Hydrogen bombs — the world’s deadliest weapons — have no theoretical size limit. When the United States in 1952 detonated the world’s first, its destructive force was 700 times as great as that of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. They each sought at times to build the biggest bomb of all. “There was a megatonnage race — who was going to have a bigger bomb,” said Robert S. Norris, a historian of the atomic age. “And the Soviets won.”

Source: New York Times August 25, 2020 16:52 UTC