In 1946 , William Penney , the Chief Superintendent Armament Research at Fort Halstead , recruited Corner to work on High Explosive Research , the British atomic bomb programme . Corner headed the theoretical group , where he made extensive use of recently-developed computer technology , employing machines purchased from ICL , IBM and Ferranti . In 1950 , he was promoted to superintendent , becoming the youngest ever appointee to that grade . The first British atomic bomb was successfully tested in the Operation Hurricane test in Australia in 1952 . Newcastle University offered Corner its chair in theoretical physics in 1953 , but he chose instead to move to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston , where he worked on the British hydrogen bomb programme . The successful Operation Grapple tests at Christmas Island in 1957 and 1958 paved the way for the resumption of the nuclear Special Relationship with the United States in the form of the 1958 US – UK Mutual Defence Agreement , and Corner was involved in the first exchanges of technical information on nuclear weapons with the United States . For his work on the hydrogen bomb , he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1958 Birthday Honours
Operation Hurricane
Operation Hurricane
John Corner