In 1952, the United States conducted its first full-scale hydrogen bomb test called Operation Ivy. The bomb was nicknamed “Mike” and was placed on a small uninhabited island in Enewetak Atoll, which is made up of 40 small islands and atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. The explosion caused Elugelab Island to evaporate instantly, leaving behind a massive crater with a diameter of 1.9 km and a depth of 50 m. A tsunami up to 6 meters high wiped out vegetation on surrounding islands, leading to Gordon Dean, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, summarizing the test results to President Dwight D. Eisenhower with the words “Elugelab Island has disappeared.”
The hydrogen bomb used thermonuclear reactions to create powerful explosive force instead of just nuclear reactions. The explosion created a fireball 5 km in diameter and a mushroom cloud that rose to a height of 41 km. Witnesses from many ships at sea described the explosion as accompanied by blinding light and immediate heat waves felt at a distance of 48 – 56 km.
The Ivy Mike experiment also led to the discovery of two new elements, einsteinium and fermium. Scientists collected debris from the air after the explosion and found traces of these elements, which were named in honor of Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi. Nuclear testing on Enewetak Island ended in 1958, and decontamination efforts were carried out in 1977 and 2000. Scientists predict that the island will be suitable for human habitation by 2026 –