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Lot #31
Edward Teller

Prescient essay on security by ‘the father of the hydrogen bomb’

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Estimate: $600+
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Description

Prescient essay on security by ‘the father of the hydrogen bomb’

Hungarian-born nuclear physicist (1908–2003) who worked with Fermi on the Manhattan Project and later assumed a leading role in the development of the hydrogen bomb. Scarce handwritten manuscript by Teller, unsigned, eleven pages, 8.5 x 11, no date. Draft of a piece entitled “The deadly secrets.” In part: “Secrecy is security. The two concepts are used in our official documents as though they meant the same thing. In an insecure world we should have some security. But is secrecy security? There is little or no secrecy about our fabulous fast computers. They happen to be important for defense. In this rapidly growing technology we are outpacing all our competitors. In the forties we had a monopoly on nuclear weapons. We guarded it with high security barriers. Yet the monopoly is gone. The Russians are getting ahead of us in the development of the instruments for nuclear weapons.” Teller goes on to trace the history of the development of nuclear weapons, discussing the paradox of openness within the scientific community and names like Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Enrico Fermi, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. In fine condition. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Autographs, Artifacts & Animation
  • Dates: #489 - Ended December 07, 2016





This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
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