It was not a barb against anyone. The mention of hydrogen made me think of a quotation from Einstein about hydrogen and stupidity...I don’t recall exactly how it goes but it was something along the lines of “hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, after studipity.” Or maybe he had hydrogen first and stupidity second.
“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity’’. Actually it wasn’t Einstein who said this. It was the writer Harlan Ellison.