Fusion Bombs Are Right—for the Arms Race
Originally published in March 1950
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“Although fission can be controlled in an orderly way to produce useful power in a reactor, the fusion reaction offers no prospect at the present time of any use except in terms of an explosion. The decision to make the fusion bomb has been taken, and in the world of hotly nationalistic fear and jealousy that we now inhabit, one can suppose that it is the right decision—that is, for the arms race.” [The first fusion bomb was subsequently detonated on November 1, 1952, at Eniwetok Atoll.]
—Scientific American, March 1950
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