The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation announced Monday that it will make a grant of $1 million to establish an endowed professorship at UC Davis in honor of Edward Teller, an extraordinary 20th-century scientist who has influenced world history for 60 years. Teller, a central figure in the development of quantum mechanics, the building of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, and the rise of nuclear power, was surprised with the announcement. The Hertz Foundation board of directors established the endowment without his knowledge. The professorship will be held by the chair of the UC Davis Department of Applied Science--a position first held by Teller, who established the department in 1963. Earnings on the invested gift will support the chair's teaching, research and administrative work. "Edward Teller's genius has produced monumental contributions to physics. This professorship constitutes an honor that will, above all else and in perpetuity, remind us of that genius and those contributions," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. Teller was a friend of John Hertz, who came to America from Austria as a virtually penniless boy and who founded such well-known companies as Yellow Cab and Hertz Rent-A-Car before his death in 1961. Teller urged Hertz to orient his foundation to support education in the applied sciences, out of a shared conviction that this was essential to bridging the gap between theoretical research and work-a-day engineering--and to maintaining national security. "John Hertz would be very pleased with this endowment," said foundation board chair Greg Canavan, a senior scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "He really thought education in the applied physical sciences was key to progress and security, and that the key to such education was finding and supporting good people so they could get through school quickly and begin to contribute while they were most inventive." Richard Freeman, physicist and current chair of applied science, will be the first Edward Teller Professor. "Richard Freeman's international acclaim in laser physics clearly warrants this recognition," said Alan Laub, dean of the College of Engineering, where the applied science department resides. "The department is changing its mission, as a reflection of the changing mission of the national laboratories, and he has guided it deftly through an unusual set of challenges."