Edward Teller, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.achievement.org:80/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/","20181225135433","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1545746073"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <title>Edward Teller, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement</title>  <meta name="description" content=""I believe that there are periods in the intellectual development of the world which are particularly great. They are confined to periods not very long and to places not very extensive. That, in modern science, was something that occurred in central Europe." What occurred in central Europe in the first decades of this century was a revolution in man's understanding of the universe. The breakthrough in physics is associated with a few extraordinary minds: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg. One who knew and worked with them, and was at the very heart of this ferment, was Edward Teller. Under Heisenberg at Leipzig, he helped lay the foundation of nuclear physics. His research with Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago led to the first controlled nuclear reaction. At Los Alamos with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller assisted the development of the first atomic bomb. At the height of the Cold War, he led the drive to develop the hydrogen bomb and waged a tireless struggle to establish the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for thermonuclear research. Through his ninth decade, he remained an ardent proponent of nuclear fusion and strategic missile defense. As one of the great pioneers of modern physics, and as a strenuous advocate for America's national security, Edward Teller made his mark on our times in a way that few could equal. Although his passionate convictions often brought him into conflict with his fellow scientists, his old friend, the Nobel Prize-winner Eugene Wigner, called him "one of the most thoughtful statesmen of science.""/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Edward Teller, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I believe that there are periods in the intellectual development of the world which are particularly great. They are confined to periods not very long and to places not very extensive. That, in modern science, was something that occurred in central Europe."</p> <p class="inputText">What occurred in central Europe in the first decades of this century was a revolution in man's understanding of the universe. The breakthrough in physics is associated with a few extraordinary minds: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg. One who knew and worked with them, and was at the very heart of this ferment, was Edward Teller.</p> <p class="inputText">Under Heisenberg at Leipzig, he helped lay the foundation of nuclear physics. His research with Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago led to the first controlled nuclear reaction. At Los Alamos with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller assisted the development of the first atomic bomb. At the height of the Cold War, he led the drive to develop the hydrogen bomb and waged a tireless struggle to establish the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for thermonuclear research.</p> <p class="inputText">Through his ninth decade, he remained an ardent proponent of nuclear fusion and strategic missile defense. As one of the great pioneers of modern physics, and as a strenuous advocate for America's national security, Edward Teller made his mark on our times in a way that few could equal. Although his passionate convictions often brought him into conflict with his fellow scientists, his old friend, the Nobel Prize-winner Eugene Wigner, called him "one of the most thoughtful statesmen of science."</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/teller-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I believe that there are periods in the intellectual development of the world which are particularly great. They are confined to periods not very long and to places not very extensive. That, in modern science, was something that occurred in central Europe."</p> <p class="inputText">What occurred in central Europe in the first decades of this century was a revolution in man's understanding of the universe. The breakthrough in physics is associated with a few extraordinary minds: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg. One who knew and worked with them, and was at the very heart of this ferment, was Edward Teller.</p> <p class="inputText">Under Heisenberg at Leipzig, he helped lay the foundation of nuclear physics. His research with Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago led to the first controlled nuclear reaction. At Los Alamos with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller assisted the development of the first atomic bomb. At the height of the Cold War, he led the drive to develop the hydrogen bomb and waged a tireless struggle to establish the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for thermonuclear research.</p> <p class="inputText">Through his ninth decade, he remained an ardent proponent of nuclear fusion and strategic missile defense. As one of the great pioneers of modern physics, and as a strenuous advocate for America's national security, Edward Teller made his mark on our times in a way that few could equal. Although his passionate convictions often brought him into conflict with his fellow scientists, his old friend, the Nobel Prize-winner Eugene Wigner, called him "one of the most thoughtful statesmen of science."</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Edward Teller, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/teller-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20181225135433\/http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebSite","@id":"#website","url":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20181225135433\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/","name":"Academy of Achievement","alternateName":"A museum of living history","potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20181225135433\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/search\/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required 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[(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/teller-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Father of the Hydrogen Bomb</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a 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class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/WhatItTakes_teller-256-190x190.jpg" alt=""/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> Listen to this achiever on <i>What It Takes</i> </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0"><i>What It Takes</i> is an audio podcast on iTunes produced by the American Academy of Achievement featuring intimate, revealing conversations with influential leaders in the diverse fields of endeavor: music, science and exploration, sports, film, technology, literature, the military and social justice.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">If I claim credit for anything, I should not claim credit for knowledge, but for courage.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">The Golden Age of Physics</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> January 15, 1908 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> September 9, 2003 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_14972" style="width: 2250px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14972 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14972 size-full lazyload" alt="Edward Teller as a young man. (Courtesy Edward Teller)" width="2250" height="3006" data-sizes="(max-width: 2250px) 100vw, 2250px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442.jpg 2250w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442-284x380.jpg 284w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442-569x760.jpg 569w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Edward Teller as a young man. (Courtesy Edward Teller)</figcaption></figure><p>Edward Teller was born into an affluent, educated Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. As one of the great cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Budapest was part of a larger central European world of predominantly German language and culture. Edward was only ten when the First World War brought an end to the Empire and Hungary became independent for the first time in centuries.</p> <p>Young Edward was a mathematical prodigy, educated in private schools, but his education was frequently disrupted by the political turmoil engulfing the new nation. In 1926, Edward left Budapest to study chemical engineering in Karlsruhe, Germany. In Karlsruhe, Teller became intrigued by physics, particularly the new theory of quantum mechanics. The young chemical engineer transferred to the University of Munich in 1928 to pursue this interest. In Munich, disaster struck. A streetcar accident cost Teller his right foot.</p> <figure id="attachment_14973" style="width: 841px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14973 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14973 size-full lazyload" alt="Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), physicist. Father of the Uncertainty Principle, 1932 Nobel Prize Winner. (AIP Meggers Gallery of Nobel Laureates)" width="841" height="1000" data-sizes="(max-width: 841px) 100vw, 841px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg.jpg 841w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg-320x380.jpg 320w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg-639x760.jpg 639w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Werner K. Heisenberg (1901-1976) was a German theoretical physicist and was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics. He was a principal scientist in the Nazi German nuclear weapon project during World War II. (Meggers Gallery)</figcaption></figure><p>Once Teller had recovered from his injury and learned to walk with a prosthesis, he transferred to the University of Leipzig to study with Werner Heisenberg, who was in the forefront of the new physics. Teller received his doctorate in physics in 1930 and took a job as research consultant at the University of Göttingen. His first published paper, “Hydrogen Molecular Ion,” was one of the earliest statements of what is still the most widely held view of the molecule. Teller might have settled down to a long, productive career in Germany, but again political events intervened. Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and Teller knew immediately that there was no future for him in Germany. With the help of the tight-knit community of advanced physicists, Teller was able to emigrate to Denmark in 1934. There he joined the Institute for Theoretical Physics, where the great Niels Bohr led a team of young scientists attempting to unlock the secrets of the atom. In this year, Teller married Augusta Harkanyi, a marriage that weathered half a century of expatriation and controversy.</p> <figure id="attachment_14968" style="width: 1973px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14968 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14968 size-full lazyload" alt="The Hungarian passport Edward Teller carried when he entered the United States in 1935. