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Jewish Scientist Revealed As “father of H-bomb”; Fled Nazis

June 17, 1954
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Dr. Edward Teller, 46-year-old Hungarian refugee of Jewish parentage, was today revealed to be the “father of the H-bomb” with the release of testimony in the case involving Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, head of the United States atomic program during World War II.

Dr. Teller, who was born in Budapest, obtained his higher education in Germany receiving a Doctorate in Philosophy from Leipzig University in 1930 when he was 22 years of age. Within a year he was involved in important research work at Goettingen but in 1933 he was forced to flee the Nazis, going first to Denmark then to London.

Dr. Teller entered the United States in 1935 and accepted a post as Professor of Physics at George Washington University. He received his citizenship papers in 1941. From 1939 on, Dr. Teller was involved in all important atomic research undertaken by the U.S. Government and in 1952 he headed the project at which the hydrogen bomb was developed. He also worked on the project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, where the original atom bomb was developed.

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