Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove

520 Pages·2004·133.637 MB·English

by  Peter Goodchild

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ne Nobel Prize-winning
physiecis called Edward
Teller, A great man of vast
imagination ... [one of the] most
thoughtful statesmen of science”
Another called him, “A danger to all
that is important... It would have
been a better world without [him]?
That both opinions about Teller were
commonly held and equally true is
one of the enduring mysteries about
the man dubbed “the father of the H-
bomb? In the story of Teller’s life and
career, told here in greater depth and
detail than ever before, Peter Good-
child unravels the complex web of
harsh early experiences, character
flaws, and personal and professional
frustrations that lay behind the para-
dox of “the real Dr. Strangelove”
Goodchild’s biography draws on
interviews with more than fifty of
Teller’s colleagues and friends. Their
voices echo through the book, expres-
sing admiration and contempt, affec-
tion and hatred, as we observe
Teller’s involvement in every stage
of building the atomic bomb, and his
subsequent pursuil of causes that
drew the world deeper into the Cold
War-alienating many of his scientific
colleagues even as he provided the
intellectual lead for politicians, the
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and its supporters.

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GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A,

Edward Teller

Edward Teller
The Real Dr Strangelove
Peter Goodchild
San Rafael Public Library
1100 E Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachussetts
In memory of Douglas and May Goodchild, my parents
First published in Great Britain in 2004
by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Copyright © 2004 Peter Goodchild
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
permission of both the copyright owner and the
above publisher.
The right of Peter Goodchild to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
: Goodchild, Peter
Edward Teller, the real Dr. Strangelove / Peter Goodchild.
p. cm.
“First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Weidenfeld & Nicoloson”—T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-674-01669-6 (alk. paper)
1. Teller, Edward, 1908— 2. Physicists—United States—Biography. 3. Atomic
bomb—United States—History. I. Title: Edward Teller. II. Title
QC16.T37G66 2004
623.4'5119'092—dc22
[B] 2004054257
Contents
List of Illustrations
Glossary of Characters
Acknowledgements
Introduction
War, Revolution, Peace and Maths

H
In the Company of Gods
D
Y
Twilight of a Golden Age
D
America the Beautiful
N
The Hungarian Conspiracy
A
Skirmishes
Maverick on the Mesa

N
O The Little Toe of the Ghost
M
The Legacy of Hiroshima 107
o
O
10 Wilderness Years 124
11 The Taking of Washington 141
12 Unholy Alliances 157
13 A ‘Simple, Great and Stupid’ Mistake
174
14 Technically So Sweet 187
15 Mike 203
16 ‘Soled’ to the Californians 212
222
17 Bravo
18 The Hearing 232
19 Aftermath 251
20 ‘Almost like Ivory Soap’ 263
21 A Matter of Detection 273
22 Plowshare F 284
23 Confounding Camelot 296
24 Struggling Uphill
309
25 Bringing up the Props
328
26 Excalibur
351
27 Reykjavik
376
28 Brilliant Pebbles
382
Epilogue
395
Appendix 1: The New Physics: the Path that
403
Led to Quantum Mechanics
Appendix 2: Basic Information on the History
of Fission
Appendix 3: The Sketch for the ‘Super’ that
Evolved During the Berkeley Conference,
Summer 1942
Notes and References
Select Bibliography
Index