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" width="1973" height="2991" data-sizes="(max-width: 1973px) 100vw, 1973px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389.jpg 1973w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389-251x380.jpg 251w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389-501x760.jpg 501w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The Hungarian passport Edward Teller carried when he entered the United States in 1935. (Livermore Natl. Lab)</figcaption></figure><p>At Bohr’s institute, Teller met the Russian physicist George Gamow, also a political refugee. After a year, Gamow and Teller went their separate ways. Gamow headed for George Washington University in Washington, D.C., while Teller headed for England. He worked briefly at the University of London, but within a year received an invitation to join Gamow in Washington. Teller gratefully accepted the offer and entered the United States in 1935; he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1941.</p> <p>In Washington, Teller and Gamow worked together closely, formulating the so-called Gamow-Teller rules for classifying subatomic particle behavior in radioactive decay. They also attempted to apply the new understanding of atomic phenomena to astrophysics. Teller had settled down to what he hoped would be a quiet academic life, but events in Europe intervened again.</p> <p>The development of nuclear physics had continued at a slower pace in Hitler’s Germany, but by 1939, German scientists had discovered nuclear fission. It was theoretically possible to split the atom, releasing energy as heat. It appeared to Teller and the other refugee physicists that the most destructive force ever known to man might fall into the hands of Adolf Hitler. Their fear was amplified by the knowledge that the German nuclear program was led by Heisenberg himself.</p> <figure id="attachment_14940" style="width: 3250px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14940 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14940 size-full lazyload" alt="circa 1939: German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who developed the Theory of Relativity. He moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and recommended the construction of an American atomic bomb. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="3250" height="4333" data-sizes="(max-width: 3250px) 100vw, 3250px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg 3250w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head-285x380.jpg 285w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head-570x760.jpg 570w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">German-born physicist Albert Einstein, who developed the Theory of Relativity. He moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power, and recommended construction of an American atomic bomb.</figcaption></figure><p>Teller’s friend Leo Szilard enlisted Albert Einstein to bring this danger to the attention of President Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt appealed to the scientific community to mobilize for the defense of freedom. In 1941 Teller joined America’s best physicists in the top-secret Manhattan Project. Their mission: to develop the atom bomb before the Germans did.</p> <p>After preliminary work in Chicago with Enrico Fermi, and in Berkeley with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller moved to the isolated laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Here, under Oppenheimer’s leadership, the first atomic bomb would be built.</p> <figure id="attachment_15234" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-15234 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-15234 size-full lazyload" alt="Staging area in Los Alamos, New Mexico not far from where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945. (Photo by Los Alamos National Laboratory/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1759" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master.jpg 2280w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master-380x293.jpg 380w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master-760x586.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Staging area in Los Alamos, New Mexico not far from where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945.</figcaption></figure><p>As early as 1940, Teller had considered the possibility of using the intense heat generated by nuclear fission to trigger the process called nuclear fusion, an even more explosive phenomenon. Teller hoped that both the fission and fusion options would be pursued at Los Alamos, but building the simpler fission device alone proved so complicated that fusion research was abandoned. Teller was deeply disappointed.</p> <p>Edward Teller made a major contribution to the development of the atomic bomb. From the beginning, some scientists had feared that an uncontrolled nuclear reaction, like that of the proposed bomb, might continue indefinitely, consuming the earth. Teller’s calculations reassured the team that the nuclear explosion, while enormously powerful, would only destroy a limited area.</p> <figure id="attachment_14949" style="width: 1581px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14949 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14949 size-full lazyload" alt="An atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the U.S. at Enewetak Atoll, November 1, 1952. It was the world's first successful hydrogen bomb." width="1581" height="1195" data-sizes="(max-width: 1581px) 100vw, 1581px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream.jpg 1581w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream-380x287.jpg 380w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream-760x574.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">November 1952: An atmospheric U.S. nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll — the world’s first successful hydrogen bomb.</figcaption></figure><p>In 1945 the atom bomb was successfully tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico. The German project was nowhere near completion when Germany surrendered. Within weeks of the first test, America’s bombs had destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered and the war was over. Once the war was over, Teller tried again, without success, to persuade his superiors at Los Alamos to pursue fusion and create a thermonuclear weapon vastly more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan.</p> <figure id="attachment_15235" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-15235 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-15235 size-full lazyload" alt="Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer smoking a pipe in his office. Oppenheimer is known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb and was head of the Manhattan Project. (Photo by �� Marvin Koner/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1509" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master.jpg 2280w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master-380x252.jpg 380w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master-760x503.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer smoking a pipe in his office. Oppenheimer is known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb and was the famed leader of the Manhattan Project. (Photo: Marvin Koner/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure><p>When the Russians detonated their own atomic bomb, President Harry S. Truman ordered the Los Alamos lab to develop a fusion weapon. In 1952, the first hydrogen bomb was successfully detonated on Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Teller felt vindicated, but Oppenheimer and many of the Manhattan Project veterans had opposed the plan. A deep and bitter rift developed between two factions of atomic scientists.</p> <figure id="attachment_14944" style="width: 1750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14944 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14944 size-full lazyload" alt="Ronald Reagan awarding Edward Teller the National Medal of Science in 1983. (Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" width="1750" height="1260" data-sizes="(max-width: 1750px) 100vw, 1750px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan.jpg 1750w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan-380x274.jpg 380w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan-760x547.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Ronald Reagan awarding Edward Teller the National Medal of Science in 1983. (Lawrence Livermore Laboratory)</figcaption></figure><p>Teller believed the scientists at Los Alamos were too ambivalent about developing the next generation of nuclear weapons, and that an independent facility was needed. He lobbied Congress and the armed services vigorously for the establishment of a second laboratory for thermonuclear research. The Atomic Energy Commission responded by establishing the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in northern California. Teller served in succession as consultant, associate director and finally director of the Livermore lab.</p> <figure id="attachment_44312" style="width: 2325px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44312 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44312 lazyload" alt="" width="2325" height="1405" data-sizes="(max-width: 2325px) 100vw, 2325px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ.jpg 2325w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ-380x230.jpg 380w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ-760x459.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1986: Dr. Teller exchanges ideas with delegates at the Academy’s 25th Anniversary Summit in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure><p>A deeper antagonism between Teller and many of his former colleagues developed when J. Robert Oppenheimer was accused of disloyalty on the basis of some past associations. Teller made no accusations himself, but when Oppenheimer’s security clearance was revoked, many of his friends blamed Teller.</p> <figure id="attachment_30868" style="width: 2250px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-30868 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-30868 size-full lazyload" alt="Edward Teller addresses Academy student delegates" width="2250" height="3383" data-sizes="(max-width: 2250px) 100vw, 2250px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium.jpg 2250w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium-505x760.jpg 505w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Edward Teller addresses the Academy student delegates at the 1989 Achievement Summit in San Francisco.</figcaption></figure><p>Over the years, Teller continued to advocate a strong national defense. He made headlines in the 1970s, promoting the development of nuclear fusion as an alternative to other sources of energy, and again in the 1980s, testifying in favor of the strategic missile defense system. He was the author of over a dozen books, mostly dealing with nuclear energy and defense issues. From 1975, Edward Teller was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institute for the Study of War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He died at his home on the University campus at the age of 95.