Portal:Nuclear Issues/Quotes

In a speech at the University of Alaska in May 1959, Edward Teller, who was often referred to as the "father of the H-bomb", waxed lyrical about the prospects of using nuclear bombs for "geographical engineering". But first, he cautioned his audience, they would have to overcome "this hysteria about fallout". Teller acknowledged that fallout from "near a nuclear blast which has not been properly controlled" could be "very dangerous", but he had faith that it could be managed. "But fallout, as it occurs dispersed over the world, carefully controlled by the work of many conscientious people, this fallout contributes to radiation less than the wristwatch I am wearing on my wrist". Cited in Dan O'Nei'l's The Firecracker Boys, St Martin's Griffin, November 1995, page 90.