Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Tellerwas a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who was born in Hungary, and is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb", although he claimed he did not care for the title. He made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopyand surface physics. His extension of Enrico Fermi's theory of beta decay, in the form of Gamow–Teller transitions, provided an important stepping stone in its application, while the Jahn–Teller effect and the Brunauer–Emmett–Tellertheory have retained their original formulation and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth15 January 1908
CityBudapest, Hungary
CountryUnited States of America
I am guilty of the great crime of optimism.
Secrecy in science does not work. Withholding information does more damage to us than to our competitors.
It is often claimed that knowledge multiplies so rapidly that nobody can follow it. I believe this is incorrect. At least in science it is not true. The main purpose of science is simplicity and as we understand more things, everything is becoming simpler. This, of course, goes contrary to what everyone accepts.
I believe in good. It is an ephemeral and elusive quality. It is the center of my beliefs, but it cannot be strengthened by talking about it.
If there ever was a misnomer, it is "exact science." Science has always been full of mistakes. The present day is no exception. And our mistakes are good mistakes; they require a genius to correct. Of course, we do not see our own mistakes.
Really exotic methods of propulsion . . . will have to be devised to get there. How it will be done, I do not know. Whether it will be done, I am not quite certain. But I would bet it can be done.
I claim that relativity and the rest of modern physics is not complicated. It can be explained very simply. It is only unusual or, put another way, it is contrary to common sense.
I think that intellectuals who end up in hell will have to read page proofs and check indexes there.
When you're certain you cannot be fooled, you become easy to fool.
One may say that predictions are dangerous particularly for the future. If the danger involved in a prediction is not incurred, no consequence follows and the uncertainty principle is not violated.
We must learn to live with contradictions, because they lead to deeper and more effective understanding.
There's no system foolproof enough to defeat a sufficiently great fool.
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy; the best weapon of a democracy is openness.
Society's emissions of carbon dioxide may or may not turn out to have something significant to do with global warming-the jury is still out.