Edward Teller
The native form of this personal name is
Teller Ede. This article uses the
Western name order.
Edward Teller
Edward Teller in 1958 as Director of the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Born
January 15,
1908(1908-01-15)
Budapest, Hungary
(Austria-Hungary)
Died
September 9, 2003
(aged 95)
Stanford, California,
United States
Residence
U.S.
Nationality
Hungarian
American
Institutions
University of Göttingen
Bohr Institute
University College London
George Washington
University
Manhattan Project
University of Chicago
UC Davis
UC Berkeley
Lawrence Livermore
Hoover Institution
Alma mater
University of Karlsruhe
University of Leipzig
Doctoral
advisor
Werner Heisenberg
Doctoral
students
Chen Ning Yang
Lincoln Wolfenstein
Marshall Rosenbluth
Known for
Jahn-Teller effect
Hydrogen bomb
Edward Teller (original Hungarian name
Ede Teller) (January 15, 1908 – September 9,
2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical
physicist, known colloquially as "the father of
the hydrogen bomb", even though he claimed
that he did not care for the title.[1]
Teller is best known for his work on the
American nuclear program, specifically as a
member of the Manhattan Project during
World War II, his role in the development of
the hydrogen bomb, and his long association
with Lawrence Livermore National Laborat-
ory (which he co-founded and served as a dir-
ector). He invited contention in the 1950s by
his controversial testimony in the security
clearance hearing of his former Los Alamos
colleague Robert Oppenheimer, and thus be-
came ostracized by much of the scientific
community. He continued to find support
from the U.S. government and military re-
search establishment, particularly for his ad-
vocacy for nuclear energy development, a
strong nuclear arsenal, and a vigorous nucle-
ar testing program.
In his later years, he became especially
known for his advocacy of controversial tech-
nological solutions to both military and civil-
ian problems, including a plan to excavate an
artificial harbor in Alaska using thermonuc-
lear exp