Editing Edward Teller (section)

===Los Alamos Laboratory===
In 1942, Teller was invited to be part of [[Robert Oppenheimer]]'s summer planning seminar at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], on the origins of the [[Manhattan Project]], the US effort to develop the first [[nuclear weapon]]s. A few weeks earlier, Teller had been meeting with his friend and colleague [[Enrico Fermi]] about the prospects of [[Nuclear warfare|atomic warfare]], and Fermi had nonchalantly suggested that perhaps a weapon based on [[nuclear fission]] could be used to set off an even larger [[nuclear fusion]] reaction. Even though he initially explained to Fermi why he thought the idea would not work, Teller was fascinated by the possibility and was quickly bored with the idea of "just" an atomic bomb even though this was not yet anywhere near completion. At the Berkeley session, Teller diverted discussion from the fission weapon to the possibility of a fusion weapon—what he called the "Super", an early conception of the [[hydrogen bomb]].{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=63–67}}{{sfn|Rhodes|1986|pp=415–420}}

[[Arthur Compton]], the chairman of the [[University of Chicago]] physics department, coordinated the [[uranium]] research of [[Columbia University]], [[Princeton University]], the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. To remove disagreement and duplication, Compton transferred the scientists to the [[Metallurgical Laboratory]] at Chicago.{{sfn|Rhodes|1986|pp=399–400}} Even though Teller and Mici were now American citizens, they had relatives in enemy countries, so Teller did not at first go to Chicago.{{sfn|Teller|Shoolery|2001|p=158}} In early 1943, construction of the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]] in New Mexico began.  With Oppenheimer as its director, the laboratory's purpose was to design an [[atomic bomb]]. Teller moved there in March 1943.{{sfn|Teller|Shoolery|2001|pp=163–165}} In Los Alamos, he annoyed his neighbors by playing piano late at night.<ref name=StanfordDeath />

Teller became part of the Theoretical (T) Division.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=76–77}}{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=85–87}} He was given a secret identity of Ed Tilden.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=95}} He was irked at being passed over as its head; the job was instead given to [[Hans Bethe]]. Oppenheimer had him investigate unusual approaches to building fission weapons, such as [[autocatalysis]], in which the efficiency of the bomb would increase as the [[nuclear chain reaction]] progressed, but proved to be impractical.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=85–87}} He also investigated using [[uranium hydride]] instead of uranium metal, but its efficiency turned out to be "negligible or less".{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=181}} He continued to push his ideas for a fusion weapon even though it had been put on a low priority during the war (as the creation of a fission weapon proved to be difficult enough).{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=76–77}}{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=85–87}} On a visit to New York, he asked [[Maria Goeppert-Mayer]] to carry out calculations on the Super for him. She confirmed Teller's own results: the Super was not going to work.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=117–118}}

A special group was established under Teller in March 1944 to investigate the mathematics of an [[implosion-type nuclear weapon]].{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=129–130}} It too ran into difficulties. Because of his interest in the Super, Teller did not work as hard on the implosion calculations as Bethe wanted. These too were originally low-priority tasks, but the discovery of spontaneous fission in [[plutonium]] by [[Emilio Segrè]]'s group gave the implosion bomb increased importance. In June 1944, at Bethe's request, Oppenheimer moved Teller out of T Division, and placed him in charge of a special group responsible for the Super, reporting directly to Oppenheimer. He was replaced by [[Rudolf Peierls]] from the [[British contribution to the Manhattan Project|British Mission]], who in turn brought in [[Klaus Fuchs]], who was later revealed to be a [[atomic spies|Soviet spy]].{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=160–162}}{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=117–118}} Teller's Super group became part of Fermi's F Division when he joined the Los Alamos Laboratory in September 1944.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=160–162}} It included [[Stanislaw Ulam]], Jane Roberg, [[Geoffrey Chew]], Harold and Mary Argo,{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=204}} and [[Maria Goeppert Mayer|Maria Goeppert-Mayer]].{{sfn|Dash|1973|pp=296–299}}

Teller made valuable contributions to bomb research, especially in the elucidation of the implosion mechanism. He was the first to propose the [[Pit (nuclear weapon)|solid pit]] design that was eventually successful. This design became known as a "[[Pit (nuclear weapon)#Christy pits|Christy pit]]", after the physicist [[Robert F. Christy]] who made it a reality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/robert-f-christy |publisher=Atomic Heritage Foundation |title=Robert F. Christy |access-date=November 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| publisher=Restricted data blog| last=Wellerstein| first=Alex| title=Christy's Gadget: Reflections on a death| url=http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/10/05/christys-gadget/| access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webofstories.com/play/hans.bethe/94 |title=Hans Bethe 94 – Help from the British, and the 'Christy Gadget' |publisher=Web of Stories |access-date=October 12, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webofstories.com/play/robert.christy/8 |title=Constructing the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb |publisher=Web of Stories |access-date=October 12, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010073928/http://www.webofstories.com/play/robert.christy/8 |archive-date=October 10, 2014 }}</ref> Teller was one of the few scientists to watch (with eye protection) the [[Trinity nuclear test]] in July 1945, rather than follow orders to lie on the ground with backs turned. He later said that the atomic flash "was as if I had pulled open the curtain in a dark room and broad daylight streamed in".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Edward Teller, RIP |url=http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/edward-teller-rip |journal=The New Atlantis |date=Fall 2003 |issue=3 |pages=105–107 |access-date=November 15, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233937/http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/edward-teller-rip |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref>