In 1958 Edward Teller, a creator of the hydrogen bomb, suggested using nuclear explosions to dig a harbor near Cape Thompson, Alaska.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The most significant work was done by Eugene Wigner (who came from Hungary), George Gamow (Russia), Felix Bloch (Switzerland), Hans Bethe (Germany), Edward Teller (Hungary), and Victor Weisskopf (Austria).

FORBES: A Veterans Day Story: Immigrants and the Atomic Bomb

Edward Teller felt some sympathy for the politicians who had to decide whether to proceed with these fearsome weapons with no more than the vaguest idea how they worked.

ECONOMIST: Edward Teller

Edward Teller and George Gamow had set up a series of meetings among astronomers and theoretical physicists who shared the goal of exploring the key energy issues of the period.

FORBES: A Veterans Day Story: Immigrants and the Atomic Bomb

Clearly a smart guy in a nation producing lots of math whizzes (from Intel's Andy Grove to the H-bomb's Edward Teller), Simonyi won entry into the Hungarian state university at age 17.

FORBES: The Biggest Damn Opportunity

The physicist Edward Teller estimated that a constellation of satellites providing continuous atmospheric measurements over a one square kilometer grid worldwide, which is currently cost-prohibitive, would only improve long-range forecasts from the current five days to approximately 14 days.

FORBES: Global Warming's Other Big Business Opportunity