For years the thermonuclear bomb has lain like a half-seen nightmare in the back of the world’s imagination. Scientists have mentioned it with awe in their voices.
Horrifying reports about the first “H-bomb test”—at Eniwetok in the fall of 1952—have spread around the world. Some of the rumors sounded silly, but none except a trusted few could judge how silly they were. Last week New York’s Representative Sterling Cole, chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, announced that the reports were, in fact, true.
Key Figure. Speaking to a Chicago convention of sand, gravel and ready-mixed concrete dealers, Congressman Cole revealed a single, overwhelming fact: “The thermonuclear test of 1952 completely obliterated the test island in the Eniwetok Atoll. It tore a cavity in the floor of the ocean—a crater—measuring a full mile in diameter and 175 ft. in depth at its lowest point.”
Out of this key figure Cole developed a series of awesome corollaries. For the benefit of Chicagoans, he pointed out that such a crater would swallow the whole of downtown Chicago. Within it could be placed “140 structures the size of our nation’s Capitol.” Around it would extend a circle of complete destruction three miles in radius (big enough to cover nearly all of Washington, D.C.). “Severe-to-light” destruction would reach seven miles far ther in every direction.
“In other words,” said Cole, “an area covering 300 square miles would be blanketed by this hydrogen explosion.” The area of Greater New York City is slightly bigger (319.1 sq. mi.), but Cole hinted strongly that hydrogen bombs have grown much better since 1952, and that still more improvement is in prospect. “The 1952 tests,” he said, “did not mark the end of the line in hydrogen research. Terrible secrets still lie undiscovered in the fusion of nuclei. In due course, we can be sure, the ingenuity of man will ferret out these secrets . . .”
Full Fury. Cole left much unsaid. He did not tell, for instance, what happened to the material blown from the great crater. Item: Did radioactive chunks of it sail through the stratosphere? He did not fully describe the heat radiation or the shock waves that must have traveled through the air and sea. He said nothing about the powerful gamma rays that the bomb must have released. But more revelations may be coming. “I hope,” Cole said, “that within a few weeks the American people will be able to witness in reproduction [movie film] the full fury of a hydrogen explosion.”
The gravel and concrete men listened with solemn attention, looking at one another and shaking their heads in silent awe. They gave Cole a standing ovation for about one minute; then they filed out slowly and thoughtfully.
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