Science and technology in Nazi Germany
The position of science and technology in Nazi Germany was completely determined by party instructions and the political atmosphere established in the country. The state and party apparatuses, largely educated people from the lower classes of society, due to their inherent distrust and unfriendly attitude towards any knowledge, in principle did not contribute to the progress of science.
On May 1, 1934, Bernhard Rust was appointed Reichs- und preußischen Minister für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung. He was charged with the responsibility of leading science in the spirit of party ideology and preparing for war.
The regime encouraged, mainly, only science that gives an obvious result. The significance of fundamental science was not understood by the leaders of Nazi Germany. After the spectacular victory over France in 1940, Hitler considered his immediate political tasks completed, and decreed that technical projects for military needs that could not be completed by 1942 should be cancelled.
Influence of Nazi ideology
The theoretical justification for National Socialism is unofficially considered the work of Alfred Rosenberg, author of The Nature, Basic Principles and Goals of the NSDAP and The Myth of the Twentieth Century. Among many positions, Rosenberg served as head of the Central Research Institute for National Socialist Ideology and Education. Rosenberg graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School in January 1918 with a diploma of the first degree. Thus he was familiar with the basics of Marxism, but distorted it, suggesting that the entire history of mankind can be explained from the point of view of scientific racism, not class conflict.The scientific world of Germany retained the mentality characteristic of the previous era, when German science occupied one of the leading places in the world both in the field of theory and its applied sections. Among scientists who valued scientific contacts that allowed for a fruitful exchange of opinions, there was no desire to participate in the development of weapons, inevitably associated with secrecy. At the same time, in addition to the moral rejection of party ideology, they were guided by the fear of becoming dependent on the dictates of an administration ignorant of science, which would inevitably deprive them of their freedom in choosing research topics, and under certain conditions, their personal freedom.
Pre-war chronicle
- 1933 - creation of an electron microscope, quartz clock, development of a diesel-electric transmission
- 1934 - the beginning of the industrial production of artificial fiber, the trial implementation of public broadcasting, the construction of a giant ship lift.
- 1935 - introduction of sulfamides into medical therapeutic practice.
- 1936 - the invention of the nerve agent tabun, the beginning of the production of synthetic rubber, the development of technology for the beneficiation of iron ore, the development of technology for the manufacture of multi-layer chromogenic photography, experiments with the development of sound color cinema, a telecast by telephone, the creation of a research and testing rocket center in Peenemünde.
- 1937 - invention of artificial fiber perlon, start of archaeological excavations at Olympia, Greece.
- 1938 - a major exhibition of television technology, Professor Otto Hahn, using chemical methods, discovers the phenomenon of the decay of the atomic nucleus.
- On December 17, 1938, Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann discovered and proved the fission of the uranium nucleus in Berlin, which became the scientific and technical basis for the use of nuclear energy.
- 1939 - the invention of the military nerve agent sarin, the invention of the insecticide DDT, the development of artificial fat manufacturing technology, the beginning of work on the use of nuclear energy, the beginning work on radar technology, the first flights of aircraft with jet engines Heinkel He 176 and Heinkel He 178
- 1940 - creation of organosilicon materials.
- Manfred von Ardenne created an electron microscope with a magnification of 500,000 times.
- I.G. Farbenindustrie AG sold a patent for the production of artificial rubber from oil refinery products to the American company Standard Oil, which allowed the United States to ensure the production of artificial rubber in a short time and meet its needs in the future, when Japan seized plantations in Asia rubber plant.