The Resume

(January 15, 1908-September 9, 2003)
Born in Budapest, Hungary
Nuclear physicist
Called the 'father of the hydrogen bomb'
Advocate of the Strategic Defense Initiative ('Star Wars')
Alleged inspiration for Dr. Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick's film

Why he might be annoying:

He did not speak until age four.
He annoyed his neighbors on the Manhattan Project by playing piano late into the night.
He was the only Manhattan Project scientist to testify that Robert Oppenheimer was a security risk.
He feuded with mathematician Stanislaw Ulam over their contributions to the development of the hydrogen bomb.
He lobbied against the ban on above-ground nuclear weapons tests.
He advocated using hydrogen bombs to dig a mile-long harbor in Alaska.
Nobel Prize winning physicist I.I. Rabi said, 'It would have been a better world without Teller. I think he is an enemy of humanity.'
After he suffered a stroke, a nurse testing his lucidity asked, 'Are you the famous Edward Teller?' He replied, 'No, I am the infamous Edward Teller.'

Why he might not be annoying:

As a student, his foot was severed in a streetcar accident, requiring him to wear a prosthetic and leaving him with a permanent limp.
His experiences growing up in Hungary left him a life-long foe of both fascism and communism.
He was married to Augusta Maria Harkanyi for 66 years until her death.
He helped found the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1952).
He suffered a heart attack while lobbying in favor of nuclear energy following the Three Mile Island incident and quipped that he was the only victim of the accident.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2003).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• Amputees
• An Asteroid was Named in My Honor (Ranked: 5006)
• Born on Martin Luther King's Birthday [January 15th] (Ranked: 1908)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 17]
• Cold War Participants
• Dick Cavett Show Guests
• Hungary for a Bagel [Hungarian Jews]
• I Died in 2003 (Ranked: 95)
• I Had a Stroke [Cerebral Vascular Accident]
• I Have Bell's Palsy
• Look at Me, I'm Using a Cane or Crutches
• Males Pied [K-Z]
• Manhattan Project
• Playboy Interview Subjects [1970s] (Ranked: 1979)
• Profiles 24501-24750 (Ranked: 24679)
• Scientists
• U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 20030903)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 23 Votes: 52.17% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 25 Votes: 56.00% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 39 Votes: 51.28% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 51 Votes: 47.06% Annoying