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Followup To Bohr-Heisenberg Meeting

Posted by Hemos on from the making-history dept.

December writes "As a follow up to this slashdot article, "The family of Niels Bohr has decided to release all documents deposited at the Niels Bohr Archive, either written or dictated by Niels Bohr, pertaining specifically to the meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in September 1941. There are in all eleven documents. The decision has been made in order to avoid possible misunderstandings regarding the contents of the documents." See the Niels Bohr Archive at http://www.nba.nbi.dk/"

4 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Still implausible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To separate, process, and manufacture the uranium and plutonium necessary for the A bombs, it required 32% of the US electrical output, 23% of the US Silver output (144,000 Troy Ounces was the figure I believe), and 14% of the US aluminum output to construct the plants (at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hartford, Washington). Remember this is 1944 people - height of America's industrial might. Now ask yourself if Germany could've done the same...

  2. Re:Nothing new? by Rob.Mathers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think many Germans who were living in Germany in the 30s and 40s would balk at the statement that "almost the entire german population" were Nazis. There were very large numbers of them that opposed Hitler and Nazism, either privately or publicly (those who did so publicly were not around much longer however). Just because the leader of a country is something, do not assume that all, most, or even some of the citizens agree with his beliefs. As someone who has had to suffer life under an oppressive regime will tell you, you generally don't have much choice in the matter.

    --

    My other sig is funny!
  3. I'm not sure what people are trying to show by markj02 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's pretty clear that Heisenberg generally believed that his duties were to Germany. It's also pretty obvious that he didn't engage in a serious effort to build an A-bomb. That suggests that he didn't engage in some complex plot to sabotage a German A-bomb effort, he probably just didn't care enough to spend a lot of time on it.

    That may seem like a mundane explanation, given what we now know about Nazi Germany and the power of nuclear bombs. But Heisenberg probably did not know the extent of Nazi atrocities and he also didn't know whether a real A-bomb would fizzle or bang.

    It's tempting to see all of WWII in terms of villains and heroes. But most people were probably neither; they were just people trying to get on with their lives under difficult circumstances. Heisenberg could have been a hero or a villain, but he ended up being neither.

  4. Re:Nothing new? by jedidiah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Also, it's quite likely that "member of Nazi party" in Nazi Germany is much the same as "member of communist party" in the Soviet Union. In both instances it was simply wise in terms of your continued survival to make pretenses about supporting the current regime. Even today in the USA there are elements of orthodoxy that one is better off appearing to support.

    Failing to be of extraordinary moral courage does not make one evil. It makes one average.

    People need to get a grip and realize that Titans of physics were mere mortals in any other area of human endeavor.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.