Edward Teller Passes Away At 95

Lord Prox writes "Edward Teller, one of the 20th Century's greats in physics, died Tuesday afternoon at his home in Stanford. He was 95." Newsforge.com also has one of the final interviews with Teller, who was "a principal architect of the hydrogen bomb, [and] passionate advocate of nuclear power and antimissile defense."

Comments

Thank you Teller.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's sad to hear. Though some might strongly disagree, as a military guy myself, anyone who advances the capability for the USA to protect and defend itself is held in high regard by me.

Thank you Mr Teller.

Re:Thank you Teller.

[Tackhead]

> That's sad to hear. Though some might strongly disagree, as a military guy myself, anyone who advances the capability for the USA to protect and defend itself is held in high regard by me.
>
> Thank you Mr Teller.

<AOL>Me too</AOL>

And one doesn't have to be a military guy to be thankful. I'm a civvie.

Einstein was my first childhood hero; his life taught me that science could be fun. Almost immediately, my classmates taught me that there was a downside to all this fun; being into science could also make you very unpopular.

It was a short hop from Einstein to Oppenheimer (Feynmann was still ten years beyond my comprehension; I'd just learned long division, fer chrissakes!), and from Oppie to Teller.

Teller was my second childhood hero - and possibly the one with the greatest impact on my daily life - because his life taught me that even if the pursuit of scientific knowledge made you unpopular, it was still right to pursue it. Truth comes first. No matter who it offends.

So thanks, Dr. Teller. You made mistakes, and you owned up to them. (And with the benefit of 20 years of history, perhaps you weren't as mistaken about Oppenheimer as you thought). But more importantly, when you hadn't made a mistake (and for anyone who's not perfectly clear on this, Yes, I Mean The H-Bomb), for sticking to your guns, doing the science, and for never letting the bastards get you down.

Today, in adulthood, upon reading a few choice passages from Memoirs and today's obituaries, I stood in awe of a mind still active and exploring, even at 95. And I realized I'd be a very happy guy if my mind's only half as functional as that when I'm 65, never mind 95.

So goodbye, Dr. Teller. And thanks for being an inspiration to me one more time.

Re:Thank you Teller.

[javiercero]

So please let us know what contributions to the field of physics did your hero Teller brought? Have you even read any paper from Teller? And how can you hop from Oppenheimer to Teller? Do you even know what fields of physics were they involved. Jeezus, do you even know what physics is for that matter. Oh, and let us know what new information you have about Oppenheimer that the rest of the world seems to be unaware of. Did you know that Oppenheimer did 100x more to defend this country by being one of the most succesful administrators of the national labs than Teller did with his political manipulations and 0 scientific contributions. But I guess Oppenheimer had to be a dirty commie for opposing a device that had no use, and that would bring us all one step closer to total destruction.

A great loss

[leeum]

Some will mourn the loss of a man who vocally advocated the a strong national defense and who made great contributions to the development of the hydrogen bomb. I'm sure as well that others will castigate the man for those very same achievements.

However, I remember myself as a geeky kid in Malaysia interested in science and technology, writing a letter to one of the 'great names'. I was quite amazed to receive a personal reply to my letter, typewritten but signed by hand. His reply was humble (he never put down any of what must have seemed to him to be naive and silly observations), encouraging (the words "I am pleased that there are children from all over the world like you who are interested in science." aren't much to an adult, but they sure meant a lot to me as a kid!) and inspiring.

That sums up the man in my mind, and I mourn the loss of that man.

It should also be said..

[cmowire]

It should also be said that he unfairly denounced another scientist, Robert Oppenheimer, as a comunist. Because Oppenheimer didn't think we should go for the H-bomb.

Not exactly a nice guy, glowing obituaries asside.

Re:Missiles are necessary

[Minna Kirai]

The world needs missiles.
Nope.

Eventually every nation, even the ones in Africa, will have nukes.
Yep.

"Nukes" are nuclear explosives, sometimes called "warheads". They do not need missiles to deliver them. Kamikaze terrorists are sufficient. A good ICBM shield does nothing against nukes.

An African nation that fired an ICBM at the US would have 80 missiles targeted to melt it into a puddle before their single shot even reached the Atlantic. Any non-suicidal African dictator who wishes to nuke America will transport the bomb by SUV, not ICBM.

Re:Hiroshima

[rjkimble]

Note that 100% of Japanese cities were bombed flat in WWII, so all buildings are less than 50 years old (even without the bombing, earthquakes would keep destroying them). Thus they may all look similar to a naive visitor.

Not at all true. There were still several large cities left pretty much untouched at the end of the war. Truman in particular refused to authorize the bombing of Kyoto because of its religious, historical, and cultural significance. I might add that the Japanese military would have shown no similar sense of honor. They were insane zealots of the first magnitude. Just take a look at how they fought on the Pacific islands, especially Okinawa. If you don't believe me, ask the Koreans, Chinese, and Philippinos who experienced them firsthand.

Re:Hiroshima

[afidel]

Hiroshima was nothing, the cities of Dresden, Kobe, Osaka, and others were destroyed in a MUCH worse fashion by the carpet firebombing of the allies. My German teacher was a little girl in Dresden during WWII and saw firsthand the horrors of those attacks. The percentage of Hiroshima affected even by the fallout was small compared to the destruction wrought on those other cities.

Re:Hiroshima

[Minna Kirai]

(Nobody should mod you down for that. Real flamebait looks distinctly different)

I might add that the Japanese military would have shown no similar sense of honor.

Some would question whether avoiding potentially useful targets, which prolongs the fighting and endagers your own troops, is really "honor". What does it mean to value some rotting wooden buildings over human lives?

Others might ask if commanding a single pilot to kill 100,000 helpless civilians simply to impress the USSR is honorable.

But let's not get into that.