[...]... (here, of course, benefiting from hindsight)? What was the impact of the anti-Semitism they experienced in Hungary, Germany, and even the United States when they arrived there? Looking at such aspects and others might provide some hints to the question that must be on the mind of every reader who is interested in the subject matter of this book: Can we expect the occurrence of another group of Martians. .. genealogy, the circumstances of their growing up, the high schools (gimnáziums) they attended, and the circumstances which made them leave their home country to seek their fortunes elsewhere In 1926, the youngest of them, Edward Teller, left Hungary; he was the last to leave The discussion will extend a little further into the period when the Martians might have considered returning to their home base, in the. .. he—together with thousands of others— carried a special responsibility xxiv Introduction The fourth period was World War II and within it, conspicuously, the creation of the atomic bomb This was the time when their political formation was completed The fifth period was the Cold War, including the development of the hydrogen bomb and, on von Kármán’s part, the creation of the modern U.S Air Force The. .. ostracized in Hungary during the communist era, but all were honored—most posthumously—after the political changes of 1989–1990 The widespread labels attached to most of the Martians warned me to be cautious Von Kármán has been called the Father of Supersonic Flight, and three of the others have been called the father of something In particular, their contributions to the American nuclear program have... applications of symmetry principles to atomic physics Von Neumann was the father of the modern computer and Teller the father of the hydrogen bomb The American hydrogen bomb saved the world from the Soviet threat that might have prevailed had the Soviet Union alone developed the hydrogen bomb This terrible weapon ultimately acted as a deterrent through the possibility of mutual destruction Star Wars, in whose... throughout their lives, regardless of differences in their outlooks on life and politics All were Jewish, suffered from anti-Semitism in Hungary, and found their new home in Germany, but had to leave that country because of the Nazi takeover Regardless of whether they had converted to other religions, they never shied away from their Jewishness They also proudly maintained their Hungarian identity Some of them... Hungarian and the “e” in it is pronounced something like the vowel in “get.” In the Hungarian word vér, meaning blood, the “é” is pronounced something like the vowel in “name.” The peculiarity of the way Hungarian names are written is that the surname comes first and the given name or “first” name comes last It is perhaps one of the characteristics of Hungarian usage showing the Asian relationship of the language... brink of annihilation with his hydrogen bomb program, in which von Neumann and Wigner actively assisted him Star Wars was not only a hoax, it almost led to the bankruptcy of the United States Preface xi Regardless of whether one appreciates or curses the deeds of these scientists, they were extraordinary, and many people have wondered about the secrets of their success and the similarity of their... born within five years of each other However, the lives and activities of von Kármán and the rest of the group show so many similarities that it seems as if von Kármán’s life was merely shifted to begin a couple of decades before the rest Similar ages were the least of what connected the Martians; it was their common interests in science and defense and their networking that made them a group What part... impact on their further careers Although they did not all go to the same gimnázium, and I contend that the gimnázium did not have a decisive impact on their careers, it was an important enough ingredient in their lives to deserve greater scrutiny At the beginning of the twentieth century this form of education encompassed eight years, from the ages of ten to eighteen, so the gimnázium had a profound impact .