New Investigation Shows that Soviets May Have Gotten Hydrogen Bomb Idea From the U.S.

Who: Soviet atomic spies, the authors Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman, the physicist Andrei Sakharov, and nuclear historian Robert S. Norris.

What: A recent investigation shows that the Soviets, who were given credit for the hydrogen bomb, may have stolen the idea for it from Americans. The new book, The Nuclear Express: A Political Express and its Proliferation, by Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman, adds to a growing number of riddles about the invention of the Soviet-H-Bomb, so many years ago. A new theory shows that instead of thinking of the idea for themselves, the Soviets may have sent atomic spies to America, to steal America's scientist's ideas for the hydrogen bomb.

Where: The Soviets, sent atomic spies to the Los Alamos weapons lab in New Mexico.

When: The atomic spies were sent to America in 1955, around the same time they published their idea for the Soviet-H-bomb.

Why: There are several reasons that Soviets may have wanted to steal the idea for the hydrogen bomb from the Americans. Firstly, the original atomic bomb was limited in size and could not pose as much lethal danger or damage as much area as the acclaimed hydrogen bomb would be able to do. In addition, at the time, in 1955, America was the world's monopoly, and the Soviet nations deeply wanted to be back on top, in terms of world power.

* The difference between a hydrogen or a regular uranium bomb is that a hydrogen bomb uses fusion instead of fission to generate the main explosion. The hydrogen bomb is an estimated thousand times more powerful than the average uranium bomb.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/science/30bomb.html?_r=1&ref=science
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