Edward Teller (Hungarian: Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb", even though he claimed he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy (the Jahn–Teller and Renner–Teller effects), and surface physics. His extension of Fermi's theory of beta decay (in the form of the so-called Gamow–Teller transitions) provided an important stepping stone in the applications of this theory. The Jahn–Teller effect and the BET theory have retained their original formulation and are still mainstays in physics and chemistry. Teller also made contributions to Thomas–Fermi theory, the precursor of density functional theory, a standard modern tool in the quantum mechanical treatment of complex molecules. In 1953, along with Nicholas Metropolis and Marshall Rosenbluth, Teller co-authored a paper which is a standard starting point for the applications of the Monte Carlo method to statistical mechanics.
Klaus Traube (born 25 February 1928) is a German engineer and former manager in the German nuclear power industry and presently one of its leading opponents. He was the victim of an illegal eavesdropping operation by the BND (the German secret service), because he was falsely suspected of passing on secret information to people sympathizing with terrorism, notably the Red Army Faction.
Traube was born in Hanover, the son of a social democrat Jewish dentist. In 1938, his father committed suicide—he could no longer bear the terror of the National Socialists. Because of his Jewish background, Klaus had to leave the Gymnasium he attended. Towards the end of World War II, at the age of 17, he was briefly put into an Arbeitslager (labor camp).
After the war, despite his bad experiences, Traube stayed in Germany and studied mechanical engineering (Maschinenbau) and romance studies.
Traube started work at the German AEG, where he quickly rose to become director of the department for nuclear power. He then lived abroad for some time (he worked for General Dynamics in San Diego). Traube returned to Germany and became head of Interatom, a component company of the Kraftwerk Union, which was part of the Siemens conglomerate. Among other things he was responsible for the development of the German fast breeder-project in Kalkar.
Michio Kaku (加来 道雄, Kaku Michio?, born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, a co-founder of string field theory, a futurist, and a "communicator" and "popularizer" of science. He has written several books about physics and related topics; he has made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film; and he writes extensive online blogs and articles. He has written two New York Times best sellers, Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011). He has hosted several TV specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery Channel, and the Science Channel.
Kaku was born in San Jose, California to Japanese immigrant parents. His grandfather came to the United States to take part in the clean-up operation after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake[citation needed]. His father was born in California but was educated in Japan and spoke little English. Both his parents were put in the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, where they met and where his two brothers were born.
Arthur W. "Art" Bell, III (born June 17, 1945) is an American broadcaster and author, known primarily as one of the founders and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and formerly hosted its companion show, Dreamland. Semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM since 2003, he hosted the show many weekends for the following four years. He announced his retirement from weekend hosting on July 1, 2007 but occasionally serves as a guest host. He attributed the reason for this latest retirement to a desire to spend time with his new wife and daughter, born May 30, 2007. He added that unlike his previous "retirements," this one will stand, while leaving open the option to return. Classic Bell-hosted episodes of Coast to Coast AM can be heard in some markets on Saturday nights under the name Somewhere in Time.
Bell founded and was the original owner of Pahrump, Nevada-based radio station, KNYE 95.1 FM. His broadcast studio and transmitter were located near his home in Pahrump while he hosted Coast to Coast AM except from June to December 2006, when he lived in the Philippines. He returned to the Philippines March 10, 2009 with his family after having significant difficulties obtaining a U.S. visa for his wife Airyn.
Robert Scott Lazar or Bob Lazar (born January 26, 1959, in Coral Gables, Florida, United States, to Albert Lazar and Phyllis Berliner), has claimed to have worked from 1988 until 1989 as a physicist at an area called S-4 (Sector Four), allegedly located near Groom Lake, Nevada, at the location also known as Area 51. According to Lazar, S-4 served as a hidden military location for the study and possible reverse engineering of extraterrestrial flying saucers. Lazar says he saw nine different discs there and provides details on their mode of propulsion. However, his credibility has come under fire after "schools he was supposed to have attended had no record of him, while others in the scientific community had no memory of ever meeting him."
Lazar claims to hold degrees from the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1993, the Los Angeles Times looked into his background and found there was no evidence to support those claims.Stanton Friedman was only able to verify that Lazar took electronics courses in the late 1970s at Pierce Junior College. The Times did discover that in 1990 Lazar had pled guilty to felony pandering, when he installed a computer system for a local brothel, declared bankruptcy and listed his occupation as self-employed photo processor on documents. A 1991 Times article reported, Lazar was "on probation in Clark County, Nevada, on a pandering charge. His educational and professional background cannot be verified -- a fact he attributes to government deletion of records." However military officials claim Lazar never worked in any of their facilities.