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Nuclear Weapons of the Atomic Ageforms of cancer in the following years caused by radiation exposure.The SuperNuclear weapons derive their power either from nuclear fission (splitting) reactions or from nuclear fusion reactions. The world%u2019s first nuclear test, the two bombs used in Japan, and those bombs tested over the next several years were all fission weapons. Even before the first atomic bomb was built, there were discussions at Los Alamos of a much more powerful device which was referred to as the %u201cSuper.\would rely on fusion%u2014the fusing together of atoms. Thus, it was also called a fusion bomb, or a hydrogen bomb, because it fused together hydrogen molecules. It was also referred to as a thermonuclear weapon because it produced higher temperatures. The early calculations revealed that a Super would need an atomic bomb as a trigger, but both were still theoretical devices that had yet to be developed.After the war, a secret scientific conference was held at Los Alamos to determine if it was even possible to build a Super. Most participants concluded that it was feasible, but others had their doubts. A great many of the scientists had been shocked at how devastating atomic bombs were, and they had no desire to work on a weapon that was hundreds of times more destructive. So, as work at Los Alamos slowed, two-thirds of the scientists returned to their previous jobs at universities and laboratories.When Russia exploded its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949, American analysts were caught off guard. Soon, there was an intense debate within the U.S. government, the military, and among scientists, as to whether it was now time to proceed with the much-more-powerful Super%u2014before the Russians built one. On January 31, 1950, President Harry Truman decided the United States would proceed with the development of such a bomb.Less than three years later, on November 1, 1952, America conducted a test of the world%u2019s first Super bomb, which was detonated at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The Soviet Union tested its first hydrogen bomb just over 8 months after the U.S., on August 12, 1953. The United Kingdom followed in 1957, with China in 1967, and France in 1968. Other countries that had, or may have had hydrogen bombs included India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. South Africa produced six of them in the 1980s, but they were dismantled in the early 1990s.The ScientistsThere were literally hundreds of scientists involved in the development of nuclear weapons. Most notable was J. Robert Oppenheimer, who headed Los Alamos during the war years. As a young prodigy, Oppenheimer was invited to lecture at the New York Mineralogical Club when only twelve-years-old. Later, he graduated from The world%u2019s first hydrogen bomb, Mike, was strictly experimental, and not a deliverable weapon. It stood over 20 ft. high, weighed more than 140,000 lbs., and required an additional 24,000 lbs. in refrigeration equipment. It could not have been dropped from the largest airplane.