</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> <figure class="achiever__video-block"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/BLJEE3KJ3QE?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Teller-Edward-1990-PIANO.00_00_12_05.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Teller-Edward-1990-PIANO.00_00_12_05.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video__copy m-t-1"> <p>1990: Dr. Edward Teller plays a Beethoven sonata at his home on Stanford’s campus.</p> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1961 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.scientist">Scientist</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> January 15, 1908 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> September 9, 2003 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">“I believe that there are periods in the intellectual development of the world which are particularly great. They are confined to periods not very long and to places not very extensive. That, in modern science, was something that occurred in central Europe.”</p> <p class="inputText">What occurred in central Europe in the first decades of this century was a revolution in man’s understanding of the universe. The breakthrough in physics is associated with a few extraordinary minds: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg. One who knew and worked with them, and was at the very heart of this ferment, was Edward Teller.</p> <p class="inputText">Under Heisenberg at Leipzig, he helped lay the foundation of nuclear physics. His research with Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago led to the first controlled nuclear reaction. At Los Alamos with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller assisted the development of the first atomic bomb. At the height of the Cold War, he led the drive to develop the hydrogen bomb and waged a tireless struggle to establish the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for thermonuclear research.</p> <p class="inputText">Through his ninth decade, he remained an ardent proponent of nuclear fusion and strategic missile defense. As one of the great pioneers of modern physics, and as a strenuous advocate for America’s national security, Edward Teller made his mark on our times in a way that few could equal. Although his passionate convictions often brought him into conflict with his fellow scientists, his old friend, the Nobel Prize-winner Eugene Wigner, called him “one of the most thoughtful statesmen of science.”</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/w3T9bTMrXJ4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=6403&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_48_53_05.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_48_53_05.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">The Golden Age of Physics</h2> <div class="sans-2">Palo Alto, California</div> <div class="sans-2">September 30, 1990</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>You were there, at the Trinity site in New Mexico, when the first atomic bomb was tested. If you could take us back to that morning of July 16, 1945, what were you thinking? What did you feel when the bomb went off?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/kmziA--la8g?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=131&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_01_47_12.Still018-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_01_47_12.Still018-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Edward Teller: We had a countdown that stopped — where I was, ten miles from point zero — at minus 30 seconds. Then silence. A long time. I was sure it misfired. I was lying on the ground as instructed, looking at it — not as instructed — (wearing) heavy welding glass. And then, at the right time — or, I thought it was too late — it was early in the morning, quite dark — a very weak amount of light. I remember clearly, in the first second, my thought was, “Is this all?” Then I remembered I had this heavy welding glass on, and gloves, so no light could enter. So when this light — maybe in two seconds — started to fade, I tipped my hand and looked down at the sand. And you know, it was as though I had removed a curtain and bright sunlight came in. Then I was impressed. Then I saw the brilliant flash. Not looking at it, but looking at the sand next to me. And of course we all were very much aware of the point that, in a few weeks, this would not be just an experiment. And some of us, including me, did have real doubts whether this should be used without first demonstrating it.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_lxJKWjJgE?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=132&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_16_59_03.Still014-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_16_59_03.Still014-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>What we did in Los Alamos is to make sure that the United States would be the first to do something with this new power. We feared it would be the Nazis. But because of our efforts — and I believe in part because of Heisenberg’s reluctance, in part because of the lack of strength in Germany — that fortunately did not happen. But we know that a great Soviet scientist, Kurchatov, had made great progress on the atomic bomb. And when our success made it clear that all this was possible, it took the Soviets, who in many other respects were much more slow, only four more years to catch up with us. What we did in Los Alamos, in fact, was make sure that the United States, rather than the Soviet Union, would have the first words to say in the atomic age. And there I think is an influence that we really did exercise, and it is very clear that what we did is something that had to be done.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_14952" style="width: 1272px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14952 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14952 size-full lazyload" alt="J. Robert Oppenheimer, lead scientist of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. (Ed Westcott)" width="1272" height="1598" data-sizes="(max-width: 1272px) 100vw, 1272px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946.jpg 1272w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946-302x380.jpg 302w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946-605x760.jpg 605w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">J. Robert Oppenheimer, lead scientist of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. (Ed Westcott)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Talking about that moment, your fellow scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who had led the project to build the bomb, quoted the Bhagavad-Gita: “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Does that capture the moment for you? How do you feel about that?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: I was, of course, very much impressed.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/p6owFZ1MJUw?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=158&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_20_53_07.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_20_53_07.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>The feeling strongest in me at the time was one of worry. What will happen when this is used in earnest? To my mind, the quote from Oppenheimer is a remarkable example of the conceit of scientists, the idea that they create something new, the lack of recognition that all they do is find something that is already there. To discover is enough. To claim to be the source of something new, or imply it in any way is, I think, very thoroughly wrong.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_14947" style="width: 3190px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14947 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14947 size-full lazyload" alt="New Zealand chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937). Founder of modern atomic theory." width="3190" height="4279" data-sizes="(max-width: 3190px) 100vw, 3190px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC.jpg 3190w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC-283x380.jpg 283w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC-567x760.jpg 567w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">New Zealand chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), founder of modern atomic theory.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>When Hitler came to power, you knew you would have to leave Germany. How did you get out? So many wanted to leave but had no place to go.</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: The physicists in the world worked together very effectively, and those of us who wanted to leave had an easy possibility to do so. I arrived in London in the fall of 1934. There was a meeting at which the great nuclear physicist Lord Rutherford talked. What about? Nuclear energy. “Complete nonsense!” he said. “Nuclear questions are pure physics, they can never have any practical application.” Within a few weeks, I found out the reason for Rutherford’s passion.</p> <p>I had met Leo Szilard many years before in Budapest. In London, he came to me and told me he had worked with the recently discovered neutrons. Since they have no charge, they can approach a nucleus, which no other nucleus can do. Thus, you might cause reactions in that nucleus that produces two neutrons. If that could be done, then nuclear energy could be used on a big scale. He had been to see Rutherford, and Rutherford threw him out. Rutherford did not calm down in the next few weeks. Neither did Szilard. He continued to work and to think of this possibility, four years before fission was discovered.</p> <figure id="attachment_15232" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-15232 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-1.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-15232 size-full lazyload" alt="Dr. Leo Szilard, of University of Chicago, testifies before House Military Affairs Committee, October 18, 1945. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin)" width="2280" height="1844" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-1.jpg 2280w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-1-380x307.jpg 380w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-1-760x615.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-1.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Leo Szilard, of University of Chicago, testifies before House Military Affairs Committee, October 18, 1945. (AP)</figcaption></figure><p>In the meantime, I got an invitation to come to the United States to work with a very wonderful Russian who had escaped from the Soviet Union, George Gamow. I worked at George Washington University, working out consequences of the new atomic theory, and had a really wonderful time. In many ways, that should have been the end of my career. Except, in January 1939, we had our usual interesting annual conference at George Washington University, to which George Gamow invited me along, and Szilard arrived with the news about the discovery of fission. It was big news.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/V0CvwXsycqM?