Edward Teller, the brilliant, bushy-browed physicist who came to deplore his designation as the father of both the hydrogen bomb and the controversial "Star Wars" nuclear defense system, died...
Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, along with hundreds of artificial intelligence researchers and experts, are calling for a worldwide ban on so-called autonomous weapons, warning that they could set off a revolution in weaponry comparable to gunpowder and nuclear arms.
In a letter unveiled as researchers gathered at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires on Monday, the signatories argued that the deployment of robots capable of killing while untethered to human operators is “feasible within years, not decades.” If development is not cut off, it is only a matter of time before the weapons end up in the hands of terrorists and warlords, they said.
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His ticket out was a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship for a year at the University of Copenhagen. There he began to focus on nuclear physics and met Russian expatriate George Gamow, who invited him to join him as a professor of physics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
After a short teaching stint in 1934-35 at the University of London, Teller accepted Gamow's invitation, teaching at George Washington from 1935 to 1941.
In 1941, the year he became a U.S. citizen, Teller was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb. He began at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, and in 1942 joined Oppenheimer at UC Berkeley, and in 1943 moved with him to the new Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico.
More interested in fusion than fission, Teller was nevertheless credited with important contributions. Among them were his calculations that stymied fears that an atomic blast could actually set the oceans on fire, creating a world holocaust.
He became unhappy with Oppenheimer's lack of interest in a "superbomb" after World War II was ended by atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He left Los Alamos to teach at the University of Chicago (1946-49) but returned in 1949 as assistant director, his vision soon bolstered by President Harry S. Truman's decision in 1950 to develop a hydrogen bomb.
One declassified account of the project, by Hans Bethe, wartime Los Alamos director of the theoretical division, has said that work proceeded on a fusion-type or hydrogen bomb in the postwar period but had been hampered by Teller's "very incomplete" or faulty calculations.
By 1951, however, Teller had overcome a major research problem by determining that X-rays could be used to ignite the bomb's thermonuclear fuel. The first hydrogen bomb was exploded at Eniwetok on Nov. 1, 1952.
About that time, Teller's dream of a "second Los Alamos" was realized when the Atomic Energy Commission established Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, associated with UC Berkeley, to conduct thermonuclear research and develop nuclear weapons.
Teller was a key start-up scientist, serving as associate director (1954-58 and 1960-75) and director (1958-60). The complex of Quonset huts and low-rise office buildings east of San Francisco has frequently been referred to as "the house that Teller built."
Always considered a jovial and intellectually stimulating teacher, Teller taught physics at Berkeley from 1953 to 1975 while he conducted his research at nearby Livermore.
Unlike many of his Los Alamos colleagues who came to rue their creation, Teller remained a staunch advocate of nuclear energy and weapons. Still, he campaigned for safe, professionally maintained nuclear power plants and argued that the reason for powerful weapons and defense mechanisms was to make war unnecessary.
But what critics forgot was that Teller was one of those who advocated warning Japan before dropping the atomic bomb.
"The man who dissuaded me from supporting it [that view] was Robert Oppenheimer," Teller said many years later, "and one of the things for which I reproach myself was that, at that time, I let myself be persuaded by Oppenheimer."
At a 1954 Atomic Energy Commission hearing, Teller said he considered Oppenheimer a loyal American but added, "I feel I would prefer to see the vital interests of this country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more."
Oppenheimer was denied a security clearance, and many scientists blamed Teller.
He remained a prolific speaker and author, writing alone or with co-authors a dozen books espousing his views as well as his research. A Library Journal review of his 1987 book, "Better a Shield Than a Sword," noted: "The author's viewpoints on weapons are not apt to please everyone, yet he has written in forceful terms of his views on the need for a strong defense policy as a way to prevent another war.... A controversial work that deserves reading as a stimulant for further action by an informed citizenry."
Even after the nuclear reactor accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island in 1979, when much of the country was questioning a commitment to nuclear power, Teller continued to stress his undiminished support for nuclear energy in full-page advertisements in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, sponsored by Dresser Industries Inc. and other pro-nuclear companies.
Referring to a heart attack he had suffered after Three Mile Island, after working 20-hour days in Washington refuting anti-nuclear spokesmen, Teller stated in the advertisement:
"You might say that I was the only one whose health was affected by that reactor near Harrisburg. No, that would be wrong. It was not the reactor. It was Jane Fonda [the actress whose anti-nuclear film "China Syndrome" was in circulation at the time]. Reactors are not dangerous."
