Posted on 08/06/2004 2:01:45 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
It was the afternoon of August 5, 1945. To a group of six hundred army officers assigned to the Hiroshima garrison, Professor Yoshitaka Mimura of Hiroshima Bunri University, a theoretical physicist, was explaining the scientific possibilities of new weapons which might reverse the tide of war. Japan had little Navy or Air Force left. Within months a massive invasion of the home islands seemed likely. “Could you tell us, sir”, a young lieutenant colonel asked, “what an atomic bomb is? Is there any possibility that the bomb will be deployed by the end of this war?”
Mimura chalked a rough sketch on the blackboard to illustrate the [nuclear] reactions required. Scientists at Tokyo University, he explained, have “theoretically penetrated” the secrets of nuclear fission. If they could apply their theories practically, an atomic bomb “could be smaller than a piece of caramel candy, but, if exploded five hundred meters above a populated city, it could destroy 200,000 lives.”
“When can we have that bomb?” “Well, it is difficult to say”, Mimura answered, knowing nothing of any Japanese enterprise to apply fission theory to bomb-making. “But I can tell you this much: not before the end of this war.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37ac16a562a4.htm
Time for an annual booster shot against all the histrionics we'll be hearing in the next few days.
Booster bump.
No regrets.
Using the German genius Heisenberg's flawed math, neither the Japanese nor the Germans had a chance at building a working bomb.
On the other hand, the great American mathematician Feynman's correct math led to an entirely different outcome for the U.S. than for what the Germans and Japanese achieved in their atomic projects.
5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
Booster bump bump.
Anyone with a lick of sense, some knowledge of military history and operations, and most especially knowledge of the battle for Okinawa, knows that the A-bombs saved many, many Japanese lives, versus a conventional invasion. Not to mention the American casualties.
Enola Gay Bump. And a tip of the hat to "Give'um Hell Harry".
Mega Dittos To That!I was fortunate enought to obtain an autographed copy of Major General Charles Sweeney's book"War's End".He is the man who piloted a B-29 called"Bock's Car"from which was dropped the Nagasaki bomb.General Sweeney died a short time ago,the B-29 is at Wright-Patterson AFB,Dayton,Ohio.ThankYou General Sweeney and ThankYou Col.Tibetts!!
“When can we have that bomb?”
They got a practical "demonstration" far sooner than they expected...
Do you mean the Japanese would've used it against us? Really? No fooling? Unbelievable!
bttt
August Fifth, 1945 -
Q. “When can we have that bomb?”
A. "Is tomorrow good for you?"
Actually it is a little more complex than that. You see I had a graduate engineering seminar taught by one of the members of the german nuclear bomb team. In that seminar he explained the German nuclear bomb program where it went right and were it went wrong and what was done internally to sabatoge it.
First, there was a cross section experiment to determine the nuclear cross section of graphite. The nobel prize winner blew the experiment and recorded the wrong results.
Now german culture steps in. Nobody in his right mind would try to replicate the experiment to check the results of somebody who won a Nobel prize. It just was not done, it would be an insult to that person.
As a result of the "wrong nuclear cross section for carbon" it was concluded that carbon would not properly moderate or slow nuetrons down enough to help support a chain reaction. As a result of this error, the german nuclear bomb program focused on using heavy water as a moderator and hence invaded Norway to get to its vast hydroelectric resources to produce heavy water. (Oops)
The US in its spirit of checking things redid the experiement and found the error and decided carbon is just so easy to get that they would use a graphite moderated core in the US bomb program, hence the graphite bricks under the stadium where the first nuclear chain reaction in the US took place.
Now back to germany, many of the scientists and their lab machinists looking at the option of completing the bomb quickly and getting sent to the eastern front to fight the Russians and decided to go slowly, very slowly. The made just enough progress so that the german military wouldn't go crazy, but not a bit more. Some of them also had some ethical qualms, but it was mostly about the survival of the lab workers and staff.
An interesting side light was when the US Army captured the nuclear research center some SOB officer came up and really pisssed the german scientists off. He then bullied them and asked where they kept their valuable equipment. The thought for a moment and told him the most valuable thing in the lab was the enriched Uranium isotopes. So he personally hauled the highly radioactive materials off with him without proper shielding. They all had a good laugh over that stupid fool who probably would pay dearly for his arrogence..
someone set us up the bomb...
Are you certain of that?
Funny. Very funny, Mr. Uncertainly Principle jokester! 5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
"Virus House" German Nuclear Weapon
http://www.luft46.com/armament/abomb.html
Leipzeig Sphere L-IV Plutonium Generator
http://www.luft46.com/armament/abomb-2.html
Just for fun.. I'm not sure how much I believe http://www.luft46.com/armament/abomb.html
"Virus House" German Nuclear Weapon
http://www.luft46.com/armament/abomb-2.html
Leipzeig Sphere L-IV Plutonium Generator
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