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=144&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_25_26_28.Still009-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_25_26_28.Still009-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>We had a busy conference. And my wife and I got very tired by the end of the conference. But no sooner did we start to relax — let’s say 15 minutes after — there was a telephone call, and my friend Leo Szilard was on the other end. “I am at the Union Station, come and get me.” Well, Szilard was perhaps the last — or one of the last — men who had a great influence on me. That is, a great positive influence. No one could have had a greater influence on me than Hitler, who made it entirely clear to me that one could not ignore politics, and very particularly one could not ignore the worst evils in politics. What Szilard wanted was to say, “Here is what I have been waiting for! Here is what I have told you in London years ago: fission. Maybe in fission, when a big nucleus — the biggest, uranium — splits into two pieces, perhaps this fission, caused by one neutron, will emit two neutrons and then nuclear explosions will become possible.” It made sense. And a few weeks later, there was Szilard on the phone calling in from New York. “I have found the neutrons!”</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>By that time, I knew that what Rutherford called nonsense was actually a hard reality. And the possibility that Hitler would get there first was entirely reality, because fission actually was discovered in Berlin in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Szilard was the most persistent in pursuing this subject. Others tried and there was no interest in our government, at least in the lower circles any one of us could get to. But Szilard had imagination and — as far as I ever could discover — no inhibitions.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/qXsvqHnDjVY?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=227&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_25_05_20.Still015-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_25_05_20.Still015-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>That summer, I was teaching at Columbia and Szilard came to me one day. “Can you drive me out to the end of Long Island to see Einstein?” You know, Szilard was very ingenious and could do anything except drive a car. And furthermore, he had false hopes that I would be a good driver. At any rate, I got him to Einstein. He invited us to a cup of tea, and Szilard took a letter out of his pocket, and Einstein read it carefully and signed it, and made one relevant remark. “This is the first time,” he said, “we would get energy directly from the atomic nucleus, rather than from the sun, which got it from the atomic nucleus.” He handed the letter back to Szilard, and that was the second of August. The rest is known to everybody. I had played my essential role as Szilard’s chauffeur. Szilard gave the letter to an acquaintance of his who knew the President — who knew Roosevelt. The letter was signed on the second of August, a little more than four weeks before Hitler invaded Poland. The delivery of the letter was slow, but it got there, circumventing any interference by secretaries. And FDR saw it, end of October, after Hitler and Stalin defeated — and divided between themselves — Poland. The letter said the science is there. Nuclear explosives can be made, and the Germans were the first to know about it, they discovered it. I cannot think of a time where such a letter could have made more of an impact on Roosevelt than the time when he actually got it. He immediately issued orders and we got going.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>So after Roosevelt read Einstein’s letter and gave the go-ahead for the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb, did you become involved immediately?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: I didn’t. I liked what I was doing much too well. My good friend Szilard was in it. So was a mutual friend, Eugene Wigner.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/kFZ5ZwBuSOI?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=213&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_01_21_04.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.01_01_21_04.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I got an invitation to a Pan-American Congress — to which I was determined not to go — in Washington, next door. And Roosevelt was going to speak and I still was not going. But the day before his speech, Hitler invaded the Lowlands and it was very clear that the decisions in the World War were now immediately impending. And Roosevelt was going to speak about that, so I was going. The first and only time that I saw Roosevelt, and that was from a distance. He talked about the fact that the time to fly from Europe to the American continent was not so great, that small nations are not secure, neither are big ones, that the scientists may be blamed for the horrible things that are happening. “But,” said Roosevelt, “I am a pacifist, and you, my friends, are pacifists, but I am telling you, if you are not going to work on the instruments of war, freedom will be lost everywhere.” That was the question on my mind. And I had the impression that Roosevelt was talking to me. And of course that was stupid to think so — me of 2,000 people — but yes, me. Because, of a couple of thousand people present, it may have been he and I and none other who knew about the possibility of the atomic bomb. I read the letter that he read, and I knew the actions that he had already taken to start work on nuclear explosives. When he finished talking, my mind was made up. And I remember looking at my watch; he had talked 20 minutes.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_14939" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-14939 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-14939 size-full lazyload" alt="Official 1944 campaign portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A speech of Roosevelt's in 1940 persuaded Edward Teller to join the Manhattan Project, a research and development initiative that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II." width="2280" height="3222" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1.jpg 2280w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1-269x380.jpg 269w, /web/20181225135433im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1-538x760.jpg 538w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1944: Portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A speech of Roosevelt’s in 1940 persuaded Dr. Edward Teller to join the Manhattan Project, a research initiative that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II.</figcaption></figure><p>Not much later, I found myself in New York, and later in Chicago, where Szilard and John Wheeler were working on the nuclear reactors. Then to Los Alamos, and then the decisive work came when my good friend Johnny von Neumann visited, and the discussion between him and me led to the proposal of implosion. Pushing materials — uranium — together, with the power of an explosive behind it, can result in as much as double the usual density of uranium, which, for a number of not very difficult reasons will make the production of nuclear explosives possible in the earlier future.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135433if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/6rixiefeCkU?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=102&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_12_27_06.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward-1990-MasterEdit.00_12_27_06.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>This, in the end, after the defeat of Hitler, led to the situation, in the spring of 1945, when it became clear that the nuclear explosives would be available. It was then that I had a letter from Leo Szilard, suggesting that the first nuclear explosive used in the war should be used for demonstration and not for actually hurting the enemy. I went with the proposal to Oppenheimer who said, definitely, “No.” Unfortunately, I took his advice, partly because it involved no action. I was very sorry about having taken his advice, particularly when I learned later that he — contrary to the statement that we physicists should stay away from such decisions — has explicitly advocated the earliest possible use of the explosive.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>The rest of the story is also known. Our job on the atomic bomb was not quite finished, and we had started on the fusion bomb; not based on the splitting of heavy nuclei, but on the uniting of light nuclei, hydrogen nuclei. There the work stopped, until the Soviets produced their first nuclear explosion. By that time I had worked on the possibility of the fusion bomb, initiated by the fission bomb. Some of us, and I perhaps more persistently that others, were working on that. The time had come to concentrate on that. We did, and in a short time we succeeded. It was high time, because the Soviets succeeded also, under the leadership of a very excellent and a very courageous physicist, Andrei Sakharov, whom I later met and whom I learned to like a lot.</p> <p>The story of the nuclear explosions has been told and it’s not my purpose to repeat it in any more detail. In 1983, Reagan asked the relevant question, “Isn’t it better to save lives than to avenge them? Wouldn’t it be better to develop defenses against rockets, rather than concentrate exclusively on retaliation?” That was the beginning of the concerted, organized work on the Strategic Defense Initiative. We already had been working in our Livermore Laboratory on concepts of that kind. Particularly my young friend, Lowell Wood, who is by now probably older than I was when the hydrogen bomb was completed. He looks very young to me.</p> <p>I want to come back at the very end to what I have learned in life. That the future is uncertain. That indeed, what we say, what we do in each individual case, may move the whole world. And that puts an exceptional responsibility on our shoulders. We now know for a fact that there are good ways of defense against all kinds of rockets. This fact depends on Johnny von Neumann’s great discovery of fast computers. They can now perform a billion individual computing acts per second, which can be increased possibly by a factor of another million. Ultimately, that is the reason why the difficult task of preventing a rocket from reaching us can be accomplished. That is why there is every reason to believe that we can hit a bullet with a bullet, and that high technology, instead of merely producing bigger bangs, can produce a defense by accuracy against the most dangerous kinds of attack. At this moment, this is the center of my interests.</p> <p>Three years ago, almost four years now, a peculiar but great event took place in conductivity, building on the kind of work that I performed on photomechanics during my time in Leipzig. This phenomenon will probably be the agent that will make computing processes even faster and that might be a further powerful reason why defense can win and make the world more secure.</p> <p><strong>How did you first become interested in science? Were you interested in science as a child?