1908- . Hungarian-born US physicist known as
the father of the hydrogen bomb, which he
worked upon, after taking part in the atom
bomb project, at the Los Alamos research
centre, New Mexico 1946-52. He was a key
witness against his colleague, Robert
Oppenheimer at the security hearings in 1954.
He was widely believed to be the model for
the leading character in Stanley Kubrick's
1964 film Dr Strangelove. More recently he
has been one of the leading supporters of the
Star Wars programme (Strategic Defense
Initiative).