26.09.2024 Our people
In the podcast VUJE #11 Andrej Žiarovský discusses why Germany failed to develop an atomic bomb during World War II, while the United States succeeded.
Despite Germany's scientific prowess in the 1930s, marked by groundbreaking discoveries such as nuclear fission, a series of political and strategic missteps derailed their nuclear ambitions. Hitler's regime expelled many top scientists, especially those of Jewish descent, like Albert Einstein and Leo Szilárd, leading to a significant "brain drain".
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Additionally, Hitler's shift in focus towards immediate military applications during the war delayed longer-term scientific projects, including the nuclear program. When Werner Heisenberg, a leading physicist, informed Hitler that building an atomic bomb would take several years, Hitler lost interest. In contrast, the U.S. launched the Manhattan Project, pooling resources and expertise from the U.K. and Canada, which led to the successful development of the atomic bomb by 1945. The podcast also touches on the differences in approach between the German and American nuclear programs and the fate of German scientists after the war.
