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They built complete factories for three different technologies, and finally delivered two totally different bomb designs. Which is a sign they were pretty worr
by iguy 7y ago
They built complete factories for three different technologies, and finally delivered two totally different bomb designs.
Which is a sign they were pretty worried about choosing to put all their smart guys on one path, and picking the wrong one. And the number of smart guys they had was certainly a real constraint. Even under their very stressed circumstances, exploration and competition were important.
- mattrp 7y agoThis is correct - read the fantastic “making of the atomic bomb” - the planners kept competition alive for as long as possible because no one really knew which path was going to work. In contrast the nazi project, among other reasons, failed because it focused nearly exclusively on heavy water and didn’t have internally competing projects.