s South Saxon Avenue to Oppenheimer Avenue – after theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.
“Why? I’m glad you asked,” the Bay Shore native wrote on the “Original Islip This & That” Facebook group Tuesday, Dec. 24.
“Well it turns out that world-renowned scientist and father of the A-bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, lived in a vacation house on Saxon Avenue! So why not dedicate a portion of Saxon Ave to him and his accomplishments?”
A follow-up post stated that Flynn had “sent an email” to Gov. Kathy Hochul that included a blueprint for “Oppenheimer Memorial Park.”
Oppenheimer spent more than a decade summer vacationing at the Bay Shore residence beginning at the age of 13. His family purchased the home in 1917, lured by the hamlet’s lack of malaria and finding the townspeople accepting of Jewish people, according to the Bay Shore Historical Society.
“The family chose a two-and-a-half-story Colonial Revival house built in 1896. The Saxon Ave. house was purchased from the Knapp Family in 1917. The bay front estate was on seven acres of land and had 25 rooms. The family spent 12 summers vacationing in Bay Shore,” the organization said.
Flynn’s proposal sparked plenty of reaction online, with an overwhelming majority opposed to the idea:
- “A shrine for Oppenheimer??? How about no thanks? Make one in your backyard.”
- “You can’t be serious about this.”
- “Nah.”
But, it turns out the proposal was made in jest.
“I have to be up front about this and tell you that this is 100% satirical,” Flynn confessed to Daily Voice.
Oppenheimer earned his “father of the A-bomb” moniker after serving as director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II and overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapon.
He was the subject of the widely-acclaimed 2023 biographical drama film, "Oppenheimer," in which he was played by Cillian Murphy, a role that won Murphy an Academy Award for best actor.
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