SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
As part of Operation Epsilon, captured German nuclear physicists were secretly recorded at Farm Hall, a house in England where they were interned. Here's how the German scientists reacted to the news (on August 6th, 1945) that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, taken from the now-declassified transcripts (pp. 116-122 of this copy):
Otto Hahn (co-discoverer of nuclear fission): I don't believe it... They are 50 years further advanced than we.
Werner Heisenberg (leading figure of the German atomic bomb effort): I don't believe a word of the whole thing. They must have spent the whole of their £500,000,000 in separating isotopes: and then it is possible.
It's interesting to read how the German scientists reacted, and how some of them seemed to have not wanted to succeed in doing the same thing for the Nazis.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Geotti on Saturday October 29 2016, @07:59AM
Yeah, I think this should be read in context, so something like this:
Diebner, looking at Heisenberg: "I wonder whether there are microphones installed here?"
Heisenberg, nodding feverishly and putting the index finger to his lips: "Microphones installed? (laughing) Oh no, they're not as cute as all that. I don't think they know the real Gestapo methods; they're a bit old fashioned in that respect."
(Score: 1) by tyler on Saturday October 29 2016, @09:59AM
I thought the same thing at first. Then I looked up the date Germany surrendered, which was 1945 May 7. There is no point in lying about your capabilities after your surrender, and after your enemy already has the technology and all of your research. This is just my opinion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @01:21PM
> There is no point in lying about your capabilities after your surrender, and after your enemy already has the technology and all of your research.
Surrender doesn't necessarily mean total capitulation. If you have the opportunity to keep something in the bank you are probably going to take it. The downside of keeping secrets is practically zero, but if you give up everything and the victors decide to be crazy punitive then you've got nothing to fall back on.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tfried on Saturday October 29 2016, @07:53PM
I don't think the point was lying (or not) about their nation's nuclear capabilities, perhaps more about their own feelings towards their research.
These were top-notch physicists, potentially very valuable to their hosts, but coming from a hostile nation. The point of spying on these guys conversations wasn't to gain military intelligence, either, but to understand how far they could be trusted. And whether or not that comment about microphones was naive or tongue-in-cheek, I do think those guys were absolutely smart enough to understand this basic situation. So for them this wasn't about "winning the war" (for whichever side), but about their personal prospects.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday October 29 2016, @02:58PM
A bit more context on that would be helpful as the quote doesn't really say anything.
They'd been living under the Nazis and the constant eyes of the Gestapo for many years. If you look at the quote itself it doesn't indicate that they're afraid of being heard. Or perhaps I'm rather sneaky and I wouldn't be talking about microphones in a room I thought or knew had them.