WI: Albert Einstein never visited USA?

When Hitler came to power in 1933, Albert Einstein was visiting the US, and he decided not to return home. What if he happened to be in Germany at the time and was unable to leave?

The Manhattan project might not have been started as well as a few of his later discoveries. And without the atomic bomb, Japan would have been much more costly.
 
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Albert Einstein was visiting the US, and he decided not to return home. What if he happened to be in Germany at the time and was unable to leave?

The Manhattan project might not have been started as well as a few of his later discoveries. And without the atomic bomb, Japan would have been much more costly.

Why do people always believe Einstein had anything to do with the Manhattan Project? Is it due to playing C&C?

His contribution was signing a letter co-written by several concerned scientists.
 
He might've found a way to escape Germany for another nearby country. If he manages to get to Switzerland, the UK, or (much less likely) Palestine, he'll be safe for the entire war.
 
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian physicist and the driving force in trying to get an atomic bomb project begun in the United States. The problem was that most physicists at the time did not believe it was possible to harness atomic energy. Atomic fission had been proven possible but creating a process to convert atomic energy into a weapon was still only a theory, and not even a universally accepted theory. To try and convert that theory into a usable item would require time, personnel, equipment, and, above all, vast amounts of money and other resources.

At the time (summer of 1939) there was no atomic research going on anywhere in the United States. With war on the horizon there were literally hundreds of projects that were in need of personnel and funding. Convincing FDR this one project was deserving of special consideration was the key.

Now why exactly would the President of the United States agree to commit vast sums (which could have gone to more concrete weapons programs) to try and build something other scientists didn’t believe could be built solely on the word of a Hungarian scientist he’d never heard of?


That was why Einstein was so important. No, he was never a member of the Manhattan Project and had no direct hand in developing the bomb. Yet his contribution was absolutely vital. His name and his fame were what convinced FDR to okay the original project. Without that there would have been no atomic bomb project in the United States, or at best a much smaller commitment made after America was at war. Most certainly atomic bombs would not have been created in time to be used in World War Two and depending on the decision to form such a project and its results it is VERY possible the United States would not have been the first country to develop atomic weapons.

World War Two would still have been an Allied victory even if at higher cost and longer duration in the Pacific. Germany would NOT have built them as Hitler had no faith in them and did not divert enough resources for his project to have a viable chance to succeed. What happens after World War Two is the real question. If not the United States the USSR would have been the likely creator of them.


Even if no one believes they can be built and the US does not have atomic weapons to act as a deterrent how long will peace in Europe endure?
 
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian physicist and the driving force in trying to get an atomic bomb project begun in the United States. The problem was that most physicists at the time did not believe it was possible to harness atomic energy. Atomic fission had been proven possible but creating a process to convert atomic energy into a weapon was still only a theory, and not even a universally accepted theory. To try and convert that theory into a usable item would require time, personnel, equipment, and, above all, vast amounts of money and other resources.

At the time (summer of 1939) there was no atomic research going on anywhere in the United States. With war on the horizon there were literally hundreds of projects that were in need of personnel and funding. Convincing FDR this one project was deserving of special consideration was the key.

Now why exactly would the President of the United States agree to commit vast sums (which could have gone to more concrete weapons programs) to try and build something other scientists didn’t believe could be built solely on the word of a Hungarian scientist he’d never heard of?


That was why Einstein was so important. No, he was never a member of the Manhattan Project and had no direct hand in developing the bomb. Yet his contribution was absolutely vital. His name and his fame were what convinced FDR to okay the original project. Without that there would have been no atomic bomb project in the United States, or at best a much smaller commitment made after America was at war. Most certainly atomic bombs would not have been created in time to be used in World War Two and depending on the decision to form such a project and its results it is VERY possible the United States would not have been the first country to develop atomic weapons.

World War Two would still have been an Allied victory even if at higher cost and longer duration in the Pacific. Germany would NOT have built them as Hitler had no faith in them and did not divert enough resources for his project to have a viable chance to succeed. What happens after World War Two is the real question. If not the United States the USSR would have been the likely creator of them.


Even if no one believes they can be built and the US does not have atomic weapons to act as a deterrent how long will peace in Europe endure?

I was gonna say this in much less words and in a less in depth way if I had responded before you.

However, after the USSR creates it first (maybe), it's not like they would immediately use it and start another war. We would probably have the sort of uneasy peace in OTL cold war. Then other nations would have a chance to catch up.
 
I doubt Einstein would have allowed the persecution of the Jews and other "undesirables" go unanswered. He probably would have spoken out about it, at least in Germany. If the Germans tried to shut him up, it's possible that it would have drawn the attention of what would later be the Allies to the treatment of the Jews as nothing in OTL did. Maybe leading to earlier war due to sanctions on Germany? Of course, I could be talking out my caboose here.
 
I doubt Einstein would have allowed the persecution of the Jews and other "undesirables" go unanswered. He probably would have spoken out about it, at least in Germany. If the Germans tried to shut him up, it's possible that it would have drawn the attention of what would later be the Allies to the treatment of the Jews as nothing in OTL did. Maybe leading to earlier war due to sanctions on Germany? Of course, I could be talking out my caboose here.

Actually, from what I've read, the German government had a price on Einstein's head at one point, and his works were among those burned.
 
I doubt Einstein would have allowed the persecution of the Jews and other "undesirables" go unanswered. He probably would have spoken out about it, at least in Germany. If the Germans tried to shut him up, it's possible that it would have drawn the attention of what would later be the Allies to the treatment of the Jews as nothing in OTL did. Maybe leading to earlier war due to sanctions on Germany? Of course, I could be talking out my caboose here.

Uh, if he had tried to speak out WHILE LIVING IN THE THIRD REICH he would have simply disappeared without a trace. The Nazis had absolutely no problem with getting rid of anyone they deemed an enemy no matter how famous or well resepcted.

Especially if they were Jews.

His fame might have protected him for a time but he was a marked man and most certainly would not have been allowed to live to the end of the war.
 
The role of the Einstein-Szillard letter in precipitating the Manhatten Project is greatly exagerated. The key event in the creation of the Manhattan Project and hence the atomic bomb wasn't, contrary to popular opinion the Einstein-Szillard memo to FDR, which was written in 1939.

The letter resulted in the S-1 Uranium Committee, which basically did very little and had a tiny budget. This was partly due to the fact that their understanding was that tons of Uranium 235 would be required, and hence the project was not very practical.

In 1940, the British (in fact Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls working for the British) correctly appreciated that the amount of Uranium 235 required was far less than previously thought (pounds rather than tons).

In late 1940, the British MAUD committee produced a report outlining the feasibility of the bomb, which was sent to the Americans but ignored. The British started their "Tube Alloys" project but couldn't afford to prioritise it as they were fighting for their lives.

The key event was the visit of Mark Oliphant of the MAUD committee to the USA in 1941, where he impressed on the US scientists the feasibility and urgency of manufacturing the bomb. After these meetings, in December 1941 Vannevar Bush created the Office of Scientific Research and Development, after that the Manhattan Project took off and quickly eclipsed the British project, which was eventually (1943) folded into it.

So, your PoD will not delay the Allied Atomic Bomb.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein-Szilárd_letter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-1_Uranium_Committee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisch-Peierls_memorandum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAUD_Committee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Alloys
 
And without the atomic bomb, Japan would have been much more costly.

Actually, no.

Not much would be different from OTL. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria was actually a more important factor in convincing the Japanese to surrender than the atomic bombs were.

The Japanese leadership was crazy, but not completely insane. They would still surrender, by September or October 1945; but not after Olympic.
 
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