this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Er, well, there actually was a German nuclear project during WWII (nuclear fission was discovered in Berlin in 1938), which is why the Einstein-Szilard letter was written to FDR. Germany was actually ahead in nuclear physics research, but fascism destroyed the scientific community.
Actually, the OSS (The CIA's precursor) did set a spy upon Werner Heisenberg, the head of Nazi Germany's nuclear research programme, with the mission to assassinate him if there was any indication the Nazis were close to building a nuclear weapon.
He found out that the Nazis were nowhere close, so Heisenberg got to live.
Sure, their position was nowhere close, but how fast were they moving?
Probably… uncertain.