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It did not help that some new aspects found in physics were considered 'ungerman' ('Jewish physics') and discarded, especially Einstein's work and many aspects

by kaybe 8y ago

It did not help that some new aspects found in physics were considered 'ungerman' ('Jewish physics') and discarded, especially Einstein's work and many aspects of quantum mechanics. This alone would probably have proved crippling to any efforts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik

rfinney 8y ago
[edited to remove mis-information ] apologies!
- msla 8y ago
  Think Un-German, as an English word.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
atemerev 8y ago
Not necessarily. Ironically, nuclear explosion physics doesn’t use anything from quantum mechanics, nor from relativity. Intellectually, Germans were well-positioned to complete the project; thankfully, they didn’t have the necessary financial and engineering support.
- zby 8y ago
  Care to elaborate on that? Sounds rather surprising. In wikipedia on nuclear fission "quantum" is used 3 times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission - but I suspect that all of the nuclear physics is based on quantum mechanics isn't it?
  - AnimalMuppet 8y ago
    I think atemerev's point is that you can find out enough to build a bomb without knowing either relativity or quantum. Yes, E=mc^2 is why the energy is released, but all you need to know is how much energy is released when an atom splits. Yes, quantum mechanics may explain the neutron absorption cross section, but you don't need to know that. You just need to be able to measure the cross section.
ufmace 8y ago
Yes, it probably wasn't terribly helpful either that the rejection of Jewish physicists, many of whom helped get the American bomb project off the ground, and rejection of physicists studying "Jewish Physics" left them with probably too few qualified physicists to move a bomb project along as rapidly as the Americans did, even if they had the budget for a project of that size (they didn't), and were willing to spend it early enough (no indication of that). Considering also that they would have had to move rather faster than the Americans, since they didn't finish before the defeat of Germany. Fortunately for the world, there are plenty of reasons why is was essentially impossible for them.

by kaybe 8y ago

rfinney 8y ago

[edited to remove mis-information ] apologies!

msla 8y ago
Think Un-German, as an English word.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

atemerev 8y ago

Not necessarily. Ironically, nuclear explosion physics doesn’t use anything from quantum mechanics, nor from relativity. Intellectually, Germans were well-positioned to complete the project; thankfully, they didn’t have the necessary financial and engineering support.

zby 8y ago
Care to elaborate on that? Sounds rather surprising. In wikipedia on nuclear fission "quantum" is used 3 times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission - but I suspect that all of the nuclear physics is based on quantum mechanics isn't it?
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  I think atemerev's point is that you can find out enough to build a bomb without knowing either relativity or quantum. Yes, E=mc^2 is why the energy is released, but all you need to know is how much energy is released when an atom splits. Yes, quantum mechanics may explain the neutron absorption cross section, but you don't need to know that. You just need to be able to measure the cross section.

ufmace 8y ago

Yes, it probably wasn't terribly helpful either that the rejection of Jewish physicists, many of whom helped get the American bomb project off the ground, and rejection of physicists studying "Jewish Physics" left them with probably too few qualified physicists to move a bomb project along as rapidly as the Americans did, even if they had the budget for a project of that size (they didn't), and were willing to spend it early enough (no indication of that). Considering also that they would have had to move rather faster than the Americans, since they didn't finish before the defeat of Germany. Fortunately for the world, there are plenty of reasons why is was essentially impossible for them.