Edward Teller

Edward Teller Historical Figure Nationality: United States (born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire) Year of Birth: 1908 Year of Death: 2003 Cause of Death: Stroke Religion: Judaism (agnostic) Occupation: Physicist Spouse: Augusta Harkanyi Children: Two Fictional Appearances: Joe Steele POD: 1878; Relevant POD: July, 1932 Novel or Story?: Both Type of Appearance: Direct (short story), Contemporary reference (novel)

Edward Teller (born Teller Ede, January 15, 1908 - September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-born American nuclear physicist, and an early participant in the Manhattan Project. Of Jewish descent, Teller emigrated to the United States in the 1930s to escape the spread of Nazism in Europe. Unlike certain of his other colleagues, Teller remained strong advocate of the development of nuclear technology for military purposes for the remainder of his life. He is known as the "father of the hydrogen bomb".

Along with Ernest Lawrence, Teller was instrumental in founding the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1952.

Edward Teller in Joe Steele

In the late 1930s, Edward Teller was declared a wrecker by the GBI. When President Joe Steele assigned Captain Hyman Rickover to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Rickover secured permission to use Teller and other imprisoned physicists within a special encampment to work on the bomb. The project proved successful, so Teller and the others earned their freedom.

Literary Comment

In the short story Edward Teller is arrested as part of the "Professors' Plot", but manages to convince Steele to spare him by promising an atomic bomb in three years. Steele agrees. While Teller is mentioned in the novel, Hyman Rickover is in charge of the atomic bomb project.

An earlier scene in the novel involves a soldier named Lawrence Livermore. This fictional character has no connection to Teller or the Laboratory, and appears to be named as a joke.