Early Life of Edward Teller
Edward Teller was born in Budapist, Hungry to a Jewish family on
January 15, 1908. As a young child Edward attended private schools.
Teller
received a Bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the University
of
Karlsruhe. In 1928 Teller was in a car accident
and lost his one of his legs. As a result, he had a
prosthetic leg and walked with a
limp for the reminder of his life. After healing from the
traumatic
accident Teller went
to the University of Leipzig to receive his Ph.D. in physics. During
this
time Teller studied the hydrogen molecule and published the paper, “The
Molecular Ion.” The theory of the molecule that was presented in
this paper is still currently used and accepted by scientists. In 1933
he
moved to England for a year, and in 1934
he married “Mici” (Augusta Maria) Harkanyi. In 1935 Teller was invited
to the
United States to become a professor at George Washington University
Picture taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller
where he
studied aspects of both fusion and fission energy. In Washington D.C.
Teller
began working with a Russian physicist named George Garnow to
understand the
subatomic particle behavior in radioactive decay. In 1939 American
scientists
learned that German scientists had discovered fusion energy. The
citizens of
the United States became worried of the possibilities that could arise
if
Hitler discovered the
destruction that the fusion process could create . Albert Einstein
presented these concerns to the president of the United States,
Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Roosevelt's reaction was to secure a defense system for the
United States
against the German Army. One major concern was that the Germans would
produce
an atomic bomb before the United States. With this fear lingering in
the mind
of President Roosevelt, he hired the top physicists of the United
States, including Edward Teller, in hopes of being the first to produce
an atomic bomb.
Picture taken from: www.images.google.com
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