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Mines and trenches were just the obvious applications. Teller also suggested using hydrogen bombs to change the weather, to melt ice to yield fresh water, and to mass-produce diamonds. (Another unconventional suggestion attributed to him was to close off the Strait of Gibraltar, making the Mediterranean a lake suitable for irrigating crops.) Ted Taylor, a bomb designer, argued that nuclear bombs would be able to drive a rocket into deep space, even to other stars.21 Teller even found the idea of bombing the moon incredibly enticing. βOne will probably not resist for long the temptation to shoot at the moon . . . to observe what kind of disturbance it might cause,β he wrote.
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Charles Seife (Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking)