Abstract
The success of the Manhattan Project makes it easy to overlook the fact that there was a German nuclear program during World War II, and that for some time it ran ahead of its Allied counterpart. For various reasons, the German effort began to lose steam in the summer of 1942, just as the Manhattan Engineer District was coming into existence. But by no means did it die out. Working feverishly in the last weeks of the war in Europe in April, 1945, German scientists came close to creating a self-sustaining chain reaction in a heavy-water-moderated pile.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reed, B.C. (2020). The German Nuclear Program: The Third Reich and Atomic Energy. In: Manhattan Project . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45734-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45734-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45733-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-45734-1
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)