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: When I was maybe five years old — maybe not yet five years old — it is one of my earliest memories, that I was supposed to go to sleep and didn’t. And I invented a game. I don’t know how unique it is, I don’t know how many other children ever did that, but I played with numbers. Of course, nobody ever told me to do such a crazy thing. I knew that there are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. I knew that. The circumstance that I knew it at that time — I don’t know why I should have known it, but I knew it. And I was trying to find out how many seconds in an hour, or in a day, or in a year. And that of course, obviously, I did in my head. And furthermore, quite naturally, I got different answers every time I did it. And that made the game more interesting.</p> <p>I don’t know why I did that, but I know I did it. And now, in the last years, I have started to puzzle why. That was the beginning of my interest, about that there can be no question. But where did that come from? I have an answer. I don’t know whether it is the right answer.</p> <p>I had a bilingual education. My mother spoke German much better than Hungarian. Her father’s name was Deutsch. The books in our house, the literary books, were German. My father’s German was quite poor. His legal books, of course, were Hungarian. I was taught German and Hungarian at the same time. The earliest words I remember is a mixture of the two. I am told that I did not speak until I was three years old, and then I spoke in complete sentences. Now I could try to pretend that I did not speak until I had something to say. In a way, this may be even true, in the sense that, to begin with, I’m sure I must have been awfully confused in what all these people talked about, using different sounds for the same objects. I did not catch on. The one thing with which I felt familiar were numbers. There, at least, was something that hung together.</p> <p><strong>What did your parents make of your interest in numbers? Did they encourage you?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: When I was ten years old, my father, who had really no understanding of how and why I would be interested, did see that I was. And he had an older friend who was a retired mathematics professor. His name was Leopold Klug. And he is probably the man who had the greatest influence on my life. I did not see him often, half a dozen times, a dozen times. He was a retired mathematics professor, and he did two things. One is, he got me a book. The title was <em>Algebra</em>, the author was (Leonhard) Euler. Euler was a mathematician about whom it is said that in his passion to calculate, he went eventually blind. It was a very elementary book, starting from questions why to add, and why to multiply, and why minus one times minus one is plus one. All the way up to the solving of fifth order algebraic equations. The sixth order had not been solved at that time. And at the time of Euler, it was not known that the creations above the fifth order cannot be solved. That was shown much later, by a very young Frenchman, Pierre Galois. Klug gave me that book, and I read it. It was my favorite book.</p> <p>He had a favorite subject, and that was projective geometry. Projective plane geometry. What happens if you take a drawing in a plane, and project it on another plane. What are the properties that remain unchanged? For instance, a line will remain a line. A triangle will remain a triangle. But an equilateral triangle will not remain an equilateral triangle. A circle may become a hyperbola. What is the similarity between these curves? What remains unchanged? I was ten years old, and the problems that came up were too difficult for me to solve, but not too difficult to understand. And there was a human element in it which impressed me.</p> <p>I found that the grown-ups had a terrible time, everybody got tired of what he was doing. Klug was the first grown-up whom I met who loved what he was doing, who did not get tired, and who even enjoyed explaining things to me. That I think is when I made up my mind, very firmly, that I wanted to do something that I really did want to do. Not for anyone else’s sake, not for what it may lead to, but because of my inherent interest in the subject.</p> <p>I knew one other exception in the whole world to the rule that grown-ups were unhappy. My mother played the piano beautifully. She really wanted to be a concert pianist and she really wanted me to become a concert pianist, as a kid. Practicing piano was much too hard. Multiplying numbers was not.</p> <p><strong>Were there particular teachers in school who inspired or encouraged you?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: My interest in mathematics was soon discouraged. It so happened that we had a very good math teacher, who was a Communist. I remember having learned from him something that I never forget: the rule of nines. A simple point: you add up the numerals in a number, and if the original number was divisible by nine, then the sum of the figures also is. For instance, you take a number like 243. Two and four and three is nine. Therefore, 243 must be divisible by nine. Actually it is nine times 27. The rule is interesting because it’s so simple. What was really interesting to us ten-year-olds is that our math teacher proved it. The proof is not terribly difficult, but it was one of the first simple and not quite obvious mathematical proofs that I encountered. That actually was a little before I read Euler’s <em>Algebra.</em></p> <p>The Communists took over for a few months in Hungary, and our math teacher talked about some very strange things, which sounded strange to me, which I can’t say I liked. I can’t say that I passionately disliked them, but he was replaced as a teacher by a Fascist. And he was completely uninterested in mathematics, but interested in how to write equations so that the writing should be easily legible. I did learn something from him. I think my writing slightly improved. But my school mathematics vanished in a hurry, for which I blame him, only part. Because a real interest should not have been stopped that easily.</p> <p>I got interested in reading fantastic stories like Jules Verne, and I got interested even more in reading about technology. After a few years, I also got interested in the lectures on physics. I had started to read Einstein’s relativity, and did not quite understand what it was all about. I went to the teacher and he asked me to bring him the book. I brought it to him and I didn’t see the book again for a year. When I passed the final examination, the teacher gave the book back, and said, “All right, now you can read it.” This time I read it and I did understand it.</p> <p>There was an absence in our teaching system, as there is, I believe, in most high school teaching systems, to consider mathematics and science as exact. “It is so, it is provable, it is indubitable!” All of it is true. But it misses the point. The interesting thing in the exact sciences is what is not yet known, what is in doubt, and that process of doubt, of contradiction, which actually occurs as science changes from century to century, should be reproduced in every student’s mind. And I think, as a matter of fact, it <em>is</em> being reproduced in every <em>good</em> student’s mind.</p> <p>By the time I finished high school, I knew what I wanted to be, and that was a mathematician. My father had a very different opinion. He thought that in mathematics, as a university professor, it was impossible to make a living unless you are quite exceptional. I had to study something real. We settled on a compromise. I was to study chemical engineering.</p> <p>This was not completely unreasonable. At least two older Hungarians who became very famous have done the same thing. The one was John von Neumann, the man who is really responsible for the development of fast computers. The other was Eugene Wigner, who played a big part in the early development of nuclear energy, particularly in nuclear reactors. My father introduced me to them and to a third person, a somewhat peculiar man about whom I will have much more to say: Leo Szilard.</p> <p>At any rate, I went off to Germany to study. Having spent a few weeks in starting my studies at the Institute of Technology in Budapest, I went off to Germany, to Karlsruhe. At Karlsruhe was the Institute of Technology, sponsored by the very advanced group of chemical industries in Germany. That group employed a young man by the name of Herman Mark, who really was, in a very full sense, the originator of polymer chemistry. He also was a truly excellent lecturer, and apart from working for the German chemical industries, he gave lectures at Karlsruhe.</p> <p>Herman Mark was half Jewish. His father, I believe, was a Rabbi in Temesvár (Timisoara), not far from the place where my mother was born. When Hitler came, the chemical industries very politely got rid of him, and he got a very good position in Vienna, teaching chemistry at the University. Then, when Hitler marched into Austria in 1938 — that was almost ten years after I met Herman Mark — he had started to grow a family. His son, Hans Mark, who is now my good friend, was a child. Herman Mark decided he had to leave, and he did not have much money. He had no position abroad. He thought of a trick. As a chemist, he could, without being too obvious about it, buy some platinum. And of that platinum he made wires, and he painted the wires black, and turned them into coat hangers, and they were real heavy. So the winter coats went on the platinum wire, and that is how the modest fortune of the Marks’ left Austria under the nose of Hitler.</p> <p>That was not the only ingenuity that the Mark family possessed. Herman Mark was interested, even when he lectured in Karlsruhe, in what was really new and essential in chemistry. That was quantum mechanics, a completely new way to look at the world, and at actual deep problems, which explain the stability of the atom.</p> <p><strong>How did you make the transition from chemical engineering to theoretical physics?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: I had been conscientiously studying chemistry, but I had equally consciously continued to study mathematics. When I had been at it for more than two years, my father decided if I was so convinced that chemical engineering is not what I wanted to do, I should do what I wanted. So I decided to move from Karlsruhe to study with the most famous teacher of quantum mechanics, and that was Arnold Sommerfield, a terribly stiff, formal individual. I stayed there for one semester, then Sommerfield went to lecture in India.</p> <p>At that time, I made the right choice and went to Leipzig. There was a young theoretical physicist there, Werner Heisenberg. Heisenberg is the next person about whom I have to say that he had a very deep influence on me. I think he was all of six years older than I was. Because, after all, I did not study physics — I studied chemistry and mathematics — of that group at that time, I was easily the most ignorant. I don’t know even that I was acceptable, except there was something at which I was moderately good, and that was ping pong. In that, I was the best! And Heisenberg was sort of an ambitious individual. He went on a tour, lecturing in strange places, including Japan. On the way home from Japan, on the ship, he practiced his ping pong with a Japanese, and after that I could not beat Heisenberg even once. He took these things extremely seriously, particularly when they were not serious.