Anybody who watched Carl Sagan's PBS series Cosmos probably became inspired to pursue a career in science or, at the very least, began to have a new appreciation for scientific inquiry, if they didn't already. He was a beloved figure in the scientific community, but unfortunately passed away at the age of 62 due to complications from bone marrow cancer.
There is one person, however, who had such enmity toward Carl Sagan, that, even after his death, continued to criticize him. That person is dubbed "the father of the hydrogen bomb" Edward Teller. But what was the reason for this vitriolic contempt against Sagan? Well, it was mainly because of their disagreement over thermonuclear weapons.
On one side, Teller had been a stalwart champion of nuclear weapons proliferation, opposing any bans to nuclear testing and supporting the Strategic Defense Initiative.
On the other, Sagan staunchly fought against nuclear weapons proliferation. He used his reputation to prove that nuclear warfare is a lose-lose scenario, supporting a study, conducted by his former students, which showed that such a situation would bring about a catastrophic global climate change and mass famine, apart from the destruction to the environment and human casualties.
Perhaps, as Sagan put it in his book The Demon-Haunted World, the reason why Teller has been such a strong advocate for nuclear weapons proliferation was simply to justify the hydrogen bomb. Scientific advancements, inventions, and technology are, in themselves, neutral. It's how we use them that matters.
Still, however, we can't ignore the massive potential for destruction that nuclear weapons possess. Though they may be used as a defensive measure for, say, a huge asteroid on a collision course with Earth, the risk of having them in the wrong hands just far outweighs the benefits they bring.
(Image credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel/Wikimedia Commons)