Who Is Edward Teller? Age, Biography and Wiki
Edward Teller was born on January 15, 1908, and passed away on September 9, 2003. By 2025, he would have been celebrating his 117th birthday if he were still alive. Teller is often referred to as the "father of the hydrogen bomb," due to his pivotal role in its development during the Cold War era. His contributions to physics, particularly in nuclear fusion, have left an indelible mark on both science and global politics.
| Occupation | Scientists |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | January 15, 1908 |
| Age | 95 Years |
| Birth Place | Budapest, Austria-Hungary |
| Horoscope | Capricorn |
| Country | Austria |
| Date of death | 9 September, 2003 |
| Died Place | Stanford, California, US |
Popularity
Edward Teller's Popularity over time
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details regarding his height and weight during his lifetime may not be consistently recorded, Edward Teller was known to be an average-sized male. Reports from various sources indicate that he stood approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and maintained a healthy weight throughout most of his life, reflecting an active and engaged personality in scientific endeavors even into older age.
Family, Dating & Relationship Status
Edward Teller was married to the former mathematics professor, and fellow intellectual, M. (Mary) Margaret Teller. Their marriage lasted until his death in 2003. Together, they fostered an environment of learning and intellectual discourse, with no widely reported extracurricular relationships. As he was a public figure and involved in various scientific communities, there wasn’t much information on his personal dating life outside of this marriage.
Edward Teller (January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of the Teller–Ulam design based on Stanisław Ulam's design.
He had a volatile personality, and was "driven by his megaton ambitions, had a messianic complex, and displayed autocratic behavior." A thermonuclear design he devised was an Alarm Clock model bomb with a yield of 1000 MT (1 GT of TNT) and he proposed delivering it by boat or submarine. It would be capable of incinerating a continent.
Net Worth and Salary
Though he passed away in 2003, Edward Teller's contributions to science, particularly his work on nuclear energy and weapons, have solidly placed him among some of the most influential scientists of his time. His exact net worth at the time of his death is not easily calculated, but estimates suggest it to be in the millions, partially derived from his academic and consulting roles with various governmental and environmental organizations involved in nuclear policy and research.
Career, Business and Investments
Teller had a storied career, with significant positions at institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he was instrumental in the development of weapons technology. Beyond academia, Teller has been involved in various governmental roles, including advisory positions that influenced U.S. military and energy strategies throughout the Cold War. His business endeavors included consulting for defense contractors and engaging in some innovations in energy technology.
Teller became part of the Theoretical (T) Division. He was given a secret identity of Ed Tilden. He was irked at being passed over as its head; the job was instead given to Hans Bethe.
Oppenheimer had him investigate unusual approaches to building fission weapons, such as autocatalysis, in which the efficiency of the bomb would increase as the nuclear chain reaction progressed, but proved to be impractical.
He also investigated using uranium hydride instead of uranium metal, but its efficiency turned out to be "negligible or less". He continued to push his ideas for a fusion weapon even though it had been put on a low priority during the war (as the creation of a fission weapon proved to be difficult enough).
On a visit to New York, he asked Maria Goeppert-Mayer to carry out calculations on the Super for him. She confirmed Teller's own results: the Super was not going to work.
Social Network
During his lifetime, Edward Teller was somewhat private when it came to personal social networks, but he maintained professional relationships through his roles at research institutes and government agencies. His scientific peers often recognized him in publications and conferences, underscoring his importance in the scientific community rather than through personal social networks.
Teller returned to Los Alamos in 1950 to work on the project. He insisted on involving more theorists, but many of Teller's prominent colleagues, like Fermi and Oppenheimer, were sure that the project of the H-bomb was technically infeasible and politically undesirable. None of the available designs were yet workable.
However, Soviet scientists who had worked on their own hydrogen bomb have claimed that they developed it independently.
Education
Edward Teller's educational journey began at the University of Budapest, where he studied chemistry before delving into physics, laying the groundwork for his illustrious career. He later continued his education in Germany, earning a doctorate in physics from the University of Leipzig in 1930 under the notable supervision of renowned physicist Werner Heisenberg. His intense academic training provided him with a broad understanding of nuclear physics, which he expertly utilized throughout his career.
Teller then attended the University of Munich, where he studied physics under Arnold Sommerfeld. In 1928, while still a student in Munich, he fell under a streetcar and his right foot was nearly severed. For the rest of his life, he walked with a limp, and on occasion he wore a prosthetic foot.
The painkillers he was taking were interfering with his thinking, so he decided to stop taking them, instead using his willpower to deal with the pain, including use of the placebo effect, by which he convinced himself that he had taken painkillers rather than water.
Werner Heisenberg said that it was the hardiness of Teller's spirit, rather than stoicism, that allowed him to cope so well with the accident.
