Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is founded. One of its key founders was Edward Teller, who strongly supported a nuclear weapons development laboratory independent of Los Alamos, where he disagreed with Oppenheimer and other scientists. Edward Teller founded Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, LLNL) and proceeded to position the laboratory for national security significance. In addition to being the driving force behind the successful testing of the first hydrogen bomb, he advanced the concept of the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which ultimately led to the prototype warhead for the Polaris SLBM. Edward Teller’s tenure as director of LLNL lasted from 1958 to the mid-1960s. In 1998, he said, “The Laboratory is the only thing in my life I’m completely happy with,” and cited three specific contributions of great significance: the introduction of large-scale computers into scientific endeavors and the laboratories’ leadership in that area; the development of nuclear weapons that could be launched from submarines; and work on strategic defense, which he and others believe led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
