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Theodore Hall

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Spy

The Resume

    (October 20, 1925-November 1, 1999)
    Born in Far Rockaway, New York
    Bith name was Theodore Alvin Holtzberg
    Worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of the Manhattan Project
    Provided details of the 'Fat Man' atomic bomb, processes for purifying plutonium and theories of implosion to Soviet intelligence
    Died of kidney cancer and Parkinson's disease in Cambridge, England at age 74

Why he might be annoying:

    His family changed their last name to avoid anti-Semitism.
    During high school he became a Communist sympathizer.
    Wanting just to inform the Soviets of the existence of the A-bomb project, he ended up giving away vital atomic secrets.
    The F.B.I. questioned him in 1951 but released him without charge.
    Believing U.S. government agencies would eventually discover his spy role, he permanently moved to England in 1962.
    In 1995, the National Security Agency released a decrypted November 1944 message naming 'Teodor Kholl' as a Soviet informant.
    Because all the people that could ID him as a spy were dead, the U.S. government decided they couldn't win a case against him and declined to prosecute.
    Klaus Fuchs ended up serving prison time, taking the brunt of the blame for the same activities he carried out.
    For this he was nicknamed 'The Spy Who Got Away With It.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He grew up in poverty during the Great Depression.
    His brilliant scientific mind allowed him to enroll as a junior with Harvard at the age of 16.
    At age 18, he became the youngest scientist ever employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
    He reasoned that the Soviets were allies of the U.S. during World War II and an 'American monopoly on nuclear weapons was dangerous and should be avoided.'
    Having second thoughts when he learned of the brutality of the Soviet government, he stated, 'I think my emotional revulsion against Stalin's terror would have stopped me in my tracks. Simple as that.'
    At Cambridge University he was recognized globally for his work with electron microscopes in biological X-ray microanalysis.
    Speaking about how his actions changed how history played out he stated, 'Maybe the course of history, if unchanged, could have led to atomic war in the past 50 years -- for example the bomb might have been dropped on China in 1949 or the early 1950's. Well, if I helped to prevent that, I accept the charge.'

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 134 Votes: 64.93% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 33 Votes: 90.91% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 21 Votes: 47.62% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 120 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 23 Votes: 52.17% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 20 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 54 Votes: 79.63% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 61 Votes: 75.41% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 49 Votes: 67.35% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 73 Votes: 69.86% Annoying