Jewish scientists and the Hydrogen bomb and SDI Military history of Jewish Americans

the teller–ulam design named inventors , creators edward teller (1908–2003) , stanislaw ulam. teller born in budapest, austria-hungary jewish family. left hungary in 1926 partly due antisemitic numerus clausus rule under horthy s regime. became physicist, , later known father of hydrogen bomb, though did not care title.

edward teller lobbied strategic defense initiative president ronald reagan in 1980s, , succeeded in convincing him of need.

teller emigrated united states in 1930s, , member of manhattan project charged developing first atomic bombs. during time made serious push develop first fusion-based weapons well, these deferred until after world war ii. after controversial testimony in security clearance hearing of former los alamos colleague j. robert oppenheimer, teller ostracized of scientific community. continued find support u.s. government , military research establishment, particularly advocacy nuclear energy development, strong nuclear arsenal, , vigorous nuclear testing program. co-founder of lawrence livermore national laboratory (llnl), , both director , associate director many years.

in 1980s, teller began strong campaign later called strategic defense initiative (sdi), derided critics star wars, concept of using ground , satellite-based lasers, particle beams , missiles destroy incoming soviet icbms. teller lobbied government agencies—and got sanction of president ronald reagan—for plan develop system using elaborate satellites used atomic weapons fire x-ray lasers @ incoming missiles— part of broader scientific research program defenses against nuclear weapons. teller s own comments on role of lasers in sdi, disclosed in live panel discussions, published, , available, in 2 laser conference proceedings.

the strategic defense initiative created u.s. president ronald reagan on march 23, 1983 use ground , space-based systems protect united states attack strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. supporters of sdi claimed helped contribute fall of soviet union so-called strategy of technology, prevalent doctrine @ time. while sdi source of disagreement between united states , soviet union summit led intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, have claimed outgrowth of ussr s mikhail gorbachev s fear of sdi. in 1991 president george h. w. bush shifted focus of sdi defense of north america against large scale strikes system focusing on theater missile defense called global protection against limited strikes (gpals). in 1993 president bill clinton changed name ballistic missile defense organization (bmdo) , emphasis shifted theater missile defense , global regional coverage. bmdo renamed missile defense agency in 2002.

stanislaw ulam

stanislaw marcin ulam (1909–1984) american mathematician of polish jewish origin, participated in manhattan project , originated teller–ulam design of thermonuclear weapons. invented nuclear pulse propulsion , developed number of mathematical tools in number theory, set theory, ergodic theory , algebraic topology. ulam born in lwów galicia wealthy polish-jewish banking , timber-processing family part of large jewish minority population of city. lwów (now lviv, ukraine) in austro-hungarian empire; 1918 until 1939 in second polish republic.