Inventions and Inventors Volume 1 - Online Public Access Catalog

416 / Hydrogen bomb
Teller knew that the availability of H-bombs on both sides was
not enough to guarantee that such weapons would never be used. It
was also necessary to make the Soviet Union aware of the existence
of the bombs through testing. He consistently advised against U.S.
participation with the Soviet Union in a moratorium (period of
waiting) on nuclear weapons testing. Largely based on Teller’s urging
that underground testing be continued, the United States rejected
a total moratorium in favor of the 1963 Atmospheric Test Ban
Treaty.
During the 1980’s, Teller, among others, convinced President
Reagan to embrace the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Teller argued
that SDI components, such as the space-based “Excalibur,” a
nuclear bomb-powered X-ray laser weapon proposed by the Lawrence-Livermore
National Laboratory, would make thermonuclear
war not unimaginable, but theoretically impossible.
See also Airplane; Atomic bomb; Cruise missile; Rocket; Stealth
aircraft; V-2 rocket.
Further Reading
Blumberg, Stanley A., and Louis G. Panos. Edward Teller, Giant of the
Golden Age of Physics: A Biography. New York: Scribner’s, 1990.
Clash, James M. “Teller Tells It.” Forbes (May 17, 1999).
Teller, Edward, Wendy Teller, and Wilson Talley. Conversations on the
Dark Secrets of Physics. New York: Plenum Press, 1991.
York, Herbert E. The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb.
Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1989.