Today we will talk about the life of Edward Teller. You are unlikely to have heard this name before if your professional life is not connected with physics. However, E. Teller is an amazing person who lived a full active life and brought something new to society. His contribution to science is invaluable, since the ideas, studies and works of this person still form the basis for many questions in physics to this day. The life of this man is contradictory, like himself. Not everyone accepts his desire to support military projects aimed at nurturing nuclear power, but this does not deprive Teller of talent and an outstanding mind.
Who are you talking about?
Edward Teller, whose biography will be presented below, is a well-known theoretical physicist. He is also called the "father of the hydrogen bomb". This scientist made a huge contribution to spectroscopy, molecular and nuclear physics. It was he who described the Renner-Teller and Jahn-Teller effects. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller theory is still the basis for physics. Also, the man expanded the theory of Enrico Fermi regarding the beta decay of particles. Together with N. Metropolis and M. Rosenbluth in 1953, he wrote an article thatwas the impetus for the use of the Monte Carlo method in statistical mechanics.
Begin biography
Edward Teller was born in the winter of 1908 in Budapest. The boy was born into a Jewish family. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a pianist. In the family, the boy was not alone, but together with his older sister Emma. After some time, the family became Christian, like most Jewish families at that time. From this it becomes clear that the boy's relatives were very religious. Despite this, in adult independent life he became an agnostic. Teller started talking late, but he was very good with numbers and could even count the number of seconds in a year.
Students
As the boy grew up in the atmosphere of the post-war uprising in Hungary and the general tension, he was imbued with a lifelong disgust for fascism and communism. The guy could not enter a higher educational institution in Budapest due to the introduction of the restriction of Horthy Miklós. In 1926, a young man entered the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany for engineering chemistry. Two years later, he moves to live in Munich, is fond of quantum mechanics. Due to the fact that Teller was a thoughtful student, he inadvertently fell under a tram and lost his right foot. Because of this, he limped all his life and wore a prosthesis. By 1930 he had a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Leipzig. He devoted his dissertation work to the description of the molecular hydrogen ion.
At this time he met the famous Russian physicists L. Landau and G. Gamow. Teller's development in the mainstream of physics and philosophy was greatly influenced by his lifelong friendship with G. Placzek. It was he who helped Teller to live in Rome with E. Fermi. This determined the future scientific career of the man.
Adult life
Edward Teller, whose photo we see in the article, devoted two years of his life to the University of Göttingen. However, in 1933, with the assistance of people from the International Rescue Committee, Teller left Germany. He spent about a year in England, another year in Copenhagen, where, by the way, he worked under the clear guidance of N. Bor. By 1934, he started a family, taking as his wife the sister of a childhood friend, Augusta Maria.
Just a year later, the young family moved, as Edward Teller received an offer from Gamow. He had a good position at the University of George. Washington. In the US, Teller became a professor. Together with Gamow, they de alt with issues of nuclear, quantum and molecular physics. Edward Teller, whose nuclear reactions are known throughout the world, discovered them in 1939. Shortly before that, he managed to discover the effect, after which he called the "Jahn-Teller effect". It consisted in the fact that molecules tend to change their shape in certain reactions. This, in turn, affects the course of the chemical reaction.
Bomb Maker
In 1941, Teller became an American citizen. At this time, he was very interested in the issues of atomic nuclear and thermonuclear energy. It all just got worsewhen the Second World War began, and the scientist became one of the research team to develop the atomic bomb. T. von Karman, an acquaintance of our hero, advised him to work with H. Bethe. Together they initiated the development of the theory of shock wave propagation. Many years later, it was their research that served to study issues related to the entry of rockets into the atmosphere.
Continuing career
What did Edward Teller do next? The biography briefly provides the following chronology of events:
- From 1946 to 1952 he taught at the University of Chicago. At the same time, he became deputy director of the Los Alamos laboratory.
- From 1953 to 1975 he continued his teaching career at the University of California at Berkeley.
- In 1954 he became head of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory. In 1952, he became head of research on the development of the hydrogen bomb. Conducts first test in November.
- From 1957 to 1973 he led an operation called "Plusher". It concerned the use of peaceful nuclei in the United States. Under the guidance of our hero, 27 explosions took place.
It should be said that Teller was not a moralist. He believed that the United States should have an advantage in the field of nuclear weapons. He actively opposed the ban on the use of nuclear weapons, initiated the creation of effective and inexpensive weapons.
Research
In addition to the issues of nuclear weapons, Edward Teller de alt with a number of other problems. So, he studied quantum mechanics,spectroscopy, physical chemistry, physics of cosmic rays. Together with G. Gamow, already familiar to us, in 1936 he formulated the rule for the selection of particles in β-decay. In 1947, he independently proved the existence of mesoatoms.
He was awarded the E. Fermi Prize "For his contribution to nuclear and chemical physics" in 1962. In 1975, Teller stepped down as a professor at the University of California.
As an advisor
The hero of the article devoted the next 30 years of his life to work as an adviser. He advised the government on nuclear weapons. In 1980, he supported President Reagan's Star Wars program. It was about the Strategic Defense Initiative.
In 1979, there was an accident at a nuclear power plant in the United States. At the same time, Teller experienced a heart attack. And a little earlier, a movie called “Chinese Syndrome” was released on television. The main role in it was played by J. Fonda, who was an ardent opponent of US atomic weapons. Teller later named her as the culprit for his seizure.
In 1994, Teller visited the Russian Federal Nuclear Center for a conference.
For 20 years, the scientist advised Israeli politicians. For three years he visited this country 6 times, lectured there on theoretical physics. It took Teller a whole year to prove to the CIA that Israel had a huge nuclear capability. Finally, in 1976, a CIA spokesman announced that he had received information from reliable sources about Israel's nuclear capabilities.
Quotes and books
Edward Teller, whose quotes are very deep, was a versatile intelligent person. Many of his sayings are still used today. His most popular expression is: “What is science today is technology tomorrow.”
In his quotes, Teller emphasized that neither mind, nor memory, nor grades are important for a child to become a scientist, it is enough for him to have a huge interest in science.
What else did Edward Teller do? His books are still in demand. He wrote a number of works on theoretical physics. His books are distinguished by clear presentation and clarity of thought.
Summing up the results of the article, I would like to say that the scientist Edward Teller made a huge contribution to the development of science. His research and books are an invaluable gift for all physicists. The man devoted the last years of his life to supporting the project, which was to create a harbor in Alaska using thermonuclear weapons.
Throughout his life, our hero has become famous not only as an excellent scientist with outstanding abilities, but also as a person with an unpredictable character. Interpersonal relationships were difficult for him, as is often the case with talented people. It is believed that he is the prototype of the main character from the film "Dr. Strangelove", which was released in 1964.
