Energy from Heaven and Earth; In which a story is told about energy from its origins 15,000,000,000 years ago to its present

San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1979. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Good. George Bing. xiv, 322 pages. Illustrations. Map. Footnotes. Index. Signed by Edward Teller on the half-title page with the note "the minor contributor". Also signed just below by George Bing of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who was thanked on pages xiii and xiv for his 'ingenious illustrations." The first draft of this book was based on lectures given by the author in 1975: the Harvey Prize Lectures, Technion; and Distinguished Visiting Lectures of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. One chapter was based on a lecture delivered at Acadia University, Nova Scotia. Edward Teller (January 15, 1908 - September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist. Teller was known both for his scientific ability and for his volatile personality. Teller was an early member of the Manhattan Project, charged with developing the first atomic bomb, and proposed the solid pit implosion design which was successful. He made a serious push to develop the first fusion-based weapons as well, but these were deferred until after World War II. He did not sign the Szilard petition, which sought to have the bombs detonated as a demonstration, but not on a city, but later agreed that Szilard was right, and the bombs should not have been dropped on a defenseless civilian population. He was a co-founder of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and was both its director and associate director for many years. He was noted for for his advocacy for nuclear energy development, a strong nuclear arsenal, and a vigorous nuclear testing program. George Franklin Bing, born Dec. 16, 1924 in Barberton, Ohio, was an Eagle Scout, a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps (1943-46) and a nuclear physicist at the Laboratory (1954-1988). Bing joined the Army in January of 1943 and served in the Pacific in 1945. Eventually his unit was sent to Japan and then home in April of 1946. After returning from WWII he obtained a bachelor's degree in physics from Oberlin College. He started and completed a graduate program in physics at Case Institute of Technology, earning a doctorate in 1954. He took a job at the then-University of California Radiation Laboratory, and stayed at the Lab until his retirement in 1988. On three occasions George took leaves of absence from the Lab. In 1961 he took a position at the Pentagon to the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to direct the VELA program. In 1967 he went to Vietnam for four months to serve on the staff of Gen. Westmoreland. In July 1967 he took a position as the scientific adviser at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). He returned to LLNL in 1970 where he completed his career.