The discovery and synthesis of new chemical elements by nuclear transmutation , and their production in the necessary quantities to allow the studying of their properties , was carried out in nuclear explosive device testing . For example , the discovery of the short lived einsteinium and fermium , both created under the intense neutron flux environment within thermonuclear explosions , followed the first Teller-Ulam thermonuclear device test – Ivy Mike . The rapid capture of so many neutrons required in the synthesis of einsteinium would provide the needed direct experimental confirmation of the so-called r-process , the multiple neutron absorptions needed to explain the cosmic nucleosynthesis ( production ) of all heavy chemical elements heavier than nickel on the periodic table , in supernova explosions , before beta decay , with the r-process explaining the existence of many stable elements in the universe
Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike
Peaceful nuclear explosion