He's also the inspiration for one of favorite characters in fiction, Sherkaner Underhill from A Deepness In The Sky*. :)
Oh, hell-- that totally makes sense and I completely missed it until now. Thanks for mentioning that-- it adds some additional depth to a book and a character I already enjoy a ton.
In my opinion, Hoenikker is just too amoral and aloof to really match any one of the Manhattan Project scientists. Teller (who suggested using atomic weapons to excavate harbours) and Fermi (who before the Trinity test took bets on whether the bomb would light the atmosphere on fire) are maybe the closest contenders.
[1] https://gizmodo.com/the-real-life-scientist-who-inspired-kur...
Von Neumann was himself pretty pro atomic bomb, though, and wanted to preemptively bomb the Soviet Union.