November 1, 1952: The 1st Hydrogen Bomb

November 1, 1952: America successfully detonates the 1st hydrogen bomb, at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb -- H-bomb -- is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs (fission bombs), a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits.

Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239.

Edward Teller, a Hungarian-born Jewish physicist who won a power struggle with A-bomb pioneer J. Robert Oppenheimer within the American government, is considered "The Father of the Hydrogen Bomb." Late in life, he admitted in an interview, "I think the world has enough nuclear weapons."

He was more than right: The H-bomb was supposed to give the U.S. a leg up on the Soviet Union, but they detonated their 1st H-bomb on August 12, 1953, only 9 months later.

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November 1, 1952 was a Saturday. Baseball season was over. These were among the college football games played:

* Number 1 Michigan State beat Number 8 Purdue, 14-7 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. MSU finished 9-0, but, in this, their last season before joining the Big Ten (which was officially the Big Nine since 1940, when the University of Chicago dropped out), they were not invited to the Rose Bowl, or to any other bowl game. Nonetheless, after the season, they were voted the consensus National Champion.

* Number 2 Maryland beat Boston University, 34-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Previously undefeated, Maryland lost its last 2 games, and didn't even get invited to a bowl game.

* Number 3 Oklahoma beat Iowa State, 41-0 at Clyde Williams Stadium in Ames, Iowa. Oklahoma won the Big Seven Conference title, but did not go to a bowl game.

* Number 4 Georgia Tech beat Number 5 Duke, 28-7 at Duke Stadium (later Wallace Wade Stadium) in Durham, North Carolina. Tech went on to win the Southeastern Conference title. However, they did not play the University of Mississippi during the regular season, and, despite 2 ties, and despite not even being ranked in the Top 20 until the week after this, "Ole Miss" were also undefeated. So the teams were paired up in the Sugar Bowl, and Tech won, earning National Championship honors from some minor polls.

Duke won the Southern Conference title, but were already on their way out of that league: The next season, they were charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

* Number 6 USC, the University of Southern California, had the week off. Number 7 UCLA, the University of California at Los Angeles, beat Number 11 Cal, the main campus of the University of California, 28-7 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. Three weeks later, USC beat UCLA for the Pacific Coast Conference title.

* Rivalry: Number 9 Kansas beat Kansas State, 26-6 at Memorial Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. The Jayhawks lost 2 of their last 3 games, knocking themselves out of league title honors and bowl consideration. Most people there didn't care, as they were still basking in their National Championship in basketball, won in March.

* Number 12 Tennessee beat North Carolina, 41-14 at Shields-Watkins Field (later renamed Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Number 13 Notre Dame beat Navy, 17-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. This was the end of an 0-2-1 stretch that saw Navy fall out of the Top 20. They were still invited to the Orange Bowl, but declined. Notre Dame declined all bowl invitations between the 1925 and 1969 seasons.

* Number 14 Texas beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 31-14 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Texas won the Southwest Conference title, then beat Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.

* Number 15 Michigan were upset by Illinois, 22-13 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 16 Virginia were upset by South Carolina, 21-14 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.

* Number 17 University of Pennsylvania were upset by Pennsylvania State University, a.k.a. Penn State, 14-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The night before, another of Philadelphia's "Big 5" college basketball schools failed to win in football despite being nationally ranked: Number 10 Villanova were held to a tie by to the Parris Island Marines, 20-20 at Villanova Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Marines had their ranks swelled by volunteers to fight in the Korean War.

* Number 18 Wisconsin beat Rice University, 21-7 at Rice Stadium in Houston. It sounds like a bowl game, but it was in the regular season. Wisconsin did go on to win the Big Ten Conference title, but USC beat them in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 19 Alabama beat Georgia, 34-19 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Losses to Tennessee and Georgia Tech cost 'Bama the SEC title, but they were still invited to the Orange Bowl, where they played Syracuse, who were idle on November 1. Alabama won, 61-6, and those 61 points stood as a record for the most points in a bowl game until 2008.

* Rivalry: Minnesota beat Iowa, 17-7 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapoli.s.

* Rivalry: Montana beat Montana State, 35-12 at Dornblaser Field in Missoula. (Montana State is in Bozeman.)

* Army beat Virginia Military Institute (VMI), 42-14 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Among New York City teams, NYU beat Lafayette, 14-7 at Fisher Field in Easton, Pennsylvania. Fordham lost to the University of Detroit, 28-20 at Triborough Stadium (later Downing Stadium) on Randall's Island in the East River. And Columbia lost to Cornell, 21-14 at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan.

* And in New Jersey, Rutgers beat Temple, 40-28 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; while Princeton beat Brown, 39-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 69-53 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Syracuse Nationals, 86-84 in overtime at the Philadelphia Civic Center.

* The Rochester Royals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 94-82 at the Rochester War Memorial Arena (now the Blue Cross Arena) in Rochester, New York.

* The Milwaukee Hawks beat the Indianapolis Olympians, 73-71 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Boston Celtics, 94-91 at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Ed Macauley scored 37 in defeat for Boston.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to the Birmingham area, and lost 2-0 to West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Arsenal went on to win the Football League title for the 1952-53 season, anyway.