Riemann's Contribution to Flight and Laser Fusion

side. It made an exact circle and boom! That was the buzzbomb. And from Belgium, where they tried to launch thebombs against London, they made the circle so large thatit was just the distance from where they were to London.There were lots of things we had to do during the war.And they threw out even von Braun because von Braunsaid: "When you send a bomb against a foreign country,an enemy country, you have to put it on the target—youcannot just throw it, because London is too big—a 10-mileradius circle is too big. It is illegal to kill people too; youshould kill things that are made for the war." Therefore,von Braun tried to make a guidance on the bomb, andafter one year when the guidance didn't work, Hitler said,"He's delaying the thing," and sent him away.Hitler put in another man, the man who made the trainsfor Russia. (The Russians had a different kind of track, andtherefore this man had to make trains that worked onlyon the Russian track, or that could change from one trackto the other.) This man got the job to make the bombsready in three months; they said von Braun was notinterested in wars, because he was so slow.Under Hitler, you really could get into trouble withoutdoing anything bad. People would finger you because ofsomething you did for a different reason. At that time,our publications were often secret. Therefore, I cannotalways find the work I did at that time—unless my paperswere in a big box that the Americans found so that theywere not burned.Germany the same day, when they found out through theSecret Service that I had contacted the Americans.While in England, I had wanted to raise a little bit ofmoney. I had three girls almost at the end of school—college age—and, of course, we had lost all of our savingsin the inflation right after the war. I just wanted to tellthem, look, in America I could get a job for more money.They actually told me they tried very hard to "sell" me,but nobody wanted me; no university, no other place ofresearch. So the British allowed me to go away, but theycalled me, of course, a persona non grata.I was in England from June 1946 until February 1947.Then they sent me home, and in May 1947, the U.S.Occupation forces picked me up to be transported toAmerica. I came to NASA, since both the Navy and theAir Force were fighting over who would get me—neithergot me.Question: I think that much of that research is still secretin the United States.Some was translated after the war.Question: But it's still secret here. You say that most ofyour work was done not for research on shaped charges,however, but mostly for aerodynamic research?Yes, the part I did on it. But when I was supposed togive an introductory talk on these shaped charges, I justdemonstrated the things you can do with the waves thatgo in focus.Question: Did you come to the United States in 1945?No. I was on the English list. The English soldiers sawthat America was getting all the German scientists, andthey knew that the British needed some too. So they putme as one of the first scientists on the British list. But thepeople in Britain said, the thing that we need is notchiefs—what we need is Indians to help. During the warthey had a lot of women and others who wanted to help,but they went home after the war and didn't work in thelaboratories anymore.After six months, there I was in several different placesjust talking about results that we got during the war. Theybrought me to a lot of universities, but nobody wantedme. So I finally asked my American friends whether therewas still a chance to come to America. And then, becauseI did that by going to the American embassy, I was—whatdo they call it in England when they don't trust you anymore?—a persona non grata. I was sent back home to40 FUSION October-Novembe1981