German science what if

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1487
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Deleted member 1487

Assuming Hitler is killed in the 1920's, lets say during the Munich Putsch attempt, and Europe isn't involved in another world war, what happens to the German scientific renaissance? In the 1920's Germany managed to receive (or rather her citizens) more nobel prizes than the rest of the world put together. However during the 1930's with the rise of right wing extremism, many of the very best mind fled to the US or Britain, never to return. Among the German-Jewish community, which contained a disproportionate share of the very educated professions like doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., the loss was near total, depriving Germany of a solid base of future intellectuals and professionals.
After the war many of the remaining scientists moved abroad (or were forced to), further reducing the already weakened community. Even today Germany has not fully recovered the loss of so much of her intelligentsia.

How would Germany fare in the sciences today had her scientific and intellectual communities never been disrupted?
 
If the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute continues to be funded, if Germany continues to invest in its scientific community... it would definitely remain a major power in the sciences, especially physics. The first nuclear reactor might be built in Berlin, perhaps by 1952?

I do wonder what von Kármán would've done for German aviation research had he not left in 1930... though the JPL would've probably still emerged in California without him.
 
Weimarer Republik without Hitler ?, nice

political is gona be Right vrs Left Street fight until
the ruler and Military crushed them bloody in beginn 1930s
I think that Weimarer Republik not survives the 1930s and
will bereplace by other state, mabye new German Empire by ultra Nationalist.
the anti-Semitism in Germany remains, Not that wat NAZI made of it OTL
So there will be no mass exodus of Jews or intellectual or scientists
the German scientific renaissance will flourish

befor some one objects, with argument the NAZI gave Germany a technology boost
They trammeled, hindered any progress some examples:
Göring incompetence over Luftwaffe about innovative Aircraft concept like Jetengine
Hitler delay R&D of Sturmgewehr 44 or V2 weapon
or the Chaotic Nazi Atombomb programs


I believe with competent leadership the Germans get until 1940s
Jetengine, Rockets, first digital computers, assault rifle even a primtive nuclear reactor.
 
Not sure about sub-orbitals or rockets or any of that. Assuming a peaceful Europe, von Braun's rocketry experiments are more likely to be seen as curiosities than as potentially useful war-weapons; I don't think a successful Weimar is necessarily going to fund von Braun.

On the other hand, with a peaceful Europe, maybe there'd be jet airliners around '48? Not just German ones, mind you - British ones as well.

Assault rifles are likely delayed relative to OTL if Europe doesn't go to war in the '40s. Germany stuck with the Kar-98k, which was basically a refined version of their World War I rifle, through most of the Second World War in OTL, and is more likely to instead consider going to a semi-auto rifle than to try an assault rifle. France, meanwhile, may have moved to a semi-auto rifle by '41 or '42 without a war, rather than delaying that to after the war ended.

I think that computing could also be delayed without World War II - in particular, without Bletchley Park and the struggles to crack Enigma.

As for a nuclear reactor... without a war, the level of funding for any atomic program would be rather low.
 

Deleted member 1487

As for a nuclear reactor... without a war, the level of funding for any atomic program would be rather low.

Even if it could offer large amounts of power independent of coal or oil?
 
Even if it could offer large amounts of power independent of coal or oil?

How much does that matter? There's no war cutting off oil and coal. Worse, in the '40s and '50s, the big Arabian oil strikes are being found - oil is getting really, really cheap.

A nuclear reactor could've still emerged in the '50s through the US Navy (which was really interested in the possibilities of nuclear-powered ships). If it's not for the Navy, then it's an experimental reactor, which is why the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute could be host to the first such reactor.
 
Hmmm. No war in the 30s or 40s? Where did that notion come from? No Nazi government in Germany doesn't necessarily mean a Europe free of armed conflict. Just look at Romania, Italy, The USSR (which under Comrade Dzhugashvili was, of course, a paragon of restraint and peace :rolleyes:)...
 
No war in the 30s or 40s?

I'm assuming that there's no major war, since for German science to actually have the chance for a renaissance, German scientists can't be fleeing the country to safer climes (i.e., America).
Incidentally, Stalin didn't start getting aggressive with his foreign policy in Europe until Molotov-Ribbentrop. It's certainly plausible that by the early or mid-'40s, Stalin could start getting aggressive, after his latest five year plans have finished up, but it's also plausible that he focuses entirely on internal industrialization and further consolidation of his rule. Stalin's no Trotsky; he's not nearly as interested in furthering the world revolution or any of that claptrap.
 

Deleted member 1487

I'm assuming that there's no major war, since for German science to actually have the chance for a renaissance, German scientists can't be fleeing the country to safer climes (i.e., America).
Incidentally, Stalin didn't start getting aggressive with his foreign policy in Europe until Molotov-Ribbentrop. It's certainly plausible that by the early or mid-'40s, Stalin could start getting aggressive, after his latest five year plans have finished up, but it's also plausible that he focuses entirely on internal industrialization and further consolidation of his rule. Stalin's no Trotsky; he's not nearly as interested in furthering the world revolution or any of that claptrap.

That is so. I wonder if Stalin would get purged after a series of extra purges...
 
How much does that matter? There's no war cutting off oil and coal. Worse, in the '40s and '50s, the big Arabian oil strikes are being found - oil is getting really, really cheap.

A nuclear reactor could've still emerged in the '50s through the US Navy (which was really interested in the possibilities of nuclear-powered ships). If it's not for the Navy, then it's an experimental reactor, which is why the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute could be host to the first such reactor.

The Germans during the 20's and well before Hitler were worried about another war and being cut off from world trade. The idea of cheap electrical power that couldn't be cut off from blockade would have appeal to many in government and industry. WW1 was a fairly earth moving event for Germany.

Michael
 
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