An extraordinary group of scientists in the last century included the aerodynamicist Theodor van Kármán, the physicists Leo Szilard, Eugene P. Wigner, Edward Teller, and the mathematician John von Neumann. These Jewish-Hungarians first left Hungary for Germany, then were forced out of Europe, and in the United States they became instrumental in the defense of the Free World during World War II and the Cold War. The lessons of their lives and oeuvres will be discussed with emphasis on the most controversial person Edward Teller, known also as "the father of the hydrogen bomb."

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