[C19fan]

Ivy Mike was a proof of concept for a thermonuclear weapon. It was more a scientific experiment than a weapon’s test. The story is Teller the father of the Hydrogen Bomb was in Livermore, CA and knew the test was a success based on keeping an eye on a seismograph.

[ealgeone]

IIRC that was one big setup to make that thing work.

[RayChuang88]

Correct. The Ivy Mike test was essentially detonating one gigantic science experiment, since the fusion material was liquefied deuterium gas. The later Castle Bravo test used solid lithium deuteride as the fusion material.

[mlo]

I know the designer of the Ivy Mike device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Garwin

[SunkenCiv]

And, its success caused the DoD to order a rocket engine rated over one million pounds thrust. Von Braun knew that would be the big engine needed to go to the Moon. When the smaller H-bomb design worked, and the DoD lost interest in the engine, development continued under NACA (which became NASA), and by the time the last problem was solved (cavitation), Eisenhower was still President.