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Questioning the motivation and consequences of this work

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A new secret laboratory at Los Alamos and working with Oppenheimer
Edward Teller Scientist
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By that time, it was the summer of 1942 and Oppenheimer invited a number of people, Felix Bloch, Hans Bethe, a few of his students, Serber, Frinkel, myself, and on my recommendation, Konopinski, to discuss matters. And there, in our conference in Berkeley, I had an opportunity to propose a hydrogen bomb, the design that we had at that time. We had a thorough and long discussion. It was obviously of general interest. In the middle of it, Oppenheimer left for a conference with the head of the Chicago group, with Compton. He reported on what we were doing and what he has said, that is in the record- There are novel possibilities. Even when we have the nuclear explosive, it will not be a simple matter. A major theoretical effort and a major practical effort will be needed. We need a new and separate laboratory to do all this. And this was to be set up at the very secret, remote place at Los Alamos. There was a boys school there that was bought. It was taken over by the Army. And, beginning of '43, we were to start an effort there to make whatever, an atomic bomb, or more. I had some difficulties.

The late Hungarian-American physicist Edward Teller helped to develop the atomic bomb and provided the theoretical framework for the hydrogen bomb. During his long and sometimes controversial career he was a staunch advocate of nuclear power and also of a strong defence policy, calling for the development of advanced thermonuclear weapons.

Listeners: John H. Nuckolls

John H. Nuckolls was Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1988 to 1994. He joined the Laboratory in 1955, 3 years after its establishment, with a masters degree in physics from Columbia. He rose to become the Laboratory's Associate Director for Physics before his appointment as Director in 1988.

Nuckolls, a laser fusion and nuclear weapons physicist, helped pioneer the use of computers to understand and simulate physics phenomena at extremes of temperature, density and short time scales. He is internationally recognised for his work in the development and control of nuclear explosions and as a pioneer in the development of laser fusion.

Duration: 2 minutes, 49 seconds

Date story recorded: June 1996

Date story went live: 24 January 2008