Edward Teller

Edward Teller (original Hungarian name Teller Ede) (January 15, 1908 – September 9 2003) was a Hungarian-born American nuclear physicist of Jewish descent. He was known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb."

Work on the Manhattan Project

In 1942, Teller was invited to be part of Robert Oppenheimer's summer planning seminar at UC Berkeley for the origins of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to develop the first nuclear weapons. A few weeks earlier, Teller had been meeting with his friend and colleague Enrico Fermi about the prospects of atomic warfare, and Fermi had nonchalantly suggested that perhaps a weapon based on nuclear fission could be used to set off an even larger nuclear fusion reaction. Even though initially he quickly explained to Fermi why he thought the idea wouldn't work, Teller was fascinated by the possibility and was quickly bored with the idea of "just" an atomic bomb (which was not yet anywhere near completion). At the Berkeley session, Teller diverted discussion from the fission weapon to the possibility of a fusion weapon—what he called the "Super" (an early version of what was later known as a hydrogen bomb).

Related Topics:
Robert Oppenheimer - UC Berkeley - Manhattan Project - Allied - Nuclear weapon - Enrico Fermi - Nuclear fission - Nuclear fusion

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Teller became part of the Theoretical Physics division at the secret Los Alamos laboratory during the war, and continued to push his ideas for a fusion weapon even though it had been put on a low priority during the war (as the creation of a fission weapon was proving to be difficult enough by itself). Because of his interest on the H-bomb, and his frustration at having been passed up for director of the theoretical division (the job was instead given to Hans Bethe), Teller refused to engage in the calculations of the implosion of the fission bomb. This caused tensions with other researchers, as additional scientists had to be employed to do that work—including Klaus Fuchs, who later was revealed to be a Soviet spy. Apparently, Teller also managed to irk his neighbours by playing the piano late in the night. However, Teller made some valuable contributions to bomb research, especially in the elucidation of the implosion mechanism. In 1946, Teller left Los Alamos to return to the University of Chicago.

Related Topics:
Los Alamos laboratory - Hans Bethe - Klaus Fuchs - Soviet spy - Implosion - University of Chicago

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