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Physicist Edward Teller wanted to focus their attention on building a fusion bomb.

Such fusion bombs are far more powerful than the atomic bombs that employ nuclear fission, in which atoms are split rather than fused.

But they did find evidence of the 1954 Castle Bravo test, a 15-megaton hydrogen fusion bomb test that obliterated three islands.

“You get a giant fusion bomb, a hydrogen bomb going off on top of this white dwarf star,” Dr. Shara said.

The United States military learned about the power of fusion energy the hard way, when they first tested a fusion bomb on Bikini.