Better a Shield than a Sword; Perspectives on Defense and Technology

New York: The Free Press, 1987. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. xiv, 257, [1] pages. Includes A Personal Note About War. Notes. Index. DJ somewhat soiled and slight wear to edges. Edward Teller (January 15, 1908 - September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller-Ulam design). Born in Hungary in 1908, Teller emigrated to the United States in the 1930s. He made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy (in particular the Jahn-Teller and Renner-Teller effects), and surface physics. In 1953, along with Nicholas Metropolis, Arianna Rosenbluth, Marshall Rosenbluth, and his wife Augusta Teller, Teller co-authored a paper that is a standard starting point for the applications of the Monte Carlo method to statistical mechanics. Teller was an early member of the Manhattan Project, charged with developing the first atomic bomb. He co-founded the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and was both its director and associate director for many years. Teller continued to find support from the U.S. government and military research establishment, particularly for his advocacy for nuclear energy development, a strong nuclear arsenal, and a vigorous nuclear testing program. Teller became especially known for his advocacy of technological solutions to both military and civilian problems, including a plan to excavate an artificial harbor using thermonuclear explosive in what was called Project Chariot, and the Strategic Defense Initiative. Teller was a recipient of numerous awards, including the Enrico Fermi Award and Albert Einstein Award. Edward Teller, one of the 20th century's most controversial scientists, reveals his public and private selves, including his roles in the Oppenheimer controversy and the development of the hydrogen bomb, as well as his stance on arms control. These extraordinary personal reflections reveal both the public and private Edward Teller, one of the most eminent and controversial scientists of the twentieth century. The result is a portrait of a man more subtle, passionate, and visionary than even his admirers may have imagined. Writing about aspects of his life that have had important pubic consequences, Teller gives us a dramatic first-person history of our times that stretches from the rise of the Nazi party through the origins and current status of the most hotly debated technical issue in recent American history--the Strategic Defense Initiative.