Talk:Edward Teller

Development

What remains to be done with this article? It seems quite developed to me. Russell D. Jones 01:15, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

One note: it was less that the third-generation weapons and X-ray lasers were impractical, as that treaties, such as demilitarization of space, prevented any testing. --Howard C. Berkowitz 02:05, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, but that didn't matter to Teller. But Brown and May make no reference about the political infeasibility, only that it was "technically unworkable." Russell D. Jones 02:31, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Thus Brown and May don't really know if it was technically unworkable or not. You can't find out if an X-ray laser works without a nuclear explosion in space. --Howard C. Berkowitz 03:19, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Approval?

[Text copied from discussion page of Paul Wormer]:

Paul, what is lacking with Edward Teller that we would prevent it from being approved? Russell D. Jones 01:11, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Not much, maybe a few more references? On the other hand, as I stated several times on the Forum, once it is approved, it is hard to change it. And who knows, you or I may read something interesting in the future that then will be hard to add. --Paul Wormer 13:09, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Another thing: WP has a section about Teller and the Israel A- and H-bombs. Teller doesn't say anything about this in his Memoirs. The WP section is based on one book only (that I haven't seen and I don't know its trustworthiness). Since the fact whether or not Israel possesses nuclear weapons is formally top-secret, I decided not to chase after that book and to skip the topic altogether. Any opinion anyone? --Paul Wormer 14:04, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

As time permits in the next few days, I'll try to get more on the Israeli nuclear program and Teller, although the best use of time may simply be wikilink Israeli nuclear program and explore Teller's role there. Anyone have Mordechai Vanunu's or Avner Cohen's books at hand?

I can add some text about how Teller definitely was involved in establishing the United States intelligence community assumptions about the Israeli program. He contended that they would never do a full test, since that would be detectable and obviously end their policy of "strategic ambiguity".--Howard C. Berkowitz 18:08, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Article organization

Right now, the "Biography" heading is superfluous, because there are no other headings at the same level. Either it could go and the subordinate headings promoted, or there could be major headings along the lines of "Scientific contributions" and "Policy involvement". --Howard C. Berkowitz 18:15, 31 January 2010 (UTC)