Applied Physics and Mathematics Annotation << Back Uranium project in Nazi Germany Е.S. Ratner The discovery of German physicists О. Hahn and Fritz Strassman of fission of nucleus of uranium-235 by a free neutron, accompanied by emission of huge energy, gave impetus to the study of the military use of nuclear explosives in Germany, England, France, the USA, Japan and the USSR. It was cleared that this effect needs inhibitors having a large cross-section of scattering and the minimum cross-section of neutron capture. In principle, as such can be used carbon and deuterium (heavy water). German physicists began to construct uranium-heavy water reactors because they committed an experimental error, evaluating as too large cross-section of neutron capture because of tests with insufficiently purified graphite. The United States and the USSR avoided such an error, they began to construct less complicated and more convenient uranium-graphite reactor. Until the end of the war, the Germans did not have time to create a working nuclear reactor, although they approached very close to this purpose. Still they stayed too far from creation real atomic bomb. The main reason was absolutely insufficient financing of the nuclear-physical works from the government, as Hitler announced in 1941–1942, that he will break his enemies before anyone succeed to construct nuclear weapons. Fortunately, he was grossly mistaken, whereas the United States, who invested huge funds for the creation of the nuclear industry have managed to build a nuclear bomb, ahead of Germany and Japan. Key words: German atomic bomb, uranium-heavy water reactor, Werner Heisenberg, Kurt Dibner. Contacts: Email: pfim@mail.ru Pp. 65-75.