This is coolbert: Now, in my previous posts about German and Japanese a-bomb development, the generally accepted image is that both powers were a long way off from making an atomic bomb. That what research they had was crude and not on the right track. And as for the "Virus House", the consensus among scientists and engineers is that this would have been a crude, and meaningless device that probably would not have worked. And maybe it would not have. Caused a lot of damage, but not exploded as an atomic bomb. Maybe, maybe not. But what American scientists working on the bomb were trying to do was create an industrial package that would work with great regularity, could be made on an industrial basis, and would be of elegant design. That term elegant design is what is important. They wanted to work out all the bugs and make something that was going to be an engineering marvel. Push the engineering envelope, as it is called, way beyond the ordinary. The Germans and Japanese were perhaps working on a crude weapon that would be built only in small numbers, not on an industrial basis, but would get the job done, even if not in an elegant manner. They would build only a few, and not be sure of success, but would build them nonetheless. We in the U.S. are judging their development of an a-bomb by our standards, which was not the same standard that the Germans and Japs were working toward.

coolbert.