Edward Teller Quotes
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The scientist is not responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job to find out how these laws operate. It is the scientist's job to find the ways in which these laws can serve the human will. However, it is not the scientist's job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb should be constructed, whether it should be used, or how it should be used. This responsibility rests with the American people and with their chosen representatives.
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No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect.
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Today, nothing is unusual about a scientific discovery's being followed soon after by a technical application: The discovery of electrons led to electronics; fission led to nuclear energy. But before the 1880's, science played almost no role in the advances of technology. For example, James Watt developed the first efficient steam engine long before science established the equivalence between mechanical heat and energy.
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My experience has been in a short 77 years that in the end when you fight for a desperate cause and have good reasons to fight, you usually win.
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When Columbus took off, the purpose was to improve trade relations with China. That problem has not been solved to this very day, but just look at the by-products.
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I think that intellectuals who end up in hell will have to read page proofs and check indexes there.
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Really exotic methods of propulsion . . . will have to be devised to get there. How it will be done, I do not know. Whether it will be done, I am not quite certain. But I would bet it can be done.
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I believe in excellence. It is a basic need of every human soul. All of us can be excellent, because, fortunately, we are exceedingly diverse in our ambitions and talents.
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It is often claimed that knowledge multiplies so rapidly that nobody can follow it. I believe this is incorrect. At least in science it is not true. The main purpose of science is simplicity and as we understand more things, everything is becoming simpler. This, of course, goes contrary to what everyone accepts.
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Today's science is tomorrow's technology.
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If there ever was a misnomer, it is "exact science." Science has always been full of mistakes. The present day is no exception. And our mistakes are good mistakes; they require a genius to correct. Of course, we do not see our own mistakes.
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When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.
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In our educational institutions applied science may almost be described as a "no-man's land."
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There is no case where ignorance should be preferred to knowledge - especially if the knowledge is terrible.
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The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.
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U.S. has lost a battle more important and greater than Pearl Harbor.
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I tried to contribute to the defeat of the Soviets. If I contributed 1%, it is 1% of something enormous.
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I believe in good. It is an ephemeral and elusive quality. It is the center of my beliefs, but it cannot be strengthened by talking about it.
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The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy; the best weapon of a democracy is openness.
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A state-of-the-art calculation requires 100 hours of CPU time on the state-of-the-art computer, independent of the decade.
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Two paradoxes are better than one they may even suggest a solution.
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The eyes of childhood are magnifying lenses.
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If anyone wants a hole in the ground, nuclear explosives can make big holes
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No, I'm the infamous Edward Teller.
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When you're certain you cannot be fooled, you become easy to fool.
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Physics is, hopefully, simple. Physicists are not.
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I claim that relativity and the rest of modern physics is not complicated. It can be explained very simply. It is only unusual or, put another way, it is contrary to common sense.
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Knowing he [Bob Serber] was going to the [first atom bomb] test, I asked him how he planned to deal with the danger of rattlesnakes. He said, 'I'll take along a bottle of whiskey.' … I ended by asking, 'What would you do about those possibilities [of what unknown phenomena might cause a nuclear explosion to propagate in the atmosphere]?' Bob replied, 'Take a second bottle of whiskey.'
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Society's emissions of carbon dioxide may or may not turn out to have something significant to do with global warming-the jury is still out.
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[Chemistry] laboratory work was my first challenge. ... I still carry the scars of my first discovery-that test-tubes are fragile.
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