Early life and work Edward Teller
teller in youth
teller left hungary in 1926, partly due discriminatory numerus clausus rule under miklós horthy s regime. political climate , revolutions in hungary during youth instilled lingering animosity both communism , fascism in teller. when young student, right foot severed in streetcar accident in munich, requiring him wear prosthetic foot, , leaving him lifelong limp. werner heisenberg said hardiness of teller s spirit, rather stoicism, allowed him cope accident.
teller graduated in chemical engineering @ university of karlsruhe, , received ph.d. in physics under werner heisenberg @ university of leipzig. teller s dissertation dealt 1 of first accurate quantum mechanical treatments of hydrogen molecular ion. in 1930 befriended russian physicists george gamow , lev landau. teller s lifelong friendship czech physicist, george placzek, important scientific , philosophical development. placzek arranged summer stay in rome enrico fermi in 1932, orienting teller s scientific career in nuclear physics.
in 1930, teller moved university of göttingen, 1 of world s great centers of physics due presence of max born , james franck, after adolf hitler became chancellor of germany in january 1933, germany became unsafe jewish people, , left through aid of international rescue committee. went briefly england, , moved year copenhagen, worked under niels bohr. in february 1934, married long-time girlfriend augusta maria mici (pronounced mitzi ) harkanyi, sister of friend. returned england in september 1934.
mici had been student in pittsburgh, , wanted return united states. chance came in 1935, when, george gamow, teller invited united states become professor of physics @ george washington university, worked gamow until 1941. @ george washington university in 1937, teller predicted jahn–teller effect, distorts molecules in situations; affects chemical reactions of metals, , in particular coloration of metallic dyes. teller , hermann arthur jahn analyzed piece of purely mathematical physics. in collaboration stephen brunauer , paul hugh emmett, teller made important contribution surface physics , chemistry: so-called brunauer–emmett–teller (bet) isotherm. teller , mici became naturalized citizens of united states on march 6, 1941.
when world war ii began, teller wanted contribute war effort. on advice of well-known caltech aerodynamicist , fellow hungarian émigré theodore von kármán, teller collaborated friend hans bethe in developing theory of shock-wave propagation. in later years, explanation of behavior of gas behind such wave proved valuable scientists studying missile re-entry.
Comments
Post a Comment