Theodore B. Taylor, 1925-2004

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: George Dyson <gdyson () ias edu>
Date: November 1, 2004 7:16:25 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Theodore B. Taylor, 1925-2004

[FYI, perhaps for IP?]

Theodore B. Taylor, 1925-2004

Thirty-one years ago, The New Yorker published a profile of nuclear 
weapon designer Ted Taylor, written by John McPhee. Published in book 
form as "The Curve of Binding Energy," this was the first time the 
prospect of nuclear terrorism was raised publicly as a genuine concern. 
“The use of small numbers of covertly-delivered nuclear explosives by 
groups of people that are not clearly identified with a national 
government is more probable, in the near future, than the open use of 
nuclear weapons by a nation for military purposes,” Ted had warned 
privately in 1966, adding that retaliation offered no protection 
against subnational groups or “an extremist group of U.S. citizens who 
believe they are trying to save the U.S.” Thanks to John McPhee's help 
in raising the alarm, and the work of countless individuals and 
government officials  (including Ted's own work with the IAEA in 
Vienna) we have not yet faced the tragedy that Ted Taylor feared.

Ted Taylor died in Bath, New York, on October 28, after a long battle 
to regain his capacities after a series of strokes. Freeman Dyson, his 
friend, colleague, and fellow patent-holder (on the TRIGA inherently 
safe reactor) wrote the following on October 29:

----------

   Theodore B. Taylor was born in Mexico City on July 11, 1925.  He 
always retained warm feelings toward Mexico and its people.   He 
studied physics at Caltech, UC Berkeley and Cornell University.  He 
worked as a bomb designer in the Theoretical Division of the Los Alamos 
National Laboratory from 1948 to 1956.   He was famous in the community 
of bomb experts as the most creative and imaginative of the designers.  
His bomb designs were the smallest, the most elegant and the most 
efficient. He was able to draw his designs freehand, without elaborate 
calculations. When they were built and tested, they worked.  Many of 
them went into the stockpile of our tactical nuclear weapons, intended 
for use by the army to stop a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.   At 
that time he believed sincerely that his bombs were helping to keep the 
peace and prevent World War Three.

   In 1956 Taylor left Los Alamos and joined the newly founded company 
General Atomic in San Diego to work on peaceful applications of nuclear 
energy.   He helped to design the TRIGA reactor, which is mainly used 
to produce short-lived isotopes for medical diagnosis in hospitals.  
The reactor was designed to be inherently safe and was a commercial 
success. About seventy-five TRIGA reactors were sold.   In 1957, in 
response to the Soviet launch of the first Sputnik, Taylor started at 
General Atomic a project to design a space-ship propelled by a large 
number of nuclear bombs.    The project was called Orion.   Taylor led 
it for six years, from 1958 to 1964.   Taylor had a dream that this 
project would open the skies to humanity and at the same time give us a 
way to reduce the size of our stockpiles.   It would combine the 
exploring of the solar system with unilateral nuclear disarmament.  The 
project was technically promising but politically hopeless.   After the 
Test-Ban Treaty of 1963 made the testing of Orion impossible, the 
project came to an end.  With it died Taylor's dream that nuclear bombs 
could be used for a better purpose than killing people.

   From 1964 to 1966, Taylor was Deputy Director of the Defense Atomic 
Support Agency of the Department of Defense, responsible for the care 
and maintenance of the nuclear stockpile.   During those years he 
became convinced that nuclear weapons were an unconditional evil.  He 
resigned from the government and decided to spend the rest of his life 
as a private citizen, working for complete nuclear disarmament and the 
development of renewable energy resources.   He spent some years at the 
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, helping to establish 
safeguards to protect nuclear materials from diversion to clandestine 
weapons programs.   He founded a private company helping to develop 
renewable energy projects.   He wrote several books concerned with 
nuclear proliferation and renewable energy.   Toward the end of his 
life he became an anti-nuclear activist, opposing all forms of nuclear 
energy and taking part in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

   Taylor was one of the great men of our time, gifted as a scientist, 
as an administrator and as a human being.  It was his fate to succeed 
brilliantly as the creator of bombs that he came to despise, and to 
fail in his efforts either to use the bombs for a good purpose or to 
kill the monster that he had helped to grow.  He felt deeply the 
tragedy of his destiny, but he never lost his sense of humor and his 
determination to do whatever he could to make the best of a bad 
situation.

--------

Ted Taylor was a larger-than-life character who drew Freeman Dyson out 
of his office in New Jersey to go build a spaceship in the California 
sun. While trying to piece together the rest of that story 40 years 
later, I happened to be interviewing Ted when news came in of the first 
Pakistani nuclear weapons test. From the cryptic news reports that 
appeared during the course of the afternoon and evening, Ted quickly 
figured out, in astonishing detail, what exactly had been done (and 
what might be done next). I also interviewed a good number of 
unreformed weaponeers, people who had worked with Ted at Los Alamos or 
at the Pentagon but had stayed on the other side of the unilateral 
disarmament fence. No matter how strongly they disagreed with Ted's 
position, they had only the highest respect for Ted.

Ted Taylor devoted his life to sending the rest of us an unforgettable 
message, backed by his own actions, about the really big issues of our 
time: nuclear weapons, space travel, energy conservation, appropriate 
technology, how to reunite humanity toward common goals. Despite his 
grand ambitions, he always remained down to earth in his approach. “He 
didn’t play big shot," remembers his Project Orion colleague Jaromir 
Astl. "He played one of the guys."

Ted's final words to me, when I last spoke to him on the phone:

"I am searching for the truth as long as I can."


George Dyson

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