From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Fri Sep 12 2003 - 14:16:34 MDT
A friend of mine posted this on another forum...
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Today [11 Sep] Dr. Edward Teller died at 95. For those who don't know who he
was, he was the father of the H-bomb, one of the men instrumental in getting
Roosevelt to start the Manhatten project, director at LLNL, and one of the
brightest atomic physicists the world has known. He led a controversial
life; designed the H-bomb (fusion bomb), blamed for the downfall of
Oppenheimer, largely responsible for our lead in the cold war, and an
outspoken proponent of a missile defense system. He had been awarded the
Albert Einstein Award, the Enrico Fermi Award and the National Medal of
Science.
His death marks the end of an era of great physicists like Einstein, Fermi,
Feynman, Bethe, Pauli, Dirac, Schroedinger, Lawrence, Landau, Gell-Man,
Bohr.
On a personal note I knew Dr. Teller at various phases of my life and was
always impressed with him. When I was in High School I took a series of
classes from him in Livermore. At that time he was 85, almost blind, almost
deaf, but sharp as a tack. I was very surprised how approachable he was,
often staying for a good while afterwards to talk with students. He felt it
was imperative that the younger generations embrace science and he made it
his mission to get students interested in the field of physics. I remember
when I'd ask him questions after the classes he always seemed very
interested and would encourage more questions. Second to my father's
influence, Dr. Teller was probably the most influential person in my life
when it came to my interest in science.
Seven years later I was accepted into the Department of Applied Science at
UC Davis for my graduate program. I didn't find out until afterwards that it
was a department that Edward Teller started in the 60s and still interacted
with. He had found then that at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory many
scientists weren't really trained to work in a lab environment, so he
convinced the UC system to put a science department onsite at the lab.
Students would take classes in the UC building and participate in real
research at LLNL, producing scientists with the training and education to
start working productively at the lab as soon as they graduated (and
before). He served as the department director for a number of years and
since as director emiritus.
Over the years I attended DAS, Dr. Teller came and had lunch with the
students on many occasions. He was very blind, almost deaf, and barely able
to walk, but like the decade prior he had the mind of a 20 year old. His
favorite topic in these get-togethers was to speak on the importance of
scientists to use their technology and knowledge responsibly. He was always
friendly and always interested in what projects the various students were
involved in at the Lab. He also always knew a good deal about whatever
program you were in, the history behind it and the current research being
done in the field. My last impression of him was that he was still the
friendly, interested, and approachable man he was 12 years earlier. He will
be missed.
-- “Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress.” Copyright 1992, Frank Rice Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com > Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html > Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program ------------ Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
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