Why did Germany fail to build the atomic bomb before the US?

Question

Was it because of lack of funds, lack of technology, etc.?

Answer 1

(1) They scared Einstein off.

(2) Oppenheimer is suspected to have deliberately delayed Germany's research relating to the Bomb.

Answer 2

There a lots of factors. The USA had the help from Canada, UK, and other counties. This help was lent in the form of funds and scientists. With more people working on the project at the same time, with better technology the atomic bomb was simply invented first. Not to mention we had Einstein.

Nazi Germany was simply concentrating more energy on the actual war effort (IE taking over the world) as opposed to science.

Check out the link for more info.

Answer 3

I can't make an argument about the science of the matter. I however can provide a bunch of logistical considerations....

1. The Nazis had several significant scientists as a result of their persecution of the Jews (ie:Openheimer, Einstein)

2.The Nazi scientific pool was spread significantly thinner than was the case with the Allies. All one needs to do is look at a list of what they beat the allies to (ie: ballistic missiles, jet engines, nerve gas, on board radar etc)

3. The Americans had the benefit of full program disclosure from the British, which was the oldest and most advanced program in the world.

4. The Americans had the benefit of massive amounts of their own hydro-electricity that was highly secure from attack.
(There is a reason the Manhattan Project was split between Twin Oaks in Tennessee and Hanford in Washington. Both were close to massive hydroelectric projects built during the New Deal which could produce power far beyond system load requirements) Even with the sites they had captured in Norway, the Nazis had nowhere near that amount of localized power to refine uranium or make heavy water and even then, those sites where under constant sabotage by Norweigan resistors and Royal Marines never mind those places the Royal Navy could hit with their guns.

4. The Americans had the benefit of Canadian uranium for the bomb which was plentiful, secure, and readily provided by the Dominion government. The Nazis had to secure their uranium from undeveloped and insecure sources in Scandanavia which required both foriegn funds and preparation time. In contrast the federal government in Canada just legislated uranium into their authority and paid for it with the extra money they just printed.

5. The American program had the added benefit of secure production facilities at the Cominco smelter in Trail, British Columbia for both their purified uranium and heavy water. This was especially important given these processes were both energy intensive and required special facilities all of which were pre-existant and close to the Hanford site which accelerated things immensely.

6.The Americans developed a factory style security system at their development sites so that could download most of the tedious production related work to specialized labour. This was the only program that did that. Most everyone else divided the work among their small trusted cadres and didn't let anyone else work on the project. In the American facilities, each of their workers was given a specific job and told not ask questions or concern themselves with what they were contributing to. In the meantime the scientists could concern themselves with nothing but research and development.

Answer 4

Golly. Sheepdog is wrong about Oppenheimer (he led the Manhattan project in the US that built the bomb - so he wasn't in Germany 'slowing it down'). But Sheepdog is CORRECT in bringing in this reference, but the man he was thinking of was Werner Heisenberg who was specifically given the job by the Nazis of rebuilding the expertise in German Universities that had been lost when Einstein (and many others) fled to the US and Britain before the war.

One of the greatest 'unsolved' questions of the war, and history, is whether Heisenberg DID deliberately slow down the Nazi Atomic Bomb development program (in which case he is one of the greatest heroes of the war), or whether he simply didn't have the knowledge or the people around him or materials to make it happen (in which case he is not a hero). Nobody has ever got to the bottom of that question. But there are a few clues:

Although Oppenheimer and Einstein had a team of thousands of scientists (some of the brightest minds ever gathered together) and millions of dollars from the US government (billions in todays dollars I suspect), Heisenberg was at least equal in genius to Einstein or Oppenheimer (or possibly both put together).

Heisenberg also had sufficient influence with Himmler and the top Nazi heirarchy to shake off a charge that he (Heisenberg) was teaching 'Jewish science' (Einsteins atomic theory), and get a ticket from Himmler that basically said 'leave this man alone'. If Heisenberg had 'pushed' nuclear weapons to the Nazi leaders they would have listened. They - after all - were imaginative enough to consider crack-pot ideas like jet planes, cruise missiles, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (and built them all).

Then, on top of those 'known facts' consider that the Nazi's were capable of doing pretty much anything they wanted if they set their minds to it, even during allied bombing. They had underground factories going day and night producing ICBM's (rockets) and jet fighters and advanced submarines (all things that the allies would struggle to produce under optimal conditions). I'd note here that the problems getting hold of heavy water for the reactors was just a question of how much effort the Germans were putting into getting it, and protecting it from allied bombing - not as much as they did for their rocket program. There's nothing to say that the Germans couldn't have done with atomic power what they did with rockets, which was grab a ten to fifteen year lead on the rest of the world if they had made it a priority.

That's of course if they'd been persuaded to provide the resources and people to do so by the scientist they trusted; the same scientist who had the brains to do the job. But poor old Heisenberg never managed to shake off that little bit of 'doubt' that other's held about him, and although folk were happy to have him back in the international scientific community after the war, nobody was quite prepared to hail him as the hero who saved the world from the Nazi atomic bomb.

Answer 5

Albert Einstein helped the US developed the the Atomic Bomb... Germany had the scientist that Einstein worked and studied with and they too had the ability to create it ...so Einstein out of fear for the US...created the atomic bomb...and lived to regret it.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

the germans didn't have the basic theories and great minds that the US had working on the atomic bomb. if they hadn't chased so many great scientific minds out they may have had a chance to develope the bomb.

Answer 8

i'll tell you, even though it's probably YOUR homework assignment.
the germans did have the technology to build the atomic bomb, but they lost the war, and their heavy water supply. they did manage to save some, before the allies got to them, so they shipped it on a submarine to japan. the allies learned about this, and decided to drop the bomb on japan, i think ten or fifteen days before the heavy water got to japan. lucky for us, otherwise we would have had a much different outcome.

Answer 9

It was mainly due to the fact that we were in their country bombing and attacking sites where they manufactured weapons. We were able to build one because we could focus on directly building the weapons without having to worry about someone attacking us.

Answer 10

Einstein.