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Lost Nazi Uranium Found In a Dutch Scrapyard

Posted by kdawson on from the sturm-und-drang dept.

colin_faber writes "Lewis Page of the Register is reporting that forensic nuclear scientists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre traced the two pieces of metal found in a Dutch scrapyard — described as a cube and a plate — back to their exact origins and dates. Apparently both came from ores extracted at the 'Joachimsthal' mine in what is now the Czech Republic from the former Nazi nuclear-weapons programme of the 1940s." The article runs through the roadblocks that, unknown to the Allies, the Nazi regime erected against their possible success in any nuclear bomb development during the war.

9 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Many boffins died ... by DrJimbo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ... to bring us this information. Context:

    Furthermore the Germans were hampered by having driven many top physicists out of the country with their anti-Semitic policies, and also by drafting other boffins into the army to fight as ordinary soldiers.

    --
    We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
    -- Anais Nin
    1. Re:Many boffins died ... by martyros · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think the quote from Heisenberg in the article is particularly interesting:

      "We definitely did not want to get into this bomb business," said Heisenberg. "I wouldn't like to idealize this; we did this also for our personal safety. We thought that the probability that this would lead to atomic bombs during the War was nearly zero. If we had done otherwise, and if many thousand people had been put to work on it and then if nothing had been developed, this could have had extremely disagreeable consequences for us."

      In other words, simple-minded tyrants think that the best way to motivate people is to say, "Make this happen or die." (And less powerful but just as simple-minded people in the workplace use "Make this happen or lose your job.") But one result is that no one is willing to suggest the idea of anything moderately risky, for fear that they'll be put to work on making that happen, and punished when it can't be done.

      --

      TCP: Why the Internet is full of SYN.

    2. Re:Many boffins died ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Probably, but then part of the rise in power came through the hatred. So if Hitled would not have disliked the Jews so much, he might not have been elected...

      I guess a good part of the reason why Hitler was elected was the failure of the political system of the Weimar Republic to cope with the circumstances (political instability, economic crisis, the harsh conditions of the Versailles treaty). This all lead to the wish for a "strong man" who would bring stability and reconstitute independence. This national side was IMHO more vital for the fact that the Nazis achieved 34% in the last free elections than the anti-semitic side. It also was the main reason why Hitler managed to gain popularity throughout the 30s - because he was quite successful in lifting a lot of restrictions imposed by the Versailles treaty - and got away with it.

    3. Re:Many boffins died ... by pugugly · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A notation appended to my Evil Overlord list now -

      "I will never say 'Make this happen or die.' I will say 'Whatcha Got?' "

      Pug

      --
      An Invisible Entity of Vast Power whose existence must be taken on faith alone: Liberal Media
  2. Politics by iluvcapra · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The issue of Heisenberg, and any theoretical physicist being treated like a pariah (and thus dooming Nazi Germany's atom bomb program) is very instructive. The Nazi's made a political and ideological decision, to wit:

    Quantum mechanics and general relativity is all about 'relativism' and 'ambiguity,' and is unworthy of Aryan science. It's emphasis on relative physical laws and indeterminacy are endemic of its moral turpitude and obvious Jewish origins.

    They would then cast about trying to find every white atheist physicist who had doubts about 20th century physics, and then give them huge grants, fat think tank jobs, and would promote their work to the moon and back. On the other hand they would work to suppress the contributions of people like Lise Meitner, who used the 'Jewish physics' to provide them with proof of the first lab fission reaction.

    I suppose there's some sort of argument pro or con of climate change in this... exercise for the reader.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    1. Re:Politics by buzzn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wehrmacht != Nazi. The Nazis were the political party in charge, and the Wermacht was the regular professional army. This is in no way to excuse the Wermacht, and many soldiers were Nazis, but we remind that the belt buckle of an ordinary soldier does not reflect the much more extreme values of the dictatorship, which imprisoned or executed many christian clergy for opposing the regime. The Nazis swept away anyone that opposed their power, and their religion was power.

      --
      Join the window installer's union, where prosperity is a brick throw away!
  3. Re:quick, someone call Clive Cussler! by Dexter+Herbivore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's no such thing as a *new* Dirk Pitt novel, they all have roughly the same plot.

  4. Re:quick, someone call Clive Cussler! by HalifaxRage · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What, you mean the one about smugglers? I thought he stole that from ~275 Hardy Boys books.

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    bomb the us up set someone
  5. Re:Doesn't address the most interesting issue by thesandtiger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    G-d is a way of saying "God" without actually writing the name in a medium in which it will eventually be destroyed. Presumably, the poster was thanking their god for not allowing the Nazi's to get the bomb.

    Unless you were just being intentionally obtuse, as so many strident atheists are, and trying to draw attention to it - in which case, I ask you, please stop doing that. It makes it really easy for everyone to get pissed off at the rest of us who are atheist but don't feel the need to be jerks about it.

    --
    Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.