</p> <p>Actually we had those ping pong evenings once a week. There were all kinds of peculiar people there, even three Americans who later got the Nobel Prize: van Vleck, Mullikan, and Rabi. Maybe a dozen people all together. And they would talk about the whole world, including the incredible change that had been going on in physics. Niels Bohr had started to explain what makes an atom stable. In 1925, Heisenberg essentially completed the theory. Then, during the next two years, together with Niels Bohr, he explained what the new theory meant. Without any doubt in my mind, of all the strange and important things that I witnessed in my life, this was the most strange and the most important.</p> <p>I believe that there are periods in the intellectual development of the world which are particularly great. And they are confined to periods not very long and to places not very extensive and, I believe, carried — executed — by relatively few people who knew each other, or must have known about each other. I mean, as examples: Renaissance painting or Baroque music; Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. That, in modern science, was something that occurred in central Europe. And to mention three names — as great as the three I mentioned in music, if greatness can ever be compared — I would say Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg. It was a collaboration, a very modest effort in money, a magnificent effort in its results, which was ended abruptly by Hitler. And although I know very explicitly that Heisenberg wanted to recreate it, he never was capable of doing so.</p> <p>What happened is something of which today’s intellectuals are inexcusably ignorant. Some of us are trying to do our best to put relativity and quantum mechanics into terms that everybody can understand. One part that came to maturity in the pauses between ping pong games is also perhaps the most important from the point of view of general interest.</p> <p>The name of this particular discovery is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It takes a strange position in regard to an ancient question, determinism. Is the future really predictable? If we knew the situation at the present with complete accuracy, then the laws of physics say that the future should be completely predictable.</p> <p>What Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle says is that it is impossible to know completely accurately what the present is. You can determine, as accurately as you please, the position of a particle, but then you cannot know its velocity, where it is going. You may determine its velocity, as accurately as you ever please, but then you have to renounce the attempt to know at the same time where it is precisely. And therefore, the future cannot be predicted. And all of this is by no means academic, because many things in the world, particularly living beings, are full of self-enforcing mechanisms, so that small causes can give rise to big effects. Light comes to my eyes in quanta. You have to make it very dark, so that one quantum should make a difference. But it can. And if I see one quantum — incredibly little light — in an experiment, just to mention a silly example, I may have agreed to raise my hand. A big action, big as compared to the one quantum that has caused it. And from there on, everybody knows, and people have written novels about it, and history is full of examples, how one little action can change the course of history. If, that time in Sarajevo, a certain vehicle carrying the Crown Prince had been delayed, there may not have been a World War.</p> <p>I want to continue to talk about the Uncertainty Principle for another moment, using a religious figure.</p> <p>The physicists — the scientists in fact — of the last century, believing in determinism, have put God on the unemployment list. He created the world, now it’s running, nothing more to do about it. What we now believe — no, in fact, what we now know — is that the future is being created every moment by every atom, by every star, and by every living being. This gives a whole new outlook to life. And the question which I cannot answer now, because it is a little too complicated, is a most important one. How dare I say that the future is really uncertain? How dare I maintain that position and velocity cannot be measured ever, maybe at the same time? Maybe somebody will come up with some new idea.</p> <p>I have told you that exact sciences are not exact. That they are full of surprises, but they also contain certainties. One can’t make a perpetual motion machine. I know that with certainty. I claim to know with complete certainty that you can’t predict the future. I believe that this was the very important thing I learned in my studies in Germany. I was then given a little problem by Heisenberg.</p> <p>Heisenberg one day, actually not very many weeks after I arrived, asked me a little question. The most straightforward problem in the stability of atoms had been solved. We had a precise understanding of the hydrogen atom, in essentials. There were a couple of papers about a slightly more complicated system. Instead of one electron going around one nucleus, let one electron go around two nuclei, called a hydrogen molecular ion. Two papers published contradictory results. Which one is right? It so happened that the solution was relatively easy, and I knew the essentials in mathematics — it was a pure mathematics question — and went back to Heisenberg the next day and told him which way it was. Now, this means that we know how an electron can move around two nuclei, when it moves as little as possible. “What about the higher energy states? Why don’t you figure those out?” That was a problem, and I started to work on it with an old computing machine. You had to turn the handle and it made a lot of racket. And I worked on it for more than a year, in the Institute building. Heisenberg was not yet married, and when he was not playing ping pong with the Japanese on a ship, his sleeping quarters was above the room where I made my calculations, and he occasionally came down, because I usually worked at night, and we chatted a bit. And one evening he asked me, “Haven’t you done enough of it?” I said I could work on it another year. He said, “I think you have done enough of it. Just write it up. It will make a nice Ph.D. thesis.” I sometimes suspect that I got my Ph.D. in order that the computing machine should not disturb Heisenberg’s sleeping. At any rate, I got my Ph.D. I stayed on as an assistant, slightly corresponding to an assistant professor in the United States. Then I got an invitation to continue the same sort of thing in Göttingen, where I could meet lots more people, which I accepted, where I had a wonderful time until Hitler. In the spring of 1933, it became very clear that no Jew had a place in Germany.</p> <p><strong>Dr. Teller, you’ve had a long and fascinating career. Could you talk about some of the highs and lows?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: I can give you a sample of each. The most terrible thing with which I was involved, or which I saw, was the death of my good friend Johnny von Neumann. He had cancer of the prostate, which went into his bones and also his brain. He was in Walter Reed Hospital, and I visited him there. I was told by his wife, and by him personally, that he wanted my visit badly. So I came back again and again, and all that for a particular and strange and incredible reason.</p> <p>Johnny and I had a good relationship in talking about scientific problems. Comparing him with Heisenberg and Bohr and Fermi, and whomever else you want to mention, he was by far the fastest. I would even say the most ingenious. He used me as a test subject. Johnny, incredibly, was trying to find out whether he could get anywhere in discussions with me. The horrible thing is that he couldn’t.</p> <p>He was a person who lived by his thought processes. I think few people have fully understood that. He was as passionate a thinker as other people can be impassioned about power or sex or anything else. And when the thinking process slowed, that was a terrible experience. I went and saw him, and what does one do? It is a situation in which you cannot fake. Johnny was dying, and he was losing his very singularly strong and peculiar claim on life.</p> <p>Now, the high point. I am very fortunate, because it was more than a high point. It became clear to me that when work on defense becomes polarized on political points, and when scientific judgment requires full knowledge, unhampered by secrecy about the facts, the judgment from one laboratory is insufficient. A competition by two approaches is absolutely required. I argued for a second laboratory, and this is what we got: the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. When the conflict connected with Oppenheimer hurt me in a terrible way, because it meant the loss of more than one life-long friendship, then I found a new home and a good home in Livermore.</p> <p>It has developed into a first-class laboratory, doing remarkable things in nuclear explosives, competing with the old laboratory at Los Alamos. Fortunately, and intentionally, the competition was more and more on the basis of full information on both sides, on the proper, friendly basis. Nowadays, I go back to Los Alamos without a remnant of any tension that would affect me. As to Livermore, in addition to the grand things we were doing about nuclear explosives, we have started very significant computations about things like weather prediction, a field that will become quite important in deciding about things like the greenhouse effect, the warming of the atmosphere.</p> <p>To cite another example, we have obtained, together with the Lawrence Laboratory at Berkeley, an actual microscopic picture of the outside of the double helix, the super-giant molecule that carries the information relevant to the inherited properties. To work, to be connected with that place, where there are not only excellent associates, but other kinds of people as well, where there are many good and reliable friends, that gives me a great deal of stability.</p> <p><strong>Have you thought at all about the effect your life’s work has had, and will have, on mankind? Is that the kind of thing you think about?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: I told you, the future is uncertain. This means a lot of responsibility for all of us. I have been working on something whose development I firmly believe was unavoidable: atomic energy, atomic explosions, nuclear explosions, fusion research. No one could have prevented its coming. It came slowly and ineffectually in Germany, because Heisenberg was, I more and more realize, completely and deeply opposed to it under the Nazis. Even though he was a good German. In the Soviet Union, all this came without resistance. It came strongly and — in the full sense of the word — in a <em>competitive</em> sense. The answer is so obvious that I hardly dare to ask the question: “What would have happened if Stalin got the hydrogen bomb, and we did not?” Let us not consider the difference between Stalin and Gorbachev as non-existent. There is a difference. I think I had a little influence, and if I claim credit for anything, I think I should not claim credit for knowledge, but for courage. It was not easy to contradict the great majority of the scientists, who were my only friends in a new country, having left almost everybody behind me in Hungary and in Europe.