Urey won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934 for discovering heavy water or deuterium, the key component of heavy water. Gilbert Lewis, a renowned chemist at U.C. Berkeley, isolated the first sample of essentially pure heavy water from ordinary water in 1933.
The discovery of elements has a history, where we have found elements in the ground or in different types of material at the earth. The discovery of the heavy water was a large inventions. The scientists meant that they could use this heavy water, being heavier than ordinary water to make a strong and effective atomic bomb, and this bomb could be crucial for winning the wars in the world. The better the atomic bomb was and still is, the easier it could be for one country or more countries to make victories in wars.
During the Second World War, Gemany wanted to win the war and to make an end of it. Adolf Hitler got crazy when he heard about the heavy water, because this water could be used in the atomic bomb, and such bombs could be used by Germany to win the war. The heavy water implied that the amotic bomb could be even stronger and better, and it could also be targeted.
At the station Vemork at Rjukan, some people tried to find heavy water in the water to use for this atomic bombs. And the German persons were interested in occupying Vemork, and to get the water that was produced and distributed from this power station. But the German had to occupy the facility, and therefore they placed a a sentry at the bridge over to Vemork, and this sentry should take care of what was going on at Vemork. But when other nations in the world, heard about Germany planning at Vemork, they got angry. And they placed several Norwegian saboteurs on the Hardangervidda to protest against the Germans. This was really an action of getting the German heavy water, and it was a protest against the German nuclear research. The nation that had the heavy water, would be in a good position to win the Second World War, many experts claimed.
So, the Norwegian heroes did not accept that the Germans should take the heavy water at Vemork, and therefore they attacked Vemork during a night, with not being discovered by moving down and up the gorge at the guard post. So, the Norwegian heroes won the battles at the station Vemork, and hence the Germans did not succeed in occupying Vemork, and find a way to make more effective and precise atomic bombs. And after the Norwegian took Vemork back as their property, they celebrated the victory by eating reindeer meat at the Hardangervidda. And today, we find a film about this drama at the cinema inside Vemork.
The saboteur marching was extremely exciting and nerve-wracking. And even today the story is told and told, and several upper secondary schools in Norway are interested in what was going on at Vemork during the Second World War! And in addition to this attack from the Norwegians to win the power station at Vemork, a ship was sunk on Tinnsjøen with heavy water-containing lye on board. Hence, the operations to destroy for the German interests at Vemork in Rjukan were acoomplished by people wanting Norway to survive the war, and the Germans not to win the war! It is impressive that these people saving Norwegian interests actually offered their life to make Germany as a loser of the war!
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Sverre Larsen
Kristiansand, Norway
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