Edward Teller - The decision to go ahead with the hydrogen bomb (98/147)

To listen to more of Edward Teller’s stories, go to the playlist: • Edward Teller (Scientist)
Hungarian-American physicist, Edward Teller (1908-2003), helped to develop the atomic bomb and provided the theoretical framework for the hydrogen bomb. He remained a staunch advocate of nuclear power, calling for the development of advanced thermonuclear weapons. [Listener: John H. Nuckolls]
TRANSCRIPT: Well, it was a great surprise. I probably did not believe as firmly as most of my colleagues that it would take the Soviets many years to do what we had done. I was probably a little less surprised than most that they had succeeded four years after we did. But still, I was surprised and I felt something ought to be done. The first thing was then and there, in Washington, to call up Oppenheimer and I got a very brief reply from him- Keep on your- keep your shirt on. I felt that I didn't quite know what else to do, but what you would call my shirt did not feel quite comfortable. I went back to Los Alamos, discussed the question with some people, no real proposal, no real action. A few weeks later I get a phone call from my good friend Luis Alvarez in Berkeley, a close collaborator with of Ernest Lawrence and during the war we had worked together- Ernest and I want to come down and talk to you in Los Alamos. Most welcome. Very soon afterwards, a phone call from Bradbury- I hear you have visitors from California. Would you mind if Manley sat in on your discussion. Manley was his deputy, good man- Of course, Doctor. So there was Ernest and Luis Alvarez and Manley and I, and Ernest wanted to know about the hydrogen bomb. I told him. I told him in detail how we planned to make a very big explosion, not allowing est- equilibrium to be established, but having discussed it very thoroughly, having some preliminary calculations on it, and having decided not to do anything more about it. Ernest says to me- You must do this. You must go ahead. And then, he was going down to Albuquerque, taking a plane- Come with me. I came with him to the hotel and there Ernest used a method of persuasion on me which was very peculiar and exceedingly effective. He was prepared to go to bed, took off his shirt and washed it. The washable shirts around '49 were something of a novelty and Ernest told me- Listen, if you want to go ahead with the hydrogen bomb, you will have to have a lot of discussions, you have to do a lot of traveling, and I find traveling much more easier since I don't need to carry half a dozen shirts along, but can wash them every night as I did just now. You cannot tell me that this was among physicists a standard argument, but Ernest managed to convey to me- This is important. You are the one who have to do it and I will support you, but you have to go ahead. Had he used these words they may not have been completely effective. Having gone into the irrelevant detail of washing his shirt, made me decide indeed to go ahead.