Interesting, I’d already done a physics degree before I became familiar with him, and I only read his "auto"biography after being suckered in by his reputation, but the one thing that really stayed with me from the book was his attitude that you should work solving physics problems because you enjoy it regardless of the consequences, and the outside world doesn’t matter at all - clearly and not-so-subtly in regard to his work on the atomic bomb. Which even then, before I had any kind of actual political understanding, really rubbed me the wrong way, especially since this guy was apparently such an important and lauded person.

So the fact his reputation and legend is wildly exaggerated and he was actually just an asshole puts that to rest for me.