EDWARD TELLER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 25020

EDWARD TELLER
This typed letter is signed by the physics professor who was a prominent scientist in the Manhattan Project
Typed Letter signed: Edward Teller"  as Professor of Physics at George Washington University, 1p, 7¼x9¾. Arlington, Virginia, no date. To Mrs. Alvin Johnson, Director, The New School for Social Research, New York City. Pencil note (unknown hand) in upper left: "Thank you for helpful letter." In full: "I understand from Professor Franck that you are interested to find out where Otto Robert Frisch is and what he is doing. The last I heard about him was that he is in Birmingham and has a temporary appointment. I think Professor Bruno Rossi at Cornell University knows more about his present situation and I wrote to him asking to give you any details he might know of. I do not know whether you are interested to hear - what others undoubtedly have told you - that Dr Frisch is one of the best men in his field. He is a very friendly, quiet person whom everybody likes. Sincerely yours." Edward Teller (1908-2003), often referred to as the “Father of the Hydrogen Bomb”, was born in Hungary and educated in Germany before fleeing the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic (fission) bomb, but was already looking forward to the even greater power which might be unleashed by nuclear fusion. Teller influenced U.S. Presidents of both parties with his advocacy of nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and the Strategic Defense Initiative. Teller made headlines in 1954 when he testified that he, personally, did not trust nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer enough to renew his security clearance. As a result of this hearing, Oppenheimer, another one of the pioneering scientists behind nuclear weapons, had his United States security clearance revoked. In his memoirs, Teller observed: "I deeply regret the deaths and injuries that resulted from the atomic bombings, but my best explanation of why I do not regret working on weapons is a question: What if we hadn't?" Austrian-born Otto Frisch (1904-1979), praised by Teller in this letter, was, like Teller, a Jewish refugee fleeing Hitler's persecution. He joined the Manhattan Project after becoming an American citizen in 1943. After World War II, he returned to England, accepting a Chair of Physics at Cambridge University. Lightly creased. Unevenly toned. Nail head sized hole in upper left corner. Otherwise, fine condition.