THE 3 WERNER

HEISENBERGS
THE URANIUM PROJECT
• Scientists in Germany discovered fission in December
1938

• Heisenberg liderated the project

• It formally starts in september of 1939 whereas the

Manhattan project started in 1942
CAUSES OF THE FAILURE
• They thought that the critical mass needed to create an
atomic bomb was of the order of tones (however “Little
Boy” only had 64kg of enriched uranium)

• They used “heavy water” (D2O) instead of graphite as a

moderator for the nuclear reaction

• Were Heisenberg and his group afterwards not good

enough scientists to create the atomic bomb?
Heisenberg:
“Hahn, Dr. von Laue and I falsified the
mathematics in order to avoid the development
of the atom bomb by German scientists”
1ST POSSIBILITY:
HEISENBERG SABOTAGED THE
URANIUM PROJECT
• Heisenberg defended Einstein’s ideas

• The incorrect estimate of the critical mass made Nazis loose interest.

• Their knowledge was enough to calculate correctly the critical mass.

• In the operation Epsilon he was inconsistent about his value.

(Otto Hahn said that Heisenberg estimated it to be at around 50kg)

• In the same house a few days later he did some correct predictions.

• He actually said that he falsified the calculations.

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2ND POSSIBILITY:
HEISENBERG WAS A CONVINCED
NAZI SCIENTIST
• It is VERY opportune to seem a pacifist after loosing the war.

• Heisenberg was a convinced patriot and he wanted Germany to win the war.

• His inconsistency in the operation Epsilon could be explained by his lack of

knowledge.

• The correct predictions could have arised from the new acquired knowledge
that he heard in the radio.

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3RD POSSIBILITY:
HEISENBERG WAS NEITHER
• He actually tried to build a nuclear reactor instead of a nuclear bomb.

• He was convinced that Germany would win the war really fast and told his
superiors that the war would be over before developing the atomic bomb.

• Heisenberg wasn’t interested in calculating the critical mass and that’s why he
only estimated.

• His inconsistency in the operation Epsilon could be explained by his

disinterest.