Edward Teller was determined to build it and invented many
unsuccessful designs. Stan Ulam, working on improved atomic bomb
designs, showed Teller the radiation implosion technique. Teller
recognized this as the missing feature to make the hydrogen bomb
work; resulting in the Teller-Ulam design. This was successfully
tested in 1952, shot Ivy Mike at 10 megatons yield. Teller had
already left Los Alamos a few months before the test to start
Livermore Labs, so he was not involved.