Word: konopinski
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...same year, Teller went over his reasoning on this point with Emil Konopinski. They found loopholes. Later, after discussions with Oppenheimer and others, Konopinski suggested that tritium be considered instead of deuterium. "At that time it was a mere guess. It turned out to be an inspired one." These discussions were held at Berkeley, where Oppenheimer had gathered a group of distinguished theoretical physicists. Teller remembers the period wistfully. "The spirit of spontaneity, adventure and surprise of those weeks in Berkeley was never recaptured for me in the many years of hard work in which atomic bombs were developed...
...this point, Konopinski settled for the theorists a question that still bothers laymen who worry about chain reactions destroying the planet. "He proved that a thermonuclear reaction, even if initiated on the earth, could not spread under any circumstances. It was necessary to prove, and he did prove, that the 'super' bomb could not ignite the atmosphere or the ocean...
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