|
|
Article: One hundred years of technology and change.(Knight Ridder News Service)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- December 21, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb, was stumped.
Asked to name the technological innovation that had the most impact on our lives this century, he uttered one word in his thickly accented English: ``Impossible!''
The venerable physicist was responding to a straw poll conducted by the Mercury News in which we posed that very same question to our readers and to selected experts in science and technology. Teller, the feisty 91-year-old scientist who was a key figure in the development of nuclear weapons, evidently believed our approach was too simplistic.
``To suggest a half-dozen'' ideas, the former director of Lawrence ...