The explosion of a Soviet atomic device in 1949, in fact, gave major impetus to the US hydrogen bomb project. A decision on whether to proceed with a thermonuclear bomb required the US to push the envelope of nuclear technology while memory of the atomic bomb attacks that ended World War II was still fresh.

Why was the H bomb important?

The United States detonates the world's first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the United States a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.

When was the H bomb created?

In an operation code-named Mike, the first thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb) was detonated at Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands, November 1, 1952. Edward Teller, Stanislaw M. Ulam, and other American scientists developed the first hydrogen bomb, which was tested at Enewetak atoll on November 1, 1952.