After the Second World War, the main nuclear physicists of Nazi Germany were taken out to the Soviet Union. Thanks to their developments, the first Soviet atomic bomb was created: this is, in principle, a well-known story, which for some reason modern researchers try not to advertise.
German nuclear project
Back in 1939, a group of German scientists led by physicist Manfred von Ardenne sent an official letter to the High Command, which indicated the theoretical possibility of creating a new, highly effective explosive based on uranium. Surprisingly, the soldiers of the Third Reich managed to miss this opportunity - fortunately for the whole world. But after the end of the war, two major world powers became interested in the developments of German physicists.
American specialists
A whole galaxy of scientists who emigrated, or even kidnapped from Germany, worked on the secret "Manhattan Project". Teller and Bloch, Bethe and Fuchs, Frisch and Szilard - data from German laboratories helped the Americans a lot.
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Chasing staff
With the end of World War II, another problem arose in front of the USSR in the form of yesterday's allies. The demonstration of a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima turned out to be very impressive: the Soviet Union needed to acquire its own nuclear weapons by all means. Soviet academicians went for the German specialists.
Scientists and ore
In the shortest possible time, almost four hundred scientists were removed from Germany to the USSR, adding about 200 tons of uranium to the extraction. Academician Kurchatov himself noted that such a success made it possible to reduce the work on the first nuclear bomb by a whole year and a half.
German heroes of socialist labor
Of course, the German scientists were treated carefully. All conditions for work and comfortable life were created at the closed facility "Chelyabinsk-40". It was here that Dr. Nikolus Riel received plutonium, which served to create the first atomic bomb in the USSR - for this in 1949 the talented physicist was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
On the shore of calm waters
Von Ardenne himself, together with his electromagnetic separator for the fission of uranium isotopes, was settled in a special scientific center located on the coast in Sukhumi. Another legendary German physicist, Gustav Hertz, also worked here. For their contribution to the creation of the first atomic bomb, both received the Stalin Prize.
Army of Physicists
Historians today believe that after the war, the USSR took over at least 7,000 German physicists. Of course, Soviet scientists would have created an atomic bomb without them, but most likely, it would have taken much longer.