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Edward Teller receives his Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony last month at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. With him is Shirley Petty of LLNL. Photo by Jacqueline McBride, LLNL

Physicist Edward Teller dies Tuesday in California

Noted physicist and Manhattan Era scientist Edward Teller died Tuesday at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 95. Teller, who came to Los Alamos in the 1940s during the crash program to develop the world's first atomic bomb, had suffered a stroke earlier in September.

Less than two months ago, Teller was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, during a special ceremony presided by President Bush. He also was the driving force behind the creation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where he was its director from 1958-1960.

“We are all deeply saddened by the news of Dr. Teller’s passing,” Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos said Wednesday. “He will be remembered as a colleague, a leader in scientific research and a strong voice for national security. Our hearts and prayers go to the Teller family.”

"The loss of Edward Teller is a great loss for this Laboratory and for the nation," Michael Anastasio, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said in a news release. "He was a passionate advocate for science and the development of Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He put his heart and soul into this Laboratory and into ensuring the security of this nation, and his dedication never foundered."

"Edward Teller was one of the world's leading scientific minds of the 20th century, and he made a major contribution to the security of our nation and world peace," said University of California President Richard Atkinson. "It has been a great honor for the University of California to be identified with him and to have had him as a member of our community and a key leader in the national laboratories."

Teller was born Jan. 15, 1908, to Max Teller, a lawyer, and Ilona Deutsch Teller, an accomplished pianist, in Budapest. Teller graduated in chemical engineering at Karlsruhe, Germany, before studying theoretical physics at Munich and Copenhagen under famed Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Teller earned a doctoral degree in physics from the University of Leipzig in 1930. He came to America in 1935 to teach physics at George Washington University and became a U.S. citizen in 1941.

In 1939, Teller and fellow Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, visited Albert Einstein in Princeton, N.J. Their goal: to persuade the famous scientist to write a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt urging the United States to develop the atomic bomb.

After World War II, Teller left Los Alamos, returning in 1949 as assistant director, a post he held for two years under then Lab director Norris Bradbury. In the early 1950s, Teller was a consultant to the fledgling Livermore Lab.

His efforts were instrumental in creating the Livermore site of what was then called the University of California Radiation Laboratory in 1952. It was Teller who strongly advocated development of the hydrogen bomb and promised and delivered a submarine-launched nuclear weapons system. Teller served as director at Livermore for two years and then as associate director for physics until his formal retirement in 1977.

He taught physics at the University of California, then created and chaired the Department of Applied Science at UC Davis' Livermore site.

In 1975, Teller was named Director Emeritus of Livermore Lab by the University of California, and was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, positions that he held until his death. In the 1980s, Teller served as a determined advocate for the development of a ballistic missile defense system to protect the nation from nuclear attack. These efforts contributed to the end of the Cold War.

Teller has received numerous awards for his contributions to physics, his dedication to education and his public life. He has published more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from energy policy and defense issues, to his own memoirs.

Other honors Teller received were the Albert Einstein Award, the Enrico Fermi Award and the National Medal of Science.

To read the Livermore news release, click here. To view a Quicktime video of Teller from a 1994 visit to Los Alamos, click here.

More information on Teller also can be found at www.llnl.gov online.

Former Laboratory Director Harold Agnew, right, talks with physicist Edward Teller in this 1973 photo. Teller died Tuesday in California. File photo

-- Steve Sandoval

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