17 April 2016

History for the day: 1945: Uranium found

History.com has this for 17 April:

On this day in 1945, American Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash commandeered over half a ton of uranium at Strassfut, Germany, in an effort to prevent the Russians from developing an atomic bomb.
Pash was head of the Alsos Group, organized to search for German scientists in the postwar environment in order to prevent the Russians, previously Allies but now a potential threat, from capturing any scientists and putting them to work at their own atomic research plants. Uranium piles were also rich catches, as they were necessary to the development of atomic weapons.
Rico says it didn't matter; the Russians got their bomb anyway...

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