"A method of constructing atom bombs was known in principle. The explosive plutonium could be produced in reactors with heavy water... The German authorities responsible for armaments were...informed of these results at a conference in the Harnack-Haus in Berlin-Dahlem on June 4, 1942."
- Werner Heisenberg
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, "The Third Reich and the Atomic Bomb", June 1968
German scientists were confident a bomb could be built
On June 4, 1942, Heisenberg briefed Speer at Harnack House. When asked about the size of a bomb that would destroy a city, Heisenberg replied, "about the size of a pineapple."
"Given the positive results achieved up until now it does not appear impossible that, once a uranium [reactor] has been constructed, we will one day be able to follow the path revealed by von Weizsacker to explosives that are more than a million times more effective than those currently available." |
"I asked Heisenberg how nuclear physics could be applied to the manufacture of atom bombs. He declared, to be sure, that the scientific solution had already been found and that theoretically nothing stood in the way of building such a bomb. But the technical prerequisites for production would take years to develop, two years at the earliest, even provided that the program was given maximum support."
- Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich, 1970
The war forces the germans to abandon long-term projects in favor of immediate results
Speer allowed the scientists to request the resources that they needed. The scientists requested 350,000 marks.
"Rather put out by these modest requests in a matter of such crucial importance, I suggested that they take one or two million marks and correspondingly larger quantities of materials. But apparently more could not be utilized for the present, and in any case I had been given the impression that the atom bomb could no longer have any bearing on the course of the war."
- Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich, 1970
Speer concluded that the nuclear project was long-term and that it could not help with the immediate deteriorating situation in Russia. Therefore funding was diverted to short-term "Wunderwaffen." Two weeks later, the production of the first "vengeance" rocket was approved.
BBC Horizon: Hitler's Bomb, 1992
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Student Interview with Professor Noel Pugach, Ph.D.
University of New Mexico History Department |
"...the officials were only interested in immediate results. They didn't want to work on a long-term policy as America did."
- Kurt Diebner
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
Hitler's fanaticism intimidates the scientists
"I was familiar with Hitler's tendency to push fantastic projects by making senseless demands, so that on June 23, 1942, I reported to him only very briefly on the nuclear fission conference and what we had decided to do." Heisenberg knew a nuclear bomb was feasible, but he feared making promises to an unforgiving Fuhrer where the outcome of the war would depend on their success. Therefore they requested small sums of money and emphasized the long-term nature of producing a bomb.
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von Weizsacker, German nuclear scientist
BBC Horizon: Hitler's Bomb, 1992 |
The decision to invest in rockets contributed to the failure of the nuclear program and was the turning point of the program.