H-Bomb Seen Still Far Away By Professors

American may never be able to build a hydrogen bomb, according to two University scientists.

Otto Oldenberg, professor of Physics, and Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, both said yesterday that the H-bomb will be a very difficult thing to make. "Scientists may not be able to do it," Oldenberg said.

"It's not like the uranium bomb," Mather said. "They knew from the start that this would work. The hydrogen bomb is something else. It is not a simple matter. An appropriation of money and men won't mean that one will be built."

Of several Harvard scientists contacted, only Mather and Oldenberg could speak about the bomb, since most of the others were connected with the Los Alamos project and knew confidential information. Oldenberg teaches a basic course in atomic physics.

No Chain Reaction

Both men agreed that the bomb could never start the feared chain reaction in water that would blow up the oceans and finally the world. "The bomb uses heavy hydrogen," Oldenberg said, "and that occurs in only one atom out of 4000.

"The oxygen and regular hydrogen in water would be enough to dampen the chain reaction, so that the water would never explode."