The Gotov test station of the Army Ordnance Department, which the Gestapo secretly captured and escorted to, was always providing uranium crystals for the uranium machines (uranium reactors) for experimental use.

These legendary uranium crystals are the real "Cosmic Cube" of the Third Reich - the Nazi "Uranus Cube".

"One day in 2013, Professor Timothy Koeth of the University of Maryland received a parcel with a crumpled note that read: "From the nuclear reactor that Hitler tried to build in Germany. A gift from Ninger." The note described the object as a uranium cube that the Nazis used to build a nuclear reactor in the 1940s, but the plan failed. Professor Timothy Koeth immediately set out to confirm the authenticity of the uranium cube - whether it really came from Hitler's failed nuclear reactor project. Professor Timothy Koeth and graduate student Miriam Hibert immediately set out to confirm the authenticity of the uranium cube - whether it really came from Hitler's failed nuclear reactor project.

Hiebert collaborated to track down the life experience of the cube. During the research, the story behind this mysterious uranium cube was shocking. In fact, Germany could have created a nuclear reactor during the war, but the project ultimately failed due to competition between different research teams.

The story starts with the nuclear reactor built by Teller. At the end of World War II, the reactor was dismantled by the US military, and 664 radioactive cubes buried underground by the Nazis were transported to the United States. Although the amount of radioactive materials in the nuclear reactor was not enough to make it run at all, the team led by Professor Coase found in Nazi documents that there were enough radioactive materials hidden elsewhere in Germany to make the nuclear reactor fully capable. These additional radioactive cubes were run by another research team at that time, but if scientists from both sides could merge all their uranium into one place, they would have gone further from success. The 400 additional mysterious cubes flowed to the black market after the war, and most of the cubes taken from the inside of the reactor were mostly missing over time after being transported to the United States.

After receiving one of the cubes, Professor Cos' curiosity was aroused. He teamed up with Miriam Hibert, who is also a researcher at the University of Maryland to investigate the history of the nuclear reactor. Since then, he has been working to reveal the history of the nuclear reactor and trace the whereabouts of the remaining remaining parts.

The B-VIII nuclear reactor was built in Berlin by Nazi scientists in late World War II, but was finally moved to the town of Haegorloch in southwestern Germany. The Nazis built a laboratory at that time, and was located in a cellar with potatoes and beer underground in the town's church. Today, the remaining part of the underground facility is open to the public and has been converted into a museum called "Atomkeller". German scientists involved in the construction of the nuclear reactor include Werner Heisenberg, a theoretical scientist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics, who was eventually captured by the Allies in 1945.

The "heart" of the reactor is composed of 664 uranium cubes, each with a side length of 5 cm. The same is true of the one held by Professor Coase. They are arranged in a chandelier shape and are connected to each other by airlines. The core of the reactor is wrapped in a metal-clad graphite shell and placed in a concrete-masoned water tank. The "chandelier" composed of uranium cubes is hung in heavy water to regulate the progress of nuclear reactions. The restoration of the B-VIII nuclear reactor that was dismantled and damaged by the Allies is now displayed in Haigorlo

In the Atomic Cellar Museum of Hercules, the core of these cube networks is the source of neutron radiation. As neutrons bombard the uranium 235 atoms in the cube, these atoms will split up, releasing a large amount of energy and three neutrons. These three newly generated neutrons will bombard the other three atoms... One generation of two, two generations produce three, forming a chain reaction. The energy released by nuclear reactions is millions of times as much as any chemical reaction. The energy generated by nuclear fission can in turn convert water into water vapor, thereby driving the turbine and generating electricity.

It is said that this experiment was the last time for the Nazis and the closest to success to try to build a nuclear reactor that could operate on its own. However, there was not enough uranium in the core of the nuclear reactor at that time to achieve this goal. In order to achieve the critical mass required for a nuclear reactor that operates on its own, the uranium cubes needed must be at least 1.5 times the existing number. Although there were not enough 664 cubes in Haigorloch, there were actually another 400 radioactive cubes elsewhere in Germany, owned by another research team. If these cubes could be added together, Nazi scientists would have enough uranium to at least give way to the nuclear reactor located in Haigorloch to achieve full operation.

If the Germans could combine resources at that time, rather than being held by two competing research teams, they might have really built a normal nuclear reactor, with German nuclear research projects scattered and competing. Under General Leslie Richard Groves, the Manhattan project in the United States was united and worked together, which was the biggest difference between Germany and the United States nuclear research projects.

However, there were other factors that prevented the success of Germany's nuclear test at that time. Even if the other 400 cubes were actually transported to Hegorloch and put into the reactor, German scientists needed more heavy water to make the reactor operate normally. As early as 1943, the Allies blew up the heavy water production facility inside the Vimolk hydropower plant in Norway. The Norwegian Resistance Army later sunk the cargo ship that transported all the remaining heavy water from the power plant to Germany. At this point, although Germany is the origin of nuclear physics and nuclear research was nearly two years earlier than the United States, Germany failed to pose an imminent nuclear threat until the end of the war.

Professor Kos was shocked when he received the mysterious cube in 2013. He recognized what it was with the help of rough black and white photos from history books. The dense uranium cube weighed about 2.3 kilograms. When he was given it, it was wrapped in a layer of brown tissue and was packed in a small cloth lunch bag. Its weight was particularly amazing in terms of its size. Every time he saw the reaction of the uninformed person picking it up for the first time, he found it particularly interesting. The first thing Professor Kos had to do was to determine whether the cube really came from the nuclear reactor of Haegorloch.

The cube's surface is covered with dents, consistent with early uranium treatment technology in the 1940s. The grooves on both sides may be used to tie cables. Researchers also measured the energy of the gamma ray released by the cube to confirm whether it was indeed made of naturally enriched uranium, but the gamma ray released by the cube was not the type released by the radioactive isotope cesium 137, indicating that it was never used in a normal-operating nuclear reactor. The crumpled note sent to Coase with the cube reads: "The gift from Ninger." Robert Nininger (the name on the note seems to be misspelled, with one more ‘n’ than the correct spelling) was once one of the experts in the Manhattan project to make the first atomic bomb in the United States.

According to Ninger's widow, he did hold a uranium cube and later transferred it to a friend. After that, the cube may have been transferred several times and finally reached Professor Coase's hands.

As the war was approaching the end of the war, the US military, like other Allies, launched the Althos mission to find and utilize Nazi scientific research projects. The German nuclear research project was the key goal of this operation. On April 20, 1945, the Althos operation troops occupied the town of Haigorloch and dismantled the nuclear reactor. The soldiers found that the Nazi scientists also had hidden parts of the nuclear reactor and related data. They found a documented welding roll and three tubes of heavy water in the cesspool. After a week of occupying the town, they found a buried 1.4 tons of uranium cubes in the fields around Haigorloch. Subsequently, the cubes were transported to the United States, and their whereabouts gradually became a mystery. Scientists are now starting operations to try to track the whereabouts of other cubes in the Haigorloch reactor.
Chapter completed!