</p> <p><strong>If you were beginning now as a young scientist, what would you see as the cutting edge of scientific discovery?</strong></p> <p>Edward Teller: It seems to me that the next great question — the next tremendous question — is “What is life?” I am a materialist with a difference. The difference is that I realize that I have barely begun to understand what matter is. I know as much about matter as a person knows about mathematics when he just has learned how to count. The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity shows how easily surprised we can be by things that can occur in matter. When we know that something like life is around, the real understanding of that is something that becomes the more exciting the more chemical details we find out about how life works.</p> <p>There is another direction in which the surprises may be closer. I worked with a computing machine that made a lot of noise — and perhaps as much as one decision or “flip-flop” in ten seconds — more than 60 years ago. In Los Alamos, on Johnny von Neumann’s advice, we used electrical apparatus. Not electronic, but electrical apparatus, which I like to call “monoflop” machines: one flip-flop a second. Johnny’s suggestion of using electronics got us into the “megaflop” technology. And that developed so fast that we now have common machines which should be called “gigaflop” — a billion per second. With the use of superconductivity, we are moving toward another factor of a million. Call it the “petaflop” machine: 10<sup>15</sup> per second. To program for such a machine would be quite an act. In fact, nobody can do it. Only the machine itself. This self-programming is a particularly human characteristic. To think about that you have to try to attack the problem from a higher plane.</p> <p>Many new technologies have created unnecessary and unreasonable fears, but the one high-tech instrument that is popular among our children is the computer. My two grandsons at Stanford seem to be interested in just that. I did not give them that advice; they did not need it. It is in the air. It is perhaps the actual point where the earliest surprises are to be expected.</p> <p><strong>Thank you so much for sharing your time with us, Dr. Teller.</strong></p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Edward Teller, Ph.D. Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>42 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/tel0-001a.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Edward Teller in the 1960s. (Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="tel0-001a" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/tel0-001a-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/tel0-001a.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4126394052045" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1.jpg" data-image-caption="Official 1944 campaign portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A speech of Roosevelt's in 1940 persuaded Dr. Edward Teller to join the Manhattan Project, a research and development initiative that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II." data-image-copyright="1944_portrait_of_FDR_(1)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1-269x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1944_portrait_of_FDR_1-538x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.189358372457" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg.jpg" data-image-caption="Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), physicist. Father of the Uncertainty Principle, 1932 Nobel Prize winner. (AIP Meggers Gallery of Nobel Laureates)" data-image-copyright="werner-heisenberg" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg-320x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/werner-heisenberg-639x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3356766256591" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller as a young man in 1935. (Courtesy Edward Teller)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward442" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442-284x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward442-569x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.317157712305" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward441.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Edward Teller in the 1960s. (Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward441" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward441-289x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward441-577x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3194444444444" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward391.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward391" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward391-288x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward391-576x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward390.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller (Lawrence Livermore National Lab)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward390" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward390-380x288.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward390-760x576.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5169660678643" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389.jpg" data-image-caption="The Hungarian passport Edward Teller carried when he entered the United States in 1935. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward389" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward389-501x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78157894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward388.jpg" data-image-caption="Major Arthur Peterson, physicist Edward Teller, and Los Alamos Director Norris Edwin Bradbury." data-image-copyright="Teller Edward388" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward388-380x297.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward388-760x594.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward387.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller (Lawrence Livermore National Lab)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward387" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward387-380x259.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward387-760x517.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward386.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller and his son, Paul." data-image-copyright="Teller Edward386" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward386-380x291.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward386-760x582.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.74210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward385.jpg" data-image-caption="(Los Alamos Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward385" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward385-380x282.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward385-760x564.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75263157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward384.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller with Representative Craig Hosmer and Dr. Ernest O. Lawrence, pioneering American nuclear scientist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949 for his invention of the cyclotron." data-image-copyright="Teller Edward384" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward384-380x286.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward384-760x572.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75526315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward383.jpg" data-image-caption="(Lawrence Livermore National Lab)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward383" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward383-380x287.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward383-760x574.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75394736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward382.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Edward Teller driving a submarine with Admiral Hyman Rickover." data-image-copyright="Teller Edward382" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward382-380x287.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward382-760x573.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75789473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward381.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Edward Teller answers questions from students after a Physics 10 lecture. The course was televised live to the general public in the San Francisco Bay region." data-image-copyright="Teller Edward381" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward381-380x288.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward381-760x576.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward380.jpg" data-image-caption="Left to right: Dr. Mark Mills, Deputy Director of the Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Harold Brown, Dr. Edward Teller, and Dr. John S. Foster. (Lawrence Livermore National Lab)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward380" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward380-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward380-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75394736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward379.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller in a classroom experimenting with surface tension with E.G. Valens. (Lawrence Livermore National Lab)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward379" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward379-380x286.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward379-760x573.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3148788927336" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward378.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller in the classroom. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Edward Teller in the classroom. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward378-289x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward378-578x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75526315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward377.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller, teaching a class at General Dynamics in San Diego, 1956. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward377" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward377-380x287.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward377-760x574.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.122599704579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward376.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller with John S. Foster. (Lawrence Livermore National Lab)" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward376" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward376-338x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward376-677x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.74605263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward375.