In the late 1970s, Teller toyed with the idea of challenging California Democrat Alan Cranston for his Senate seat.
Force Behind H-Bomb, 'Star Wars'
September 10, 2003|Myrna Oliver | Times Staff Writer
His ticket out was a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship for a year at the University of Copenhagen. There he began to focus on nuclear physics and met Russian expatriate George Gamow, who invited him to join him as a professor of physics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
After a short teaching stint in 1934-35 at the University of London, Teller accepted Gamow's invitation, teaching at George Washington from 1935 to 1941.
In 1941, the year he became a U.S. citizen, Teller was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb. He began at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, and in 1942 joined Oppenheimer at UC Berkeley, and in 1943 moved with him to the new Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico.
More interested in fusion than fission, Teller was nevertheless credited with important contributions. Among them were his calculations that stymied fears that an atomic blast could actually set the oceans on fire, creating a world holocaust.
He became unhappy with Oppenheimer's lack of interest in a "superbomb" after World War II was ended by atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He left Los Alamos to teach at the University of Chicago (1946-49) but returned in 1949 as assistant director, his vision soon bolstered by President Harry S. Truman's decision in 1950 to develop a hydrogen bomb.
One declassified account of the project, by Hans Bethe, wartime Los Alamos director of the theoretical division, has said that work proceeded on a fusion-type or hydrogen bomb in the postwar period but had been hampered by Teller's "very incomplete" or faulty calculations.
By 1951, however, Teller had overcome a major research problem by determining that X-rays could be used to ignite the bomb's thermonuclear fuel. The first hydrogen bomb was exploded at Eniwetok on Nov. 1, 1952.
About that time, Teller's dream of a "second Los Alamos" was realized when the Atomic Energy Commission established Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, associated with UC Berkeley, to conduct thermonuclear research and develop nuclear weapons.
Teller was a key start-up scientist, serving as associate director (1954-58 and 1960-75) and director (1958-60). The complex of Quonset huts and low-rise office buildings east of San Francisco has frequently been referred to as "the house that Teller built."
Always considered a jovial and intellectually stimulating teacher, Teller taught physics at Berkeley from 1953 to 1975 while he conducted his research at nearby Livermore.
Unlike many of his Los Alamos colleagues who came to rue their creation, Teller remained a staunch advocate of nuclear energy and weapons. Still, he campaigned for safe, professionally maintained nuclear power plants and argued that the reason for powerful weapons and defense mechanisms was to make war unnecessary.
But what critics forgot was that Teller was one of those who advocated warning Japan before dropping the atomic bomb.
"The man who dissuaded me from supporting it [that view] was Robert Oppenheimer," Teller said many years later, "and one of the things for which I reproach myself was that, at that time, I let myself be persuaded by Oppenheimer."
At a 1954 Atomic Energy Commission hearing, Teller said he considered Oppenheimer a loyal American but added, "I feel I would prefer to see the vital interests of this country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more."
Oppenheimer was denied a security clearance, and many scientists blamed Teller.
He remained a prolific speaker and author, writing alone or with co-authors a dozen books espousing his views as well as his research. A Library Journal review of his 1987 book, "Better a Shield Than a Sword," noted: "The author's viewpoints on weapons are not apt to please everyone, yet he has written in forceful terms of his views on the need for a strong defense policy as a way to prevent another war.... A controversial work that deserves reading as a stimulant for further action by an informed citizenry."
Even after the nuclear reactor accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island in 1979, when much of the country was questioning a commitment to nuclear power, Teller continued to stress his undiminished support for nuclear energy in full-page advertisements in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, sponsored by Dresser Industries Inc. and other pro-nuclear companies.
Referring to a heart attack he had suffered after Three Mile Island, after working 20-hour days in Washington refuting anti-nuclear spokesmen, Teller stated in the advertisement:
"You might say that I was the only one whose health was affected by that reactor near Harrisburg. No, that would be wrong. It was not the reactor. It was Jane Fonda [the actress whose anti-nuclear film "China Syndrome" was in circulation at the time]. Reactors are not dangerous."
In the late 1970s, Teller toyed with the idea of challenging California Democrat Alan Cranston for his Senate seat.