Thanks for posting this. I heard it early this morning on my way to my workout ...
'Father of the H-bomb' dies06:26 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 10, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO - Edward Teller, a member of the Manhattan Project that created the first atomic bomb and who later emerged as the foremost champion of the vastly more destructive hydrogen bomb, has died. He was 95.
Teller, dubbed the "father of the H-bomb" and a key advocate of the anti-missile shield known as "Star Wars," died Tuesday at his home on the Stanford University campus.
Teller was a tireless advocate of a vigorous United States defense policy during and after the Cold War, urging development of advanced weapons as way to deter war.
"The second half of the century has been incomparably more peaceful than the first, simply by putting power into the hands of those people who wanted peace," he told a forum on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb attacks on Japan.
Teller's staunch support for defense stemmed in part from two events that shaped his view of world affairs -- the 1919 communist revolution in his native Hungary and the rise of Nazism while he lived in Germany in the early 1930s.
Witty and personable, with a passion for playing the piano, Teller nevertheless was a persuasive Cold Warrior who influenced presidents of both parties.
In 1939, he was one of three scientists who encouraged Albert Einstein to alert President Franklin Roosevelt that the power of nuclear fission -- the splitting of an atom's nucleus -- could be tapped to create a devastating new weapon.
He would later quip that he often believed the only reason he became a part of the trio was "because I was the only one who knew how to drive and had a car to get us there."
Two years later, even before the first atom bomb was completed, fellow scientist Enrico Fermi suggested that nuclear fusion -- fusing rather than splitting nuclei -- might be used for an even more destructive explosive, the hydrogen bomb.
Teller's enthusiasm and pursuit of such a bomb won him the title "father of the H-bomb," a characterization he said he hated. The first megaton H-bomb was exploded in 1952.
The H-bomb was never used in war, but atom bombs were dropped on Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some scientists had suggested at the time that a bomb be exploded in the sky miles over Tokyo harbor in hopes of scaring Japan into surrendering with a minimum of casualties.
"I think we shared the opportunity and the duty, which we did not pursue, to find... a possibility to demonstrate" the bomb, Teller said at the anniversary forum. "Now in retrospect I have a regret."
Among honors Teller received were the Albert Einstein Award, the Enrico Fermi Award and the National Medal of Science and, in July, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Teller also will be remembered for his role in destroying the career of his one-time boss, Robert Oppenheimer -- which alienated Teller from many of his colleagues.
Teller claimed Oppenheimer, who had directed the Manhattan Project, had slowed development of the H-bomb, allowing the Soviet Union to catch up. The allegations became the basis for the most serious charges brought against Oppenheimer in 1954 when his security clearance was lifted.
In his memoirs, published in 2001, Teller remained critical of Oppenheimer but said he was stupid to testify against him. Teller also said he was motivated not by Oppenheimer's opposition to the hydrogen bomb, but by the way Oppenheimer had treated another man.
Teller was born Jan. 15, 1908, in Budapest. He received his university education in Germany, earning a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Leipzig.
In 1935, Teller and his wife, Mici, came to the United States, where Teller was a professor at George Washington University until 1941, the same year the Tellers became U.S. citizens.
Teller joined the Manhattan Project in 1942 at Los Alamos (N.M.) Scientific Laboratory to work on developing the first atomic bomb. He also promoted the hydrogen fusion bomb, a concept that attracted interest but remained secondary to the work on the atomic weapon.
After the success of the Manhattan Project, Teller left in 1946 to become a physics professor at the University of Chicago.
When the Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949, Teller persuaded the Truman administration to push ahead on H-bomb research. He returned to Los Alamos and worked on the bomb through the first megaton-scale explosion at Eniwetok in the Pacific in 1952.
At the same time, Teller pushed for the creation of a second national science lab -- the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He became a consultant there in 1952, associate director in 1954 and director from 1958-60. He continued as a consultant at the lab after retiring in 1975.
"He put his heart and soul into this laboratory and into ensuring the security of this nation, and his dedication never foundered," said Michael Anastasio, director of the lab.
In 1983, Teller persuaded President Reagan that space-based laser weapons could provide a secure anti-missile defense. Reagan bought the idea and proposed the multibillion-dollar Strategic Defense Initiative, dubbed "Star Wars."
Computer experts raised doubts early on about the reliability of the complex software required for a Star Wars system. But even as the evidence mounted that Star Wars would cost billions more than originally expected and would take years longer to develop, Teller continued to support it.
"The danger for ballistic missiles in the hands of 18 different nations has increased, and will increase, unless we have a defense," he said. "If we want to have stable, peaceful conditions, defense against sudden attack by rockets is more needed than ever."
Mici Teller, his wife of 66 years, died in 2000. He is survived by his son, Paul Teller, his daughter, Wendy Teller, four grandchildren and a great grandchild.
In Teller's autobiography "Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics," Teller said he was often asked whether he regretted having worked on the atomic and hydrogen bombs.
"My answer is no. I deeply regret the deaths and injuries that resulted from the atomic bombings, but my best explanation of why I do not regret working on weapons is a question: What if we hadn't?"
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