World-renowned
Hungarian-born physicist Edward Teller died yesterday at age 96 on the
Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California.
Mr.
Teller was born in Hungary in 1908. During his university years, he
moved to Germany then, in 1935, to the U.S., fleeing Hitler. He played
a key role in several national security projects and was instrumental
in the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Mr. Teller also
supported President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative and
President Bush's plans to put in place a National Missile Defense
system.
Mr.
Teller's official recognitions were numerous both at home and
abroad, including the Albert Einstein Award, Hungary's recently
resurrected prestigious Corvinus Chain for lifetime scientific
achievement, and, earlier this year, the U.S. Medal of Freedom that
was presented by President George W. Bush and accepted on Mr. Teller's behalf by his daughter, Wendy. Mr. Teller was elected
honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1991.
Mr.
Teller was the last member of a generation of Hungarian-born
scientists - mostly physicists - which included John von Neumann - in the words, of Mr. Teller, his best friend
- as well as Eugene Wigner, Leo Szilard, and Theodore von Karman. Mr. Teller was a
dedicated cold warrior and applauded the demise of the Communist
regimes in Central and East Europe.
Hungarian
Ambassador Simonyi visited Mr. Teller in his Stanford home on a
February 2003 trip to California. Mr. Teller, sharp as ever, was full
of energy and wit. He followed closely developments in post-Communist
Hungary and was a staunch supporter of Hungary's accession to NATO
and the European Union. A proud Hungarian, he never ceased to praise
the pre-war school system in Hungary that allowed such an
extraordinary number of brilliant scientists, future Nobel-prize
winners among them, to emerge from this small Central European
country.
Despite
his old age, Mr. Teller never stopped working. To his very last day,
he made a point of spending two days a week in the Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory, where he remained a consultant after retiring in 1975. In
February, he talked extensively to his visitors about the new projects
he was working on. Mr. Teller was outspoken on issues ranging from
genetic manipulation (which he supported) and partisanship in
Hungarian politics (which he opposed).
Ever
curious about recent developments in science, he asked for literature
about the biotechnology industry in Hungary. He accepted to serve on
the board of the John von Neumann Memorial Committee, established to
commemorate the life of a man Mr. Teller called the "greatest
mathematician of the 20th century."
Mr.
Teller also expressed his hope that a change in his condition for the
better would allow him to visit Hungary in the near future.
Ambassador
Simonyi remembers Mr. Teller as a man of formidable intellect,
dedicated to the betterment of the human condition and to his native
Hungary. "He was an enormous inspiration for all of us who believe
in freedom and the power of the mind."
The
Ambassador and the Embassy staff would like to express their heartfelt
condolences to Mr. Teller's family and the Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory.
