The quote "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" is a famous line attributed to J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist and one of the key figures in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. He made this statement upon witnessing the first successful test of the atomic bomb, known as the Trinity test, on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico.
The use of the phrase "I am become death" instead of "I am becoming death" or "I become/became death" is due to a linguistic nuance that was more common in older forms of English. The quote is actually a paraphrased version of a verse from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna, who serves as the charioteer and guide to the warrior Arjuna, reveals his divine form to Arjuna, displaying his immense power and universal presence. The verse in question is from Chapter 11, Verse 32 of the Bhagavad Gita, where Lord Krishna says:
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत् कृत् प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः। ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः॥
Transliteration: kālo'smi loka-kṣhaya-kṛit kṛit pravṛiddho lokān samāhartum iha pravṛittaḥ ṛite'pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣhyanti sarve ye'vasthitāḥ pratyanīkeṣhu yodhāḥ
Translation: "I am time, the great destroyer of worlds, and I have come to engage all people. With the exception of you [the Pandavas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain."
It is important to note that in older forms of English, the present perfect tense was used differently than it is today. The phrase "I am become" in the quote is an archaic form of the present perfect tense, which emphasizes a completed action with ongoing consequences or a state that continues into the present. In modern English, we would say "I have become" to convey the same meaning.
So, when Oppenheimer used the quote, he was likely paraphrasing the Bhagavad Gita in the archaic language style, which was more commonly used in the past. The phrase has since become famous due to its association with the historical moment of the Trinity test and the development of the atomic bomb.