Edward Teller

2009-11-14T13:21:42Z

BrothersPerspective: add Reagan section, separating atomic history from SDI

[[Image:Eteller.jpg|thumb|right|'''Edward Teller''']]

'''Edward Teller''' (1908-2003) was a theoretical [[physics|physicist]] who was born in [[Austria-Hungary]], educated in [[Germany]], and who immigrated to the [[United States]] in 1935 to escape [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]].

==Discoveries==
His specialty was [[nuclear energy]], both fission and fusion. He discovered the Jahn-Teller Effect in 1939, describing the geometrical distortion of electron clouds undergo in chemical reactions of metals he also helped develop the the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherm for surface physics and chemistry.

==Work on the atomic bomb==
In 1942, Teller worked with [[Leo Szilard]] at the [[University of Chicago]] in the early stages of the [[Manhattan Project]], and a year later headed the Theoretical Physics division at [[Los Alamos]] in [[New Mexico]].

When the [[Soviet Union]] detonated an [[atomic bomb]] in August 1949 based on secrets stolen from the United States, Teller began advocating construction of a far more powerful [[hydrogen bomb]]. A series of design attempts and work with mathematician [[Stanislaw Ulam]] resulted in the [[Teller-Ulam]] design.

== Relationships in the scientific community ==

Teller's testimony against [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] in 1954 created a backlash against him by liberal scientists.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/obituaries/10TELL.html?ex=1378612800&en=527a0430768a87c7&ei=5007</ref>
The hearings resulted in the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] taking away Oppenheimer's security clearance. Teller testified, "I feel I would prefer to see the vital interests of this country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more."

Teller set up the second major US atomic research lab, [[Lawrence Livermore National Lab]]

== Advisor to president Reagan ==

A conservative academic physicist, Teller later supported President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s missile defense proposal known as the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]]

==Global warming==
In the years before his death, Teller began speaking out about the hysteria over [[global warming]], writing in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in 1997 that "the jury is still out" on whether gases such as [[carbon dioxide]] cause global warming, but in the event it does occur, [[science]] and [[technology]] can address any such effects far cheaper than overregulating the market with emissions restrictions.<ref>Teller, Edward. "The Planet Needs a Sunscreen". ''The Wall Street Journal'', October 17, 1997. Also reprinted in the [[Hoover Institution]]'s ''Hoover Digest'' 1998, No.1, full text at http://www.evolutionquebec.com/site/archives/teller.htm</ref> He suggested the cooling caused by [[volcano|volcanic]] eruptions could serve as a model for the deliberate introduction of fine particles similar to those produced by volcanoes into the upper [[atmosphere]], which would mitigate any warming at a cost of between 0.1% and 1% of the cost of implementing the restrictions called for by [[environmentalism|environmentalists]].<ref>http://www.ncpa.org/pi/enviro/envpd/pdenv125.html</ref>

Edward Teller is also a signatory to the Global Warming Petition Project, a [[petition]] urging the United States government to reject the [[Kyoto Protocol]], a petition which also reads in part, "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse [gases] is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."<ref>http://www.oism.org/pproject/pproject.htm</ref>

==References and notes==
<references />

[[Category:Physicists|Teller, Edward]]

Edward Teller

2009-11-14T13:13:59Z

BrothersPerspective: /* Work on the atomic bomb */ attribute backlash to other scientists, not unspecified liberals [as the obit does]

[[Image:Eteller.jpg|thumb|right|'''Edward Teller''']]

'''Edward Teller''' (1908-2003) was a theoretical [[physics|physicist]] who was born in [[Austria-Hungary]], educated in [[Germany]], and who immigrated to the [[United States]] in 1935 to escape [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]].

==Discoveries==
His specialty was [[nuclear energy]], both fission and fusion. He discovered the Jahn-Teller Effect in 1939, describing the geometrical distortion of electron clouds undergo in chemical reactions of metals he also helped develop the the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherm for surface physics and chemistry.

==Work on the atomic bomb==
In 1942, Teller worked with [[Leo Szilard]] at the [[University of Chicago]] in the early stages of the [[Manhattan Project]], and a year later headed the Theoretical Physics division at [[Los Alamos]] in [[New Mexico]].

When the [[Soviet Union]] detonated an [[atomic bomb]] in August 1949 based on secrets stolen from the United States, Teller began advocating construction of a far more powerful [[hydrogen bomb]]. A series of design attempts and work with mathematician [[Stanislaw Ulam]] resulted in the [[Teller-Ulam]] design.

== Relationships in the scientific community ==

Teller's testimony against [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] in 1954 created something of a backlash against him by other scientists.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/obituaries/10TELL.html?ex=1378612800&en=527a0430768a87c7&ei=5007</ref>
The hearings resulted in the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] taking away Oppenheimer's security clearance. Teller testified, "I feel I would prefer to see the vital interests of this country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more."

==Global warming==
In the years before his death, Teller began speaking out about the hysteria over [[global warming]], writing in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in 1997 that "the jury is still out" on whether gases such as [[carbon dioxide]] cause global warming, but in the event it does occur, [[science]] and [[technology]] can address any such effects far cheaper than overregulating the market with emissions restrictions.<ref>Teller, Edward. "The Planet Needs a Sunscreen". ''The Wall Street Journal'', October 17, 1997. Also reprinted in the [[Hoover Institution]]'s ''Hoover Digest'' 1998, No.1, full text at http://www.evolutionquebec.com/site/archives/teller.htm</ref> He suggested the cooling caused by [[volcano|volcanic]] eruptions could serve as a model for the deliberate introduction of fine particles similar to those produced by volcanoes into the upper [[atmosphere]], which would mitigate any warming at a cost of between 0.1% and 1% of the cost of implementing the restrictions called for by [[environmentalism|environmentalists]].<ref>http://www.ncpa.org/pi/enviro/envpd/pdenv125.html</ref>

Edward Teller is also a signatory to the Global Warming Petition Project, a [[petition]] urging the United States government to reject the [[Kyoto Protocol]], a petition which also reads in part, "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse [gases] is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."<ref>http://www.oism.org/pproject/pproject.htm</ref>

==References and notes==
<references />

[[Category:Physicists|Teller, Edward]]

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Edward Teller

Edward Teller