The uranium Cubes from a Nazi Nuclear reactor

The Uranium Cubes From a Nazi Nuclear Reactor

In 2013, Timothy Coeth, a physicist at the University of Maryland, received an unexpected gift from a friend. It was a small metal cube, each part 2 inches long, and the piece of metal was wrapped in a piece of paper. Queth immediately recognized the cube Among the books on nuclear history he had were old granular images of the cube The note below the photo read: "Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger"

The cube was one hundred percent a piece that German nuclear scientists experimentally made for the reactor. The cubes were later confiscated by the Allies and shipped to the United States.

What happened after the cubes were shipped to the United States is still a mystery. The cubes are thought to have been used in smelting, processing, and making of American nuclear weapons. After discovering Timothy Coeth's cube, he found it in ten more private and public collections. The Smithsonian Institution has one and so does Harvard University. "The cubes represent a bygone era of science when researchers began to discover the subtomic world," Koth said. "Hopefully, by finding the cubes and combining what happened to them, we will be able to bring to light the forgotten objects that have played a memorable role in human history."

German scientists have housed their failed nuclear reactors at a museum in Heigerlich. The Atomkeller Museum opened in 1960 and shows the history of German nuclear research from Auto Han to the present day. Along with the hanging cubes is a replica of the research furnace, as well as the original two uranium cubes.