Memoirs: A Twentieth Century Journey in Science and Politics

by Edward Teller

Book Overview

The story of Edward Teller is the story of the twentieth century. Born in Hungary in 1908, Teller witnessed the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism, two world wars, the McCarthy era, and the changing face of big science. A brilliant and controversial figure whose work on nuclear weapons was key to the American war effort, Teller has long believed in freedom through strong defense, a philosophy reflected in his stance on arms control and nuclear policy...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738207780
• ISBN13: 9780738207780
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?

This is the English major's review, that is, the review of someone not particularly interested in science or politics. Bought the book because I heard Savage interview Sam Cohen a few years ago and wanted to revisit those racy psychological bits. I mistakenly picked up "Memoirs" and struggled to get through the first quarter with its geeky tea-and-ping-pong interludes, which read like my ninety-year-old grandfather after a glass of port at the Thanksgiving table. Teller's dictation style of authorship is not intimate, and my stylistic gripes return toward the end of the book when he relates how such-and-such a captain of industry and his charming wife hosted them, etc. and in the generally weak epilogue. But, wow, sometimes I couldn't turn pages fast enough. Where can you go to match this? "We all were lying on the ground, supposedly with our backs turned to the explosion. But I had decided to disobey that instruction and instead looked straight at the bomb." Tolstoy, maybe. The best memoirs, as with the best fiction, give clues to the great question of how to live and explore strands of fate, choice, history. For (fictional) characters of cognitive complexity and depth, one could consider Hamlet-or Teller's portrayal of Oppenheimer and Bohr. The book nurtured me with throw-away comments one might do well to adopt as life philosophies: "Bohr was the embodiment of complementarity, the insistence that every important question has opposite sides that appear mutually exclusive; understanding of the question becomes possible only if the reality on both sides is acknowledged." At a certain point I began mining the memoirs as if reading wisdom literature. Bohr's definition of an expert, as "one who, from his own painful experiences, has discovered all the mistakes one can commit in a very narrow field," Lawrence on risk-taking, Teller's experience of shunning, the recognition of right of dissent, opposition of elitism and limitations on knowledge, all are worthy of reflection because they result from pressurized experience.

Captivating memoir

If you have an interest in the history of scienceand technology, and in the scientific personalities whocarried out the revolution in physics in the firsthalf of the 20th century, you will be captivatedby this book.I picked it up because of my interest inthe history of physics, and because Teller hasheld such a central role in the transformationfrom small science to Big Science. Hans Bethe, with whom Teller had some difficultiesduring the Manhattan Project, reviewed the book very positively in Physics Today. I was preparedto continue to dislike Teller, because of his testimonyin the Oppenheimer hearings and his advocacy of StarWars, but he nevertheless quickly won me over.Teller comes across, in his own account, as acollegial, cooperative, driven man, who caredgreatly about both his scientific and technical workand his relations with his colleagues.After Teller's 1954 testimony at the Oppenheimersecurity clearance hearing, Teller was vilified.Here, he gets to explain why he testified as hedid, and how it was just one of several verystupid things that he did in his career. (Thestupid thing in this case was to neglect to explain that his uncertainty about Oppenheimer's clearance was due to a transcript he was shown about Oppenheimer's fabricated story that implicated his friend Chevalier, andnot to Oppenheimer's opposition to developmentof the H-bomb, which was widely shared amongphysics academics.)Teller makes an effort to explain the scientificchallenges in his work, such as in the early days of quantum mechanics when he worked on molecular dynamics. For example, he explainsLandau's reaction to what is now called theJahn-Teller effect (and which Teller says should becalled the "Landau-Jahn-Teller effect"), giving thebasic physical principle involved and the reason forLandau's initial puzzlement. Teller played an important role after WW2 insetting up the engineering principles necessaryto make nuclear reactors safe, and in getting themimplemented.There are many delightful anecdotes, and evensome poems that Teller wrote. His lifelong friendMaria Goppert Mayer saved all his letters, andthese provided much material that Tellerused to refresh his memory and select from.I found the period from 1946 until the establishmentof Livermore Lab particularly interesting andsuspenseful. This book leaves no doubt that Teller led a fascinating life.

The Atomic Age through the eyes of one of its creators.

"Memoirs", by Dr. Edward Teller, is a straight forward telling of the life of one of the twentieth century's foremost physicists. Dr. Teller describes his exodus from his native Hungary to Germany, Denmark, England and finally the United States. He has worked in the company of some of the great physicists of all time, Fermi, Bohr, Von Neumann and others. He was also instrumental in developing the atomic and hydrogen bombs as well as Los Alamos and Lawrence-Livermore national laboratories.This book is not an apology for his work in atomic energy, weapons or his testimony regarding Oppenheimer. Dr. Teller goes into great detail to describe his thinking and motives in these areas. Having escaped the Nazi's and communists his right of center views on nuclear deterrence and missile defense are well founded. He discusses being ostracized from the scientific community, views on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as well as his political and scientific contributions to among others Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan. The book is extensively footnoted; Dr. Teller uses his teaching skills to describe to the reader the concepts being discussed in the body of the work. A basic knowledge of the terms used in physics is helpful but not necessary. The book is exceptionally well written and doesn't get "bogged down" in scientific jargon."Memoirs" is a fascinating documentary of the birth and development of nuclear energy in both its destructive and constructive forms. Dr. Teller is straight forward but modest about his role and generous in praise of his many colleagues.

A great Christmas gift for the inquisitive

It is unfortunate that several reviews of this book in leading newspapers have belittled the man who is Edward Teller, as well as his career. Such reviews tell more about the reviewer than they do about Teller's memoirs, which are absolutely fascinating.Edward Teller had the good fortune to be right where major work in physics was taking place throughout his career. When the hotbed of physics research was in Hungary, he was in Hungary; when it was in Germany, he was in Germany; when it was in England, he was in England, and when it finally moved to America, so did Edward Teller.A man who is obviously passionate about applying scientific knowledge to solve problems, Teller decided long ago that consequences are for politicians to handle, scientists should only be concerned with furthering mankind's knowledge to the best of their ability.This, Teller has done in remarkable fashion, and his memoirs allow you to tag along for the ride as he and others perform the mental gymnastics necessary to unlock the secrets of the atom. Far from being a dry technical treatise, however, Teller and Shoolery are surprisingly good at detailing the personalities behind the people, including those of Neils Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer (whose first name is Julius, we discover in the book), Enrico Fermi, Lev Landau and others whom most of us have only read about in passing when we were in school. We are also permitted to glimpse more than a few touching moments with his late wife Mici and his son, which reveal the depth of his affection.He also delves into the political proclivities of his associates, a surprising number of which had socialist and communist tendencies. An appendix gives relevant portions of his testimony during the Congressional investigation into Robert Oppenheimer.And the book doesn't concentrate on the atom bomb, either. Teller's career covers collaboration on an inherently safe nuclear reactor using hydride fuel (which we still are not yet using for electrical power production in the United States) to work on several ballistic missile defense systems from smart rocks to brilliant pebbles (which, we learn in the book, would protect the entire northern hemisphere -- including Russia -- if deployed). And at the end of the book, Teller gives us his view on where science, people and politics should go from here.If you have an inquisitive bone in your body, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. All things considered, it is one of the best I've read in a long time. It's a shame that those who differ with Teller's point of view on some issues chose to take it out on his memoirs. This book is fascinating -- but I already said that, didn't I.