Edward Teller - The importance of understanding a statement and its opposite (33/147)

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: I want to tell you another story about Bohr, a story that I want to tell you just for the sheer fun of it. For once, it has no meaning except to tell you what Bohr was. I listened to him once when he talked, mistakenly, about the oxygen molecule. One of my professors in Leipzig - Hund, Friedrich Hund - taught me about the simple molecules very accurately. Bohr did not know that and actually made some mistaken statements and I had to contradict. I wanted to be polite and I remember to have said to one of his statements- This is an exaggeration. Thereupon Bohr stares at me, quite mad- Teller says I'm exaggerating. Teller does not want me to exaggerate. Well, if I can't exaggerate, I can't speak. We then talked about the objective questions and I think it was cleared up. But Bohr's statement about contradictions, about the use of words, about exaggeration, has something to do with the spirit of the uncertainty principle and the spirit of the times. And also, the spirit of one of the clear statements of moral significance that Bohr liked to make. Everybody - young people at eighteen years - should know that no statement can be believed unless you understand the statement and its opposite. A contradiction is not only likable, a contradiction is basic to understanding.

[@harryh4398]

We read about Bohr and the Rutherford-Bohr model of an atom, in our school text books- years ago. This guy actually knew him!

[@VideoNOLA]

Bohr died just a few days before Kennedy, to put it into perspective.

[@boniknik1981]

I wish there were subtitles. :(

[@jmbreuer]

There's a transcript in the description (for me, a light grey box under the video that I can click to "show more").

[@nationalallianceforprogres3136]

Long live democratic socialism and sir edward teller s legacy❤😊

[@alexanderscott2456]

What a total non-sequitur. Not only is it a non-sequitur, Teller was a stanch anti-Communist. So please take your collectivist ideology somewhere else and go pound sand.

[@morpher44]

re: contradictions. I don't think that's right.

[@coolcat23]

It is definitely true that apparent contradictions are highly valuable seeds that can be grown into better understanding.

[@chessbarberis911]

Exactly.

[@thebrasenose]

This is baloney. No wonder the rest of the scientific community didn't like they guy.