Table Of Content

mi ANGI 2501 0545 Pp EMRE RORG OW Dc -a.y ie} SL 7 a|n “eS guei! i a © | h ‘ ¥ i! oa i r aa r aealladiad 229,95 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 Purchased on behalf of the community by the Friends of the San Rafael Public Library and its supporters. e ey [ 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