Math!

This is coolbert:

"How is mathematics in Göttingen now that it has been freed of the Jewish influence?" - - Rust.

"Mathematics in Göttingen? There is really none any more." - - Hilbert.

The above exchange and quote, David Hilbert, in conversation with the Nazi Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust. [1934]

David Hilbert, German mathematician and professor, one of the "most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries."

The German university system, in the years prior to World War Two [WW2], being purged of those mathematicians of the highest quality, the ablest thinkers!

Mathematicians of the utmost quality and ability, being needed for the war effort [1939] and even BEFORE that, sound analytical and mathematical brains NOT being nurtured.

Germany lacking persons of the stature of an Arne Beurling [Sweden], Marian Rajewski [Poland], or Alan Turing [England].

Sound mathematical minds working in the field of cryptography.

Persons devising mathematical solutions to cryptographic problems of the most intricate and complex sort.

Germany, during WW2, lacking the brains and talent able to:

1. Devise cryptographic machines, those machines impervious to cryptanalytic attack based upon MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS! Germany, able to design cipher machines to protect their own secret message traffic.

2. Devise general solutions, based upon mathematical concepts, that would allow German cryptanalysts to "read" the secret encrypted messages of the allied powers. Those messages enciphered by machines such as the SIGABA [USA] or the TYPEX [England]. Germany, able to READ the secret message traffic of their various enemies.

The German Enigma and the even more advanced Geheimschreiber as employed by the German during WW2 were insecure, both machines subjected to successful allied cryptanalytic attack, the GERMAN UNABLE TO READ THE SECRET MESSAGE TRAFFIC OF THE ALLIES!!

It is also reasonable to infer that the German also lacked the requisite persons, human calculators, those persons doing the various high-level mathematical calculations necessary for the development of atomic weaponry? A dedicated team of math prodigies needed to do the computational basics needed by those involved in German atomic bomb development and design [the Heisenberg team]!

Germany, during WW2, did have very good engineers, but lacked those persons say of the caliber of an Arne Beurling or even a Richard Feynman [Manhattan Project]!

No talented mathematicians - - no secure crypto and no atomic bomb!

coolbert.