Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics

One of the great scientists of the 20th century recounts a brilliant life spanning 10 decades in his simply titled autobiography, Memoirs. Edward Teller came to the United States from Hungary in 1935 and found a place for himself at the thorny intersection of science and politics: he was deeply involved in the decision to build a hydrogen bomb during the Second World War as well as the push for missile defenses during the 1980s. His most controversial act may have been his small role in the ordeal of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who lost security clearance due to suspicious affiliations with Communist organizations. Teller says he disagreed with many of his colleague's views, but did not consider him a traitor. He also expresses remorse that his own congressional testimony was used against Oppenheimer: "I proved not only that stupidity is a general human property but that I possessed a full share of it." The bulk of Memoirs concentrates on events during the 1940s and 1950s, though Teller's influence on President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative receives plenty of attention too. –John Miller

From Publishers Weekly
Teller's isn't a household name today, but in the 1950s he was dubbed "the father of the hydrogen bomb." Born in Hungary in 1908, Teller was educated in Germany, where he worked with some of the century's great scientists prior to the Nazi takeover. After arriving in the United States in 1935, he collaborated with other distinguished ‚migr‚s, such as Enrico Fermi and fellow Hungarian John von Neumann; he was one of the first scientists dispatched to Los Alamos, where he worked on the theoretical aspects of atom bomb design. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki came troubling years: Teller encountered great opposition to future nuclear research from the scientific community and found former friends unwilling to shake his hand after he testified against J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer's 1954 security review. Later, Teller went on to establish the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories as a center for ground-breaking research in many fields, and in the late 1950s became a scientific consultant to Nelson Rockefeller. As is often the case with memoirs, time is relative: the years in the book's last half move much more quickly than those in the first. This is unfortunate, since Teller's work on safe proliferation of nuclear energy, the so-called Stars Wars defense system and the early detection of earth-crossing objects is almost as important as his work during the first part of his career. While waiting for a future biographer to give the latter years their proper due, readers can enjoy these panoramic and beautifully written recollections of one of the great scientific, if controversial, figures of all time.