Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Benny Safdie: Edward Teller

Photos 

Quotes 

• Edward Teller : Would the Japanese surrender if they knew what was coming?

• Edward Teller : [after Oppenheimer refuses to back Teller's request for support on getting the government to continue his research on developing the hydrogen bomb]  J. Robert Oppenheimer, sphinx-like guru of the atom. Nobody knows what you believe. Do you?

• J. Robert Oppenheimer : We're building this bomb to end the war, all wars. Once they see what we've done, they'll never fight again.

  Edward Teller : And what if they don't? What if they build a bigger bomb, an even more devastating weapon?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : That's a risk we have to take. The alternative is letting them win this war, and that's a price we cannot afford.

• Niels Bohr : Heisenberg sought me out in Copenhagen. It was chilling, my old student working for the Nazis. He told me some things to draw me out. Sustained fission reactions in uranium.

  Richard Tolman : That sounds more like a reactor than a bomb.

  Edward Teller : Did he mention gaseous diffusion?

  Niels Bohr : He seemed more focused on heavy water.

  Edward Teller : As a moderator?

  Niels Bohr : Yes, instead of graphite.

  [the others celebrate] 

  Niels Bohr : What?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : He took a wrong turn! We're ahead.

• Edward Teller : A British physicist is saying the atomic bombings were not the last act of World War II, but the first act of this cold war with Russia.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Which physicist?

  Edward Teller : I think you knew him. Patrick Blackett.