Hydrogen bomb (Ivy Mike)
Bomba de hidrógeno (Ivy Mike)
- Date
- 1952 · confidence high
- Place
- Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands (designed at Los Alamos)
- Credited to
- Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam (design); the USSR (Sakharov, 1953-1955)
- People
- 👤 Edward Teller1908–2003👤 Stanisław Ulam1909–1984
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
A thermonuclear weapon that uses a fission bomb to ignite the fusion of hydrogen isotopes, with a thousand times the power. It turned total nuclear war into an existential threat.
What it led to
- The doctrine of mutually assured destruction and the balance of terror
- Arms limitation and nuclear test ban treaties
- Global radioactive fallout and the peace movement
Built on
- Discovery of deuterium1931
- Atomic bomb1945
- supercomputing (Ulam's calculations)