Re: Seventy years ago today,

On Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:03:00 -0800 (PST), "trader4@xxxxxxxxxxxxx"
<trader4@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote Re Re: Seventy years ago today,:

Einstein was German but he had no direct knowledge of anything Germany
was doing. He had left Germany long before any German interest in
an A bomb. His contributions was in adding his credibility to a
letter
to President Roosevelt written by other scientists who were concerned
with what Germany MIGHT be doing. Einstein, when initially contacted by
those other scientists said that he never considered the possibility
of an uncontrolled chain reaction.

You have a very good understanding of history. If I may elaborate:

It was the Hungarian physicist Dr. Leo Szilard who got Einstein to
write the letter. In addition to the enrichment problem, the "trigger"
(how to very quickly achieve a critical mass from two or more
sub-critical pieces) was a very difficult problem to solve.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: the republican war on science continues...
    ... scientists for really aiding us. ... the US born folks were trained in Germany or England (or ... did show a strong positive trend in education with increasing ... That isn't at all where the money ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Germany benefited HUGELY from Nazi policies and WW2
    ... to benefit Germany, at least nothing that Germany could not have done ... when your employer dosen't like you anymore and you ... Because of the Nazis, only the most adaptable and fit survived the war. ... won because the Soviets got the lesser of the great rocket scientists from occupied ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Re: the republican war on science continues...
    ... out of Nazi Germany. ... scientists for really aiding us. ... That would be Robert Goddard. ... rockets may have been rather crude by present-day standards, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack
    ... > face of war. ... Allied countries in the 1930s in response to Axis powers aggression. ... Germany felt it was unfairly screwed at the end of WW I and was ... The "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" is an interesting magazine; ...
    (comp.dcom.telecom)
  • Re: Nazi Atomic Weapon
    ... They chose a poor design for the reactor). ... Heisenberg was trying to recruit Bohr for reactor work. ... scientists from his memory about the Heisenberg conversation. ... At one time in 1942-3 there was an offer from industrialist in Germany ...
    (sci.chem)