Teller wasn't one of the major players in the Manhattan project. I doubt
his presence in Germany would have materially effected a half-hearted
effort
to achieve the bomb. His

You doubt? Is that strong enough to risk it? What if you are wrong, which
you
must admit is a possibility. And if you are wrong, we would all be
speaking
echt deutch heute.

Considering the overwhelming intellectual and industrial effort made to
develop the bomb, the movement of one mind (not a particularly critical one
at that) would have had no material effect on either a US (delayed) or
German (advanced) ability to develop the bomb. So I'll retract my original
statement. His presence in Germany (vice the USA) would have had no
material impact on their ability to develop an atomic weapon. Similarly his
absence wouldn't have been a show-stopper for the Manhattan project.

Germany and Japan had not expended enough effort in research to even begin
to develop an appreciation for the commitment required for a weapon's
development. Neither had the industrial or economic capacity to construct
the plants required to enrich uranium or generate plutonium WHILE
simultaneously supporting the war effort with conventional weapons
manufacture. Add the reality of the harassing effect of strategic bombing,
and it was even more hopeless.

Germany had an outstanding group of theoretical physicists. They had access
to a limited amount of uranium ore. Never the less, they did not succeed in
producing a sustained nuclear reaction by war's end (we did it in 1942 at U
of Chicago).

We WERE concerned that Germany had a bomb program. We directed missions to
hamper it (bombed heavy water production plants). When we got the right
people on the ground in Germany, we were amazed by their lack of progress.

Needless to say, this is hindsight. Things looked a lot different with
Great Britain on the edge and the Pacific Fleet battle line resting in the
Pearl Harbor mud.

R / John