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward375" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward375-380x284.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward375-760x567.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3286713286713" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward374.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller" data-image-copyright="Teller Edward374" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward374-286x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Teller-Edward374-572x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2561983471074" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946.jpg" data-image-caption="J. Robert Oppenheimer, lead scientist of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. (Ed Westcott)" data-image-copyright="Robert_Oppenheimer_1946" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946-302x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Robert_Oppenheimer_1946-605x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.77763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Los_Alamos_colloquium.jpg" data-image-caption="Photograph of the 1946 colloquium on the Super at Los Alamos. Front row, left to right: Norris Bradbury, John Manley, Enrico Fermi and J.M.B. Kellogg. Second row, left to right: Colonel Oliver G. Haywood, unknown, Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Phil B. Porter. Third row, left to right: : Edward Teller, Gregory Breit, Arthur Hemmendinger, Arthur Schelberg. (Los Alamos National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Los_Alamos_colloquium" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Los_Alamos_colloquium-380x295.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Los_Alamos_colloquium-760x591.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3040816326531" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamos.jpg" data-image-caption="John von Neumann (1903-1957), one of the founding fathers of computer science. (Los Alamos National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamos" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamos-291x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamos.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75526315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream.jpg" data-image-caption="An atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the U.S. at Enewetak Atoll, November 1, 1952. It was the world's first successful hydrogen bomb." data-image-copyright="'Ivy_Mike'_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream-380x287.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ivy_Mike_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream-760x574.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75263157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Heisenberg-bohr.jpg" data-image-caption="Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr in 1934. Bohr was the recipient of the 1922 Nobel Prize for Physics." data-image-copyright="Heisenberg-bohr" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Heisenberg-bohr-380x286.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Heisenberg-bohr-760x572.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3403880070547" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC.jpg" data-image-caption="New Zealand chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), founder of modern atomic theory." data-image-copyright="Ernest_Rutherford_LOC" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC-283x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Ernest_Rutherford_LOC-567x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3286713286713" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Einstein_1921_by_F_Schmutzer_-_restoration.jpg" data-image-caption="Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921." data-image-copyright="Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Einstein_1921_by_F_Schmutzer_-_restoration-286x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Einstein_1921_by_F_Schmutzer_-_restoration-572x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4448669201521" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/EdwardTeller1958_fewer_smudges.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller, in 1958, as Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="EdwardTeller1958_fewer_smudges" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/EdwardTeller1958_fewer_smudges-263x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/EdwardTeller1958_fewer_smudges-526x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.71973684210526" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan.jpg" data-image-caption="Ronald Reagan awarding Edward Teller the National Medal of Science in 1983. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan-380x274.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_and_Ronald_Reagan-760x547.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_later_years.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller in his later years." data-image-copyright="Edward Teller in his later years." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_later_years-380x299.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_later_years-760x598.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.453154875717" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_1958-LLNL.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller in 1958 as Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory." data-image-copyright="Edward Teller in 1958 as director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_1958-LLNL-262x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Edward_Teller_1958-LLNL-523x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.70263157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ap-571125046.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Edward Teller tells the Senate Armed Services Preparedness subcommittee he believes Russia has the ability to hit such a distant target as Houston, Texas with an intercontinental ballistic missile “or will have in a short time,” November 25, 1957, Washington, D.C. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="Edward Teller" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ap-571125046-380x267.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ap-571125046-760x534.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3333333333333" title="circa 1939: German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who developed the Theory of Relativity. He moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and recommended the construction of an American atomic bomb. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - circa 1939: German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who developed the Theory of Relativity. He moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and recommended the construction of an American atomic bomb. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg" data-image-caption="Circa 1939: German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who developed the Theory of Relativity. He moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and recommended the construction of an American atomic bomb. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Albert_Einstein_Head" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head-285x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Albert_Einstein_Head-570x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.80921052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Leo Szilard, of University of Chicago, testifies before House Military Affairs Committee, October 18, 1945. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin)" data-image-copyright="House Military Affairs Committee" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-380x307.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-AP_061017020076-760x615.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.52" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-53376795_master.jpg" data-image-caption="1963: Portrait of physicist Edward Teller. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Portrait of physicist Edward Teller." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-53376795_master-250x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-53376795_master-500x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.77105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master.jpg" data-image-caption="Staging area in Los Alamos, New Mexico not far from where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945. (Photo by Los Alamos National Laboratory/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Staging area in New Mexico not far from where the first" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master-380x293.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-72385149_master-760x586.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master.jpg" data-image-caption="Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer smoking a pipe in his office. Oppenheimer is known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb and was head of the Manhattan Project. (Photo by Marvin Koner/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Physicist Robert Oppenheimer Smoking" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-GettyImages-524865760_master-760x503.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5049504950495" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium.jpg" data-image-caption="Edward Teller addresses Academy student delegates. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="wp-teller-edward-at-the-podium" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-Teller-Edward-at-the-podium-505x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.60394736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ.jpg" data-image-caption="1986: Dr. Teller exchanges ideas with delegates at the Academy's 25th Anniversary Summit in Washington, D.C." data-image-copyright="wp-Edward Teller (with Delegates) Herschel Walker with Mary Lou Retton 1987 Summit Scotsdale AZ" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ-380x230.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/wp-Edward-Teller-with-Delegates-Herschel-Walker-with-Mary-Lou-Retton-1987-Summit-Scotsdale-AZ-760x459.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on April 18, 2018</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service experienced-war-firsthand poverty small-town-rural-upbringing ambitious analytical extroverted pursue-public-office " data-year-inducted="2000" data-achiever-name="Gorbachev"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gorbachev-760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gorbachev-760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Mikhail S. 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Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William J. Clinton</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. 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Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Michael E. Thornton, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20181225135433/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/charles-h-townes